First Blooms of 2018!

Posted: February 26, 2018 by Mark Dwyer

Today was beautiful and sunny with temperatures getting up in to the upper 40 degree F! It is quite spring like and most of the remaining ice and snow should melt off quickly with the warm week and mid week showers . I did see some snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) poking out of the soil today in the woodland walk and this week will prompt many more to emerge as well. The quick emergence and blooming of our winter aconites (Eranthis hyemalis) will occur soon too. Above is frost on donkeytail spurge (Euphorbia myrsinites) which will regenerate new growth in a couple of months but holds interest like this throughout the winter (evergreen). My tour of the gardens this morning was long overdue but it wasn’t surprising to see the tremendous progress on taking down the Holiday Light Show (HLS) by the grounds staff and some select volunteers. We’ll have plenty of spring clean-up as is typical. Grounds staff today included Cindy, Big John, Larry H., Larry O., Terry, Janice and Bobby K. We pretty much had the full crew in action.

It was a nice day for volunteers to help out as well. Marv B., Alan and Dr. Gredler continued their painting projects at the horticulture center while Ron Y., Steve, Dave and Jim continued their carpentry projects. Dick H. had some projects and Steve E. was out in the gardens collecting lights. Peg was in for label work and Vicky O. helped with HLS tasks too. Dennis and Garrett (see further below) continued removing brush along the North path. Kathy P. was in this morning to help here and there and we also saw Maury F., Vern, Lisa I., Marsha M. and many others. Further below is more late winter interest out in the gardens.