I got home last night (Thursday) pretty tired after a full day and a great Members Only Pre-Sale at the Spring Plant Sale.  All of these photos are from yesterday but show some of the fun things we are offering.  Check out the beautiful tulips down at the bottom too!  As I type on Friday, it’s been a day of drizzle and while we’ve had some pretty tough customers and volunteers at the sale, it has been fairly slow overall.  We hope the sale on Saturday (8 am – 5 pm) and Sunday (10 am – 4 pm) goes well although Mother Nature seems to have some more plans for the weather!

$12 baskets of pansies! – great gift idea for Mother’s Day!

lots of veggies and herbs (above and below) still available

we even have some popcorn cassia (Cassia didymobotrya) available for $20 each! (fragrance of buttered popcorn)

perennials for both sun and shade

great teamwork with unloading on Wednesday (above)

Kathy P. (left) and Eva

Olive H. (above)

‘Red Spring Green’ tulip (Tulipa)

‘Paul Scherer’ tulip (Tulipa)

‘Big Smile’ tulip (Tulipa)

‘Orca’ tulip (Tulipa)

‘Royal Acres’ tulip (Tulipa)

‘Prinses Irene’ tulip (Tulipa)

‘Continental’ tulip (Tulipa)

‘Victoria’s Secret’ tulip (Tulipa)

‘Green Jay’ tulip (Tulipa)

Plants like this ‘Shockwave’ perennial garden phlox (Phlox paniculata) directly above are growing very quickly with ample sunshine and recent heat.  This beauty looks great with just foliage and is still six weeks from blooming!  It looks like we’ll have some rain over the coming days too which will really get things going!  The growth is quite noticeable daily (including with the weeds!).  We has another crazy day of garden activity as well as Spring Plant Sale preparations.  The grounds staff of Terry, Larry H., Cindy, Big John and I all had plenty of tasks to accomplish out in the gardens and most of us were also involved with some plant sale preparations.  Our plant sale helpers included Dale, Terri, Sandi, Tina, Kathy, Becky, Don, Pearl, Alan, Barb and Brian. Tina kept everyone moving along and the progress was excellent.  Garden volunteers included Dr. Gredler (mowing), Bill O. (mowiing), Kathy P., Eva and Derrick.  Jenny was in to work on our annual labels and Peg worked with Bev D. on some labeling projects as well, particularly tasks associated with our 2018 Garden Art Project (frogs) which will be placed out in the gardens by the end of the week.  We also saw Maury, Iza, Dick P., Becky, Hal, Vern, Dave T. and some others today.  Excellent progress all around!

‘Princeton Gold’ Norway maple (Acer platanoides) – woody tree

Koreanspice viburnum (Viburnum carlesii) – woody shrub (fragrant!)

the double pasque flowers (Pulsatilla vulgaris) above and below are still looking fabulous! – perennial

amethyst shooting star (Dodecatheon amethystinum) – perennial

they grow up so quickly!

Dr. Dale, Don, Pearl, Sandi and Terri (left to right) helping with the sale..off camera were Kathy, Becky, Tina, Kathy, Brian, Alan and Barb) – we had a great crew!

Kay (above) doing her tidying thing

‘All Gold’ Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) – perennial

the Japanese garden (above and below) is looking great right now!

Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum var. pictum) between rocks! – perennial

checkered fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris) – perennial bulb

‘Fire Island’ plantain lily (Hosta) emerging above – perennial

Gold Bullion^TM  pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia ‘Bachone’) – woody tree

‘Red Queen’ barrenwort (Epimedium grandiflorum) – perennial

‘Drummondii’ variegated Norway maple (Acer platanoides) – woody tree

As I typed this blog title of “Controlled Pandemonium”, I realized that this would be an awesome band name which I hereby lay claim to for future use!  Nice shot of ‘Gold Heart’ bleeding heart (Lamprocapnos spectabilis) above just starting to bloom today!  That title does describe the day which included lots of garden activity and preparations for the looming Spring Plant Sale which starts this Thursday evening, May 10th (4:30 pm – 7:30 pm) for our Members Only event.  Members (and potential members that sign up that night) are invited to get first crack at the plants and enjoy their 10% discount (throughout the duration of the sale).   The sale then runs for the public on Friday (9 am – 6 pm), Saturday (8 am – 5 pm) and Sunday (10 am – 4 pm).  With a wide range of vegetables, herbs, perennials, shrubs, pansies, compost, etc., this sale has something for everyone!

Our grounds staff of Janice, Cindy, Big John, Terry, Larry H., Bobby K. and myself kept hopping today.  I wont have the time or space to describe the many activities that were accomplished but they were significant!  Our volunteer crew consisted of Alan, Derrick, Billy O., Dr. Gredler, Ron Y., Dave, Jim, Vern, Dick P., Dick H., Barb C., Kathy P., Eva, Nancy M. with four RECAPPERS, Stan, Kristin, Tani, Maury, Tina B., Brian and many others.  While the preparations for the plant sale are vital, so is maintaining an actively emerging garden with many needs!  Great day!

