Spring is When You Feel Like Whistling. . .

"April hath put a spirit of youth in everything" William Shakespeare

The gardens are changing every day -- sometimes it seems they are changing every hour ! We have had unusually hot ( almost record breaking) temperatures -- mid- to high- 80s -- for early April. This can be a good thing---lots of time to get garden cleanup started, quick seed starting, and beautiful spring blooms. BUT, it can also be a negative---we will definitely still have some below 32 degree nights/mornings, which can damage all the blooms and new growth showing on everything, weeds are already actively growing so pre-emergent treatment may be too late, and it makes everyone want to plant warm season flowers and vegetables. It's still weeks away from being safe to plant summer annuals ---petunias, geraniums, tomatoes, peppers, etc. Our last frost date range is May 10 -- 15.

Our first Fridays in the Garden is tomorrow and there is plenty of work to be done! Our goal is to get the vegetable area cleaned and ready for some cool season crops to be planted.

Hosta leaves emerging


It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want--oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so! Mark twain

Spring is in the Air!

The garden is coming into it's full Spring glory! The trees are flowering and leafing out, the daffodils are blooming, and the tulips are up about 5 inches, we're waiting for their buds to appear. We have spinach, radish, and carrot showing new growth in the vegetable area.


Our "Fridays in the Garden" work days will start in a couple of weeks. As always in a garden, there's plenty to do before we start the fun task of planting annuals.


The catkins have formed on the Harry Lauder's Walking Stick .

Happy Spring!!

The garden is awakening from it's winter slumber! After experiencing our 5th coldest winter in recorded history, the plants are slowly waking. The thousands of daffodils are budding and some are already in bloom. The trees and shrubs have swollen buds, ready to explode with a few more warm, sunny days.

Two of the educational programs that we welcome to our gardens have planted onions, lettuce, radish, spinach, peas and potatoes in the vegetable area.
It's time to call in the volunteers to start raking and cleaning the beds. As always, there is much work to be done! Tree Peony leafing out.
Merrill Magnolia ready to pop!

Mother Nature's Glory

The garden is beautiful after the snow ! It is especially pretty because we had rain all day Friday, which froze and then received 4-5" of snow. We have some small trees and shrubs that are bent with the weight of the snow/ice, but, hopefully, we won't have too much damage. It is worse to try and knock the ice off plants than let it melt naturally. More damage occurs when humans try to help!

Our grower, S. Zink, is busy planting seeds for us. She grows all the vegetables and herbs that we use in the garden and for our many spring classes. She also starts the annuals used in the demonstration and display beds. David started some broccoli and cauliflower seeds in the office on Friday.

We received sad news this morning. Dolores Fink, horticulture technician, passed away this morning after a short illness. She was the pleasant voice and smiling face our clients were met with when calling or visiting with a question or plant problem. She will be missed for her grace and positive attitude.

Winter Wonderland

Our first snow of the year!
We received between 4 and 5 inches yesterday through this morning. Unfortunately we are also having temperatures in the single digits. The highs have only reached 22 degrees for the past 8 days. But, snow acts as an insulator for plants, so this snowfall was a good thing for them. With the cold temps forcasted for another few days, we won't be too concerned about any plant protection . We always keep a good layer of mulch on all our flower beds and plants because of the cold wind coming off the lake, blowing across the garden constantly.

We are spending time choosing seeds and plants from the many catalogs we receive. The orders will go in by Tuesday; our grower will need to start some by the end of January. It's always a fun time of year!

We are making final plans for our spring gardening classes; I will post them on the blog in the next week.

Enjoy nature's beauty!

Extending the Season

We put the plastic on the final 3 raised beds today -- just before the forecasted rain/snow tomorrow! We will have carrots, lettuce and broccoli fresh from the beds for Christmas!

Final Friday in the Gardens

The final Friday in the Gardens was a busy one! The 4 who braved the fog and chill completed a mountain of work! The last of the daffodil bulbs were planted in the new shade bed.
They got all the Canna rhizomes cleaned and packed away for the winter.

The brackets and hoops were put on the raised vegetable beds. Next week we will put the plastic over them and fasten them down tightly.

This is the beautiful salad we had as part of our lunch. All
the ingredients came from the garden! Lettuces, carrots, green onions, broccoli and sugar snap peas---YUM!

After lunch we met with our grower and decided what would go in the annual flower beds next year----a busy, fulfilling day of work!