A variety of valuable vegetation at Rotary Gardens
Photo
Rotary Gardens volunteer Charlotte Burrington of Edgerton, double checks lilly plants for the proper tagging on 05-14-09. The gardens holds it's annual spring plant sale on Friday and Saturday.
IF YOU GO
What: Rotary Botanical Gardens spring plant sale
When: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., today, Saturday and Sunday.
Where: The horticulture center, just west of the gardens’ main entrance at 1455 Palmer Drive, Janesville.
For more information: Go to www.rotarygardens.org.
JANESVILLE — Beans, beans, the musical fruit, the more you eat, the more you support Rotary Botanical Gardens.
That’s not quite how the rhyme goes, but it’s an appropriate beginning for a story about this weekend’s plant sale at the gardens.
The sale runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, Saturday and Sunday.
This year’s sale includes:
-- 250 varieties of daylilies from the gardens’ William Potter Day Lily Collection. Colors range from pale yellow to a deep red that’s almost purple. The lilies are divided by color, and tags specify height and variety. A small selection of “mystery lilies” with no variety information also will be sold.
“Daylilies can handle sun or part shade. They tolerate a wide range of soil conditions and are very low maintenance,” said Mark Dwyer, gardens horticultural manager.
-- 25 varieties of sweet peppers and 25 varieties of hot peppers. The sweet peppers range in color from ordinary green to yellow, orange, red and purple. The hot peppers range in heat from a tiny nip of fire to a major conflagration.
-- 25 varieties of basils: Lemon, Thai, lettuce leaf—and those are just the ordinary ones.
-- 25 varieties of heirloom runner and pole beans seeds with names such as Greasy Grits, Christmas Large Speckled Lima, Marvel of Venice, Rattlesnake and Pretzel Bean.
The Cherokees carried one of the varieties, Cherokee Trail of Tears, during the march from Tennessee to Oklahoma in the winter of 1838.
-- 100 varieties of heirloom tomatoes. These tomatoes are pink, yellow, purple, black, red, white, orange, yellow with red streaks, yellow with pink streaks, green, green striped and just about every other combination you can think of. Variety names include Woodle Orange, Zapotec Pink Ribbed, Sausage, Purple Calabash and Oxheart Giant.
All the proceeds benefit Rotary Gardens. The garden receives no tax dollars.
Although the garden instituted a $5 entry fee this year, the annual spring sale still is a crucial part of the budget.
The garden has a small staff and runs on tens of thousands of volunteer hours. This year, volunteers divided 250 daylilies from the gardens’ Potter Day Lilly Collection under the direction of Potter himself. That work yielded nearly 2,500 divisions.
On Thursday, volunteers were charged with the tedious task of placing wafer thin, annoyingly flexible plant tags into thousands of vegetable and herb plants. Another set of volunteers prepared the area for visitors.
Their only reward? A piece of strawberry-rhubarb pie and an “attaboy” from Dwyer during a mid-morning break.
Of course, any person who volunteers 36 hours a year is rewarded with a free membership to the garden. Many of the volunteers who worked Thursday had already reached that mark.
May 17, 2009 at 8:58 a.m.
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hannah, Thank you!
May 16, 2009 at 1:38 p.m.
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By chance does anyone know when the "free" day is?
May 16, 2009 at 12:06 p.m.
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i purchased a large brick for the pathway a while ago. now, do i have to pay to visit my stone that i alreaedy paid $300 bucks for.???
May 16, 2009 at 9:01 a.m.
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PJGnyc and all: The sale is held at the Horticultural Center, which is off to the side of the gardens, behind the prairie and the golf course, against the hill (there is usually directional signage). Much more room for sale items, and no $5 extra charge to make your purchases. (ps: they do take credit/debit card payment)
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A note to everyone about the weather...it's going to get nippy tonight, so cover up those items that you may have set out too soon. Your houseplants you moved outside, newly planted geraniums, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, etc., prefer warmth (as I do!). Remeber to take the covering off before you go to church/go out for breakfast. Probably the last time we'll need to coverup this