Blog | Rotary Botanical Gardens

Golden Conifers in Winter

Posted: February 17, 2015 by Mark Dwyer in Blog

For us in the Midwest, the winter landscape can be a bit bleak with lots of white and brown out there. Our “winter interest” gardens should also contain colorful stems, ornamental berries and a lot more conifers for color. Plant form and structure also becomes more conspicuous with all of our woody plants. Yellow in the winter landscape can be extremely ornamental and there are many conifers that can provide that interest. There are some deciduous conifers that get a yellow fall coloration before their needles drop and there are other conifers that have yellow spring highlights and fade to green. The focus in this blog however, is on those that will offer some degree of yellow/gold/chartreuse during those long winter months. The photo above is the ‘Yellow Ribbon’ arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis) which is a common variety that shines in the winter (deer like it too though!). In many cases, the most intense golden coloration on these selections will come in the winter months. Some of these will also have bright growth in spring but certainly add some eye-catching interest in our dull winter landscape. Don’t forget to also include ornamental bark, berries, colorful stems, engaging plant forms and other elements for 12 months of interest!

It was a quiet day at the Horticulture Center. Larry H. was out bringing in more lights and both Bill and Larry O. were processing lights inside along with some other projects. We also saw Gary and Dr. Yahr today and our Horticulture Therapy Committee met in the afternoon to discuss our August 11th event entitled “Incorporating Gardening Into a Therapy Program”. This all day event will have lecture components and many hands on activities. From the description for this program…”This program is specifically designed for those that work with special populations and are interested in learning about the benefits gardening can provide their clients, as well as how it may be incorporated into a therapy program.” This event will also be of interest for the avid gardener as it will address accessibility and gardening as we age!

golden Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris ‘Gold Coin’)

golden Virginia pine (Pinus virginiana ‘Wate’s Golden’) – above and below

golden Nordmann fir (Abies nordmanniana ‘Golden Spreader’) – above and below with a bit of winter damage

golden lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia ‘Chief Joseph’) – above and below

golden mugo pine (Pinus mugo ‘Carsten’s Wintergold’)

golden hemlock (Tsuga canadensis ‘Aurea Compacta’)

golden falsecypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Golden Mops’) – above and below

golden falsecypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Sungold’)

golden falsecypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Sepers Gold’)

golden bird’s nest spruce (Picea abies ‘Repens Gold’)

golden juniper (Juniperus chinensis ‘Saybrook Gold’)

golden Oriental spruce (Picea orientalis ‘Skylands’)

golden mugo pine (Pinus mugo ‘Aurea’) – winter color

golden white pine (Pinus strobus ‘Hillside Winter Gold’) – winter color

golden Korean fir (Abies koreana ‘Aurea’)

golden arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis ‘Holmstrup Yellow’)

Marvelous Masterwort (Astrantia major)

Posted: February 16, 2015 by Mark Dwyer in Blog

We’re back from another successful Garden Expo hosted by Wisconsin Public Television at the Alliant Center Exhibition Hall this past weekend up in Madison, WI. Our booth was visited often and we were able to expose the gardens to a wide range of folks that have never been, haven’t been in awhile and certainly many active visitors and members as well. Special thanks to Kris, Sue, Polly, Gary, Layton, Kathy, John, Jackie, Ron, Bev, Pat, Pete, Larry, Amy, Nancy, Joe, Jim and Jody for helping out with the show. My five presentations seemed well received. We unpacked everything this morning and had a busy day at the Horticulture Center and out in the gardens. Larry H. and new Grumpy Dave went out to bring in lights from the gardens. Gary worked on some projects including labels and Kay processed some more Spring Plant Sale (Mother’s Day weekend!) seeds for our growers. Marv helped Larry unload the Garden Expo supplies and cleaned up/fertilized our indoor tropicals. Dave, Jim, Vern, Ron Y. and Bob K. continued progress on their carpentry projects. Dr. Gredler did a round of painting this morning too. We also saw Lois, Bill O. and many others today.

This blog is dedicated to what I feel is an entirely underutilized perennial. The masterwort (Astrantia major) is a tough perennial that is excellent in the full sun or part sun garden. Above is the variety ‘Roma’ which is a nice shade of pink. Native to Central and Eastern Europe, this perennial prefers rich, medium to wet soils and is a nice companion for Astilbe, ferns and hostas. Don’t put these in a dry location! Reaching an average height of 24″ or so, this perennial features long-lasting, umbrella-shaped blooms that are quite exquisite. Flower color revolves around pink with some varieties bordering on purplish, whitish or reddish. I like all the varieties including the variegated forms like ‘Sunningdale Variegated’ seen below and ‘Vanilla Gorilla’ at the bottom. It is important to note that the variegated forms have strong variegation at spring emergence but the variegation fades and all but disappears by mid-summer. Some gardeners have mentioned some reseeding issues but we have yet to observe that trend. Put masterworts on your radar and consider adding them to your plant palette! Many of the photos below are unknown varieties (unlabeled at the time of taking the photos) but represent some of the more common varieties with light pink coloration.

‘Sunningdale Variegated’

‘Lars’

‘Vanilla Gorilla’ (variegated)

HLS Take Down (and Prairie Smoke!)

