It has been raining most of the day today. The outside crew has been dodging raindrops as they wait for mulch deliveries and continue the spring garden cleanup. There is an example of a raingarden on the Visitor Center Plaza. Come and take a look and get ideas!
There is a crew working on the Como Blooming Butterfly Exhibit, getting the metal structure set up in the next few days---it will look like a caterpillar when it is finished! More butterfly attracting plants are being transplanted in the growing areas to larger pots. It will be a beautiful display starting in June!
There are only a few more days remaining for the Spring Show in the Sunken garden. The show ends Sunday April 27th. We will have a group of about 8 volunteers removing the plants from the beds and saving the bulbs for the upcoming Bulb Sale on May 17th. The bulbs are stored in the Conservatory garage where volunteers sort, remove the flowers and soil and eventually bag up the bulbs for sale. This is a great opportunity to buy those bulbs that were so beautiful in the Spring Show!
The Summer Show design is ready and the plant material in the greenhouse are looking great. After the volunteers remove all the non-permanent plant material from the Sunken Garden on Monday, soil will be a added to any low spots and the remaining soil will be turned and aerated. Ivy may be trimmed. The Arborvitaes were pruned before the last show and will not need pruning until the Fall.
Plants will be shuttled on carts from the growing range greenhouses to the Sunken Garden starting about Tuesday and planting will continue through the week. The Summer Show is scheduled to open Saturday May 3rd at 10:00am. Geraniums, lilies, roses, salpiglossis, petunias and statice are a few of the plants that are scheduled to be in the show.
The Japanese Garden is scheduled to open May 1st. The pool is being filled today. Volunteers and staff have been spending many hours grooming and pruning to get the garden ready for the upcoming opening.
There is so much going on as we move into the spring growing season!
