While it was a beautiful day with plenty of sunshine, the air was still crisp with temperatures only reaching the lower 30 degrees F mark. That didn’t dissuade Ron R., Urban, Pat M. and Alan M. from coming in to help out.  Ron continued cutting down ornamental grasses out in the gardens while Urban returned to more pruning duties.  Pat had some inside tasks and Alan worked on some painting. Alan also helped me and a delivery guy unload and push around 15,000 lbs of potting soil on pallets.  That was a work out.  Kay was in to peel more Spring Plant Sale labels (I think she’s working on our excellent selection of tomatoes…check out our website for plant lists!).  Janice and Patrea worked on some projects and we also saw Cindy, Dick H. and many others.

Windflowers, also called Balkan anemone and Grecian windflower, are one of my favorite fall planted bulbs (actually corms) that herald the arrival of spring.  Native to Southeastern Europe, they are certainly hardy for us and will spread and colonize in an agreeable fashion.  Ours will be blooming in the next 3-4 weeks with a color range of blue, white and pink.  Oddly enough, we don’t have any pink ones but we have some large patches of both the blue and white forms that have naturalized over the years.  The bulbs (planted in October and November) are quite small and can be planted 2″-3″ deep.  Some folks will soak the bulbs overnight before planting but we never have bothered and plant them directly.  Blooming plants in late April and early May (in our area) are under 6″ tall with lacy foliage but have large flowers up to 3″ in diameter.  Windflowers are excellent candidates to be installed under a deciduous canopy.  These bulbs are getting ample light when they bloom which is before that overhead canopy fills in to create shade.  The anemones go dormant as the shade increases and they enjoy a dry summer dormancy.  They are inexpensive and can be mass planted in drifts, combined with other bulbs with a similar bloom time and are attractive to early pollinators as well.  Enjoy the images as it’s impossible to take a bad photo of these photogenic spring bloomers!

The snow continues to melt today and hopefully will be gone by the end of the week with warming temperatures and possible scattered rain throughout the week.  Not much happened out in the gardens today but we had a good crew at the Horticulture Center.  Nancy N., Kay and Pat C. were the “terrific trio” (their words, not mine) and did great job continuing with processing our vegetable labels for the Spring Plant Sale which is only six weeks away!  Check out our website for more information on this annual fundraiser including some plant lists.  We’ll also have a wide range of perennials for both sun and shade, shrubs, compost and other offerings!  Bill O. and Larry worked on some indoor and outdoor projects and Maury ran some errands for us despite needing to be in bed recovering from a bad cold!  Alan M. was in after lunch for some painting duties.  Both Dr. Gredler and Cheryl R. stopped by as well.

This blog is dedicated to two selections of Aesculus which encompasses the horse chestnuts and buckeyes.  We have some nice ones (various species) at the gardens and I’ve seen some spectacular specimens up at Longenecker Gardens at the University of Wisconsin Arboretum (Madison, WI).  The first set of photos promotes the smaller statured red buckeye (Aesculus pavia).  This North American native has a strong spring showing of red bloom clusters with many tubular flowers which are quite attractive to hummingbirds.  The palmately compound, shiny, dark green leaves are nice but may look a bit rough by late summer. The seeds are poisonous and mature height on this small tree is under 20′ tall.  Position this species for maximum spring enjoyment as we have with our two specimens at the gardens.

The bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora) is a dense, mounded, suckering mass of color when the blooms arrive on these erect panicles with many tubular white flowers (seen directly above and all the photos below).  The panicles can be 12″-15″ and are quite upright on a plant that can tolerate part shade and shade equally well.  Mature height is around 12′-15′ and keep in mind the spreading nature of this species and dedicate the appropriate amount of space.  Fall color can be a decent yellow but the impact of these flowers in June and July is worth the space on this tough selection.  We have three patches of bottlebrush buckeye at the gardens which look great although we’ll have a day when we decide to not let them take up more space!  Great for pollinators too by the way!