Posted: February 16, 2015 by Mark Dwyer in Blog

As seen in these first couple of photos, the Holiday Lights Show (HLS) take down is going well with steady progress daily. The recent warm up has helped and with only a relatively thin layer of snow out there, we’re able to get to many cords as well. Our system of storage is quite organized and we’re trying some new tricks with large spools (donated by B&J Electric – see second photo down) to help accommodate the increase in lights and cords we needed for this event which saw a record 27,035 attendees! Further down are some of the 2,000 half gallon milk jugs that are used as “luminaries” along the paths. Pat M. created a nice way to store these last year until we drag them out in another 9 months.

It was a quiet day at the Horticulture Center. Bill O. came in to wrap up more larger cords like those seen above (those are his handiwork too!). He has a nice system for wrapping them up and storing them. Dr. Gredler came in to work his “kung fu” on wrapping up drop cords from the pile seen three photos down. Janice continued work on the Spring Plant Sale vegetable selections which look deliciously enticing. Janice will create descriptions for all of these selections that will go on our website in a month or so. Consider becoming a member of the gardens (see rotarygardens.wpengine.com for more information) this year if you aren’t currently part of this program. Not only will you get free admission to the gardens, gift shop discounts, reciprocity at other gardens, etc., but you’ll also be invited to “Members-Only” pre-sales for both the Spring and Fall plant sales. First dibs along with a 10% discount over the entire sale dates is a nice perk to be sure. Put Mother’s Day weekend on your calendar for the sale with Friday, May 8th being the Members only pre-sale! I continue to work on event preparations, seed catalog perusal and other projects of which there is no shortage! See further below for a photographic tribute to prairie smoke (Geum triflorum). We also saw Dick H. and couple of others today.

Prairie smoke (Geum triflorum) is a native perennial that is one of my favorites for interest in the summer months. Reaching only 15″ in height, this is a nice plant in the front of the border or in any bright sunny location. Preferring dry, well-drained soils in full sun, this perennial features nodding, reddish-pink blooms in late spring (see further below) which transform to these wispy, elongated seed heads. With a breeze, they look amazing and ultimately, these feathery “seed tails” help with seed dispersal with late season seeds “sailing” to new destinations. This wispy look has also led to the other common names of this perennial such as torch flower, lion’s beard and old man’s whiskers. Some Native Americans used the boiled roots of this plant to create a tea for wound treatments, sore throats and as a treatment for tuberculosis. We have some nice specimens in our alpine garden although many of these photos are from elsewhere. Note further below the transition from the late spring flower to the wispy appearance (a “months-long” display) and ultimately some fall color as well. This is a tough, durable and long-lived, hardy plant once established.

Spring flowers both directly above and below

a big patch of prairie smoke (Geum triflorum) at the Chicago Botanic Garden

late fall color of prairie smoke (Geum triflorum)

Spring Plant Sale Preparations

Posted: February 13, 2015 by Mark Dwyer in Blog

I’m headed up to the Wisconsin Public Television Garden Expo (www.wigardenexpo.com/) this afternoon but spent the morning working on our Spring Plant Sale. These photos are from previous sales but give you an idea of the scope of this fundraiser. The sale is scheduled for Mother’s Day weekend (May 9th and 10th) from 9 am – 4 pm daily at the Horticulture Center. RBG Friends Members are invited to a pre-sale on Friday, May 8th (same hours) to get a first look at the sale. This is one of the many benefits of RBG Membership! Members also receive a 10% discount over the duration of the sale. We’ll again have a wide range of vegetables, herbs, perennials, woody plants, bagged compost and much more! Check our website out soon for a listing of vegetables and some of the herbs. We’re also offering some of the same historic vegetable varieties that will be on display out in our Thomas Jefferson Collection in the gardens. I love the photo directly above (2003) as we can see Grandpa with his granddaughter helping pick out basil varieties. This is how new gardeners are born! I only saw Chuck S. today and was able to have a productive morning before heading up to Madison for the show.

I think this was my wife’s cart (the first one…)

Perennial “Berries”

Posted: February 12, 2015 by Mark Dwyer in Blog

At the time of writing this blog, I’m dozing off so my verbiage will be mercifully brief for you loyal readers. This morning, Big John and I hauled up all our booth supplies for the Wisconsin Public Television Garden Expo (www.wigardenexpo.com/) which begins tomorrow afternoon and extends throughout the weekend with vendors, demonstrations and seminars. It truly is a great event and we went up early to get the booth set up and avoided the craziness of the other 80% of the show participants doing this same process on Friday. Larry and Bill had done a great job loading everything up in the trailer and we had perfect travelling conditions. This morning I saw Marv, Dr. Gredler, Bob K., Ron Y., Dave, Vern, Jim and some others at the Horticulture Center working on a wide range of projects before I left. I’m sure I missed seeing some others. I got back after lunch with John and had a meeting with Mirjam and Marcia regarding the English cottage garden which they maintain very nicely as assigned garden volunteers. We have a solid plan of attack for 2015. I’m sure it was a productive day at the gardens although I’ll be at the Garden Expo pretty solidly for the next three days with time in the booth and five presentations.

The blog images here show the beauty of the fruiting structures of some of our perennials like white doll’s eyes or white baneberry (Actaea pachypoda) seen above and below with white fruits. Research these for their best habitats and preferred conditions for optimum growth. I’m not sure that all of these fruits are considered “berries” but few would argue their ornamental value. Be wary that some of these selections can spread a bit (reseeding), particularly in warmer climates and two or more of these are also poisonous! We are all aware of ornamental fruits on our trees and shrubs but we tend to be unaware of the beauty that some of our perennials can provide with these colorful fruits which may be the primary ornamental contribution!