It was a cool, sunny day out in the gardens with more evidence of color here and there. The hellebores (Helleborus sp.) are opening up nicely as seen with the variety ‘Mellow Yellow’ above and some selections below. Spring bulbs continue to emerge although there is also evidence of significant deer and rabbit damage on particularly our tulips (Tulipa). We transition to admission based entry this Friday, April 1st so we are getting everything tidied up for our spring visitors. While we still have a few larger cords and elements from the Holiday Light Show (HLS) to collect, we are mostly done with that event until later this upcoming summer when we begin testing lights again and starting the set-up all over….Next week looks chilly but that’s not unusual for April.
We had a huge crew of volunteers at the gardens today. Terry (above) worked with Marv on hauling back benches for Gene to sand and re-stain. Terry worked on trimming back roses as we assess our losses which were surprising after such a mild winter. We have a new rose donation coming in this spring which will infill this garden in a very colorful way. Kay helped process handouts and plant sale labels in the office while Jenny continued preparing and organizing labels for our incoming annuals. Gary worked on labels for our future Heirloom Garden. Lloyd, Bob C. and Kevin C. worked on mulching the main parking lot islands. Alan M. worked on tidying the sunken garden while Kathy and Eva (seen below, Eva to the right) bounced between a couple different areas for tidying. Vern and Ron Y. worked on carpentry projects while Dr. Gredler accomplished more painting. Maury and Dick H. hauled back our Santa houses (see below) and had some other projects as well. Jim H. worked on more clean-up in the Japanese garden. We also saw Rollie, Mary W., Maryam, Terri N., Kris K., Roman, Chuck S. and many others today. Larry H. worked on multiple gardening projects while Janice focused on the Spring Plant Sale.