Lucky You

You get a bonus post today just because my last post didn't post properly.

How about that snow? So far the consensus is "I'm tired of the cold." Is that true? Are you tired of the cold? Inquiring minds don't really care but I do. Let me know how you feel about this cold burst of weather we are having. It doesn't seem to be bothering the bulbs any and the pansies are thrilled.

I was hoping our pathway for the new garden would be put in today but it looks like maybe tomorrow. That's why I'm sick of the cold weather. I'm ready for our garden to spring into action. Yes. The pun was intended. I'm my father's daughter after all.

Here is the link to the nice article the Sentinel ran about the Gardens.

That about does it for today. Oh yeah. One more thing. Look here parents, I'm sure it is tough raising kids today. I think raising kids is the hardest thing you are ever going to do but you have got to teach them to respect things that are not theirs. We had some vandals down at the Gardens over the weekend. I don't appreciate having the Gardens torn up. It isn't the dollar amount that bothers me. It is the pain in the neck it is to clean everything up. Plus, the blatant disregard for all the hard work we put in down here. Not that the darling little vandals care one way or the other. They don't even think about all the hard work we put in down here. So parents I'm pleading with you to take a little more time with your kids. Find out what they are up to. Let them know that you care.

Write It While You Got It

My internet connection has been a bit sketchy lately so I'm giving you the update while I've got one.

Snow? Snow! It was good to have a little moisture. It wasn't nearly enough in my opinion and I don't know what it did to the apricots and plums but it was nice anyway.

The new garden nearly has the all the hardscape in place. That is very exciting. The irrigation is done. The rocks are put in and they look fabulous. The path is laid and the road base is being put in. The StaLok will be smushed into place on Monday. Then we test the pump and the Netafim filter. The plants should be coming April 13th after 400 screaming children tear through the Gardens looking for Easter Eggs.

Yes, that means the annual Easter Egg Hunt is Saturday April 11th. It starts at noon though so if you show up at 10am you're gonna have a long wait.

Four new volunteers started today. They are all rip-roaring and ready to go. Kenton has plenty of help with his updating of the Color and Harmony Garden. The Children's Garden also looks like it will be well-tended this year. Likewise the Amphitheater. It looks like we may have enough folks on hand to take care of the rest of it but feel free to come down and lend a hand if you feel so inclined

I'm a Big Liar

As if you all didn't know, I'm a big liar. "I'll see you tomorrow" and here it is weeks later. Please forgive me. Here is a quick run down on what's been keeping me away from you my faithful reader, uh, I mean readers.

Our Executive Director has resigned to become a stay-at-home-dad. What an adventure! It will make managing the Gardens seem like a piece of cake. We wish him well.

We are doing a lot of really great improvements in the butterfly house. Unfortunately that means that we don't have any butterflies at the moment. It looks like it will be a couple more weeks before we'll be done. The Butterfly Wranglers are practicing their roping techniques in the meantime.

We are working on the structural elements for our new native plant garden. There is a lot of heavy equipment in the gardens. Have I already mentioned that I got to ride in a dumptruck? It was fabulous! We placed rocks yesterday and the day before. It it amazing how a backhoe operator can just pluck up a boulder and set it down right where you want it. The plants will be showing up in about 3 weeks. Yay! Yikes!

The NRCS came out today and did an incredible workshop on revegetation planting. I got to use this bright yellow 8 pound drill to plant willows with. I loved that the safety tip for it was "Now this drill will keep spinning if you hit rock so take your thumb off of the power or it will spin you around." Sounds like a carnival ride. I know the guys all know this and probably a lot of you gals out there too but power tools are fun. However, it was nothing compared to the huge augur that NRCS Keith operated to dig the planting holes for the cottonwoods. I was a little nervous because you have to put the tree in as the augur comes out of the hole or the hole fills up before you can plant the tree. Like 99.9% of worry, it was for nothing. It went in slick as a whistle. You have to be careful though or the augur will hit you in the head. Revegetation is dangerous. Who knew?

The Gardens almost burned down Sunday night but thanks to the firefighters, policemen and BLM crews they contained the fire that started down on the river and put it out before it did too much damage. Sounds like not a big deal but you should have seen the flames and the wind. It was awful and headed right for the Gardens. I was there watching the flames get closer when the police evacuated the area. There wasn't anything I could do so I was trying to be logical about it. The damage wouldn't be too bad really. It is early spring. A good fire would probably clean everything out. And hey the Arizona Cypress would germinate seeing as how they need a fire to do that. I freaked out anyway. But they got it under control, I don't know how they did it but they did. Boy am I happy. We still have a garden. They did a great job.

Well boys and girls I think that is enough excitement for one day. Catch ya next time.

OK Already.

I'm back. I took a short hiatus there. It has just been so busy at the Gardens the last month or so. Plus, I never know if any of you are actually out there reading. But tonight I got a call letting me know for sure there is at least one of you so due to popular demand you'll be once again immersed in the thrilling day to day activities at the Western Colorado Botanical Gardens. Now if I could just find my computer cord I could download the photos I've been taking of the Gardens the last few days. Spring is definitely doing some stretches and limbering up and getting ready for the next few months.

See you tomorrow!