Celandine poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum) are blooming in abundance

Dick P. (left) and Bobby K. getting the Russo Family Fountain out and running today!

redbuds (Cercis canadensis) are heading in to peak bloom quickly! – woody tree

the memorial bench (above) for Karen McKaig will view the waterfall from one side and the other direction views the scene below!

‘Vienna Weeping’ European hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) – woody tree

‘Albo-Variegata’ sweet iris (Iris pallida) – perennial

‘Candy Stripe’ creeping phlox (Phlox subulata) – perennial

‘King’s Ransom’ false forget-me-not (Brunnera macrophylla) – perennial

Rob (above) from Intrinsic Perennials made two deliveries today with cool perennials for the Spring Plant Sale

Tina B. and Billy O. are seen above unloading tomatoes and peppers for the sale

above is one of four deliveries that arrived today!

above is a portion of the 40,000 veggies that will be available for the sale

still plenty of pansies available for the sale!

Nice shot above of Snow Fountains® weeping cherry (Prunus hybrida ‘Snowfozam’).  We thought we’d have a mostly sunny day but we had about a half day of drizzle, rain and wind this morning.  The day did become sunny and warmed up nicely though.  The day consisted of lots of gardening, two broken water lines, two plant deliveries with associated unloading duties,  a delivery of limestone and much more!  Grounds staff included Cindy, Larry H., Bobby K. and myself.  Our volunteers included Kathy P., Dr. Gredler, Bill O., Vern, Jenny, Lloyd, Kristin, Marcia L., Mirjam, Bev and some others.  We also saw Janice, Mike, Becky and many others.  It was a long week so I’ve offered a limited diatribe here.  Busy week next week preparing for the Spring Plant Sale and keeping up out in the gardens!

Spring Wonder™ Sargent cherry (Prunus sargentii ‘Hokkaido Normandale’) – woody tree

redbud (Cercis canadensis) above is just starting up! – woody tree

‘PJM’ rhododendron (Rhododendron sp.) – woody shrub

Prairie Gem® flowering pear (Pyrus ussuriensis ‘MorDak’) above and below – woody tree

neat Garden Art Project above and three below from artist (and RBG volunteer) Cathy E. – come see all 30 frogs starting next weekend and on display until early September

‘Foxy Foxtrot’ tulip (Tulipa) – bulb

‘Dreamworld’ tulip (Tulipa) – bulb

‘Fire of Love’ tulip (Tulipa) – bulb

‘Jaap Groot’ tulip (Tulipa) – bulb

‘Prinses Irene’ tulip (Tulipa) – bulb

‘Mascotte’ tulip (Tulipa) – bulb

‘Happy Upstar’ tulip (Tulipa) – bulb

‘Marianne’ tulip (Tulipa) – bulb

Last night we had some torrential rain and light hail.  I heard later that the south side of Janesville had significant hail and some communities nearby had “golf-ball sized” hail!  Yowza!  That would have shredded up the gardens but we didn’t see much of a mess this morning aside from the usual mud and messy paths with debris.  We needed the rain but “fast and furious” is never good for the rate of precipitation!  We had a very productive day although I didn’t get many photos due to trying to keep up with all the “brush fires” and pressing tasks.  These next couple of weeks are by far the busiest of the year.  I thought I’d share some photos I took on a sunny evening this past Monday to give everyone their “plant fix”.  I had a presentation on tropical plants at the Sun Prairie Library which is a neat facility and always make time to swing through Olbrich when I’m travelling through.  It’s also refreshing to still see kids getting books and actually reading!

Our grounds staff today included Larry H., Larry O., Janice, Cindy, Bobby K. and me.  Everyone had a busy day and aside from some brief showers, we were able to get some garden work done as well as knock off a slew of indoor tasks including the processing of incoming plants that need to be potted up (plugs, cannas, etc.).  Our excellent garden volunteers included Alan, Kathy P., Bonnie, Peg, Jim, Dave, Vern, Ron Y., Maury, Marv B., Jim, Dick H., Lisa I., three RECAPPERS, Dr. Gredler, the Chestnut House volunteers and many more.

Olbrich Botanical Garden (OBG) in Madison, WI always does a great job with containers – these are their spring arrangements

Siberian squill (Scilla siberica) – perennial bulb

striped squill (Puschkinia libanotica) – perennial bulb

do you count seven turtles?

trout lily (Erythronium americanum) – perennial

glory-in-the-snow (Chionodoxa sp.) above and below – perennial bulb

‘Leonard Messel’ magnolia (Magnolia x loebneri) – woody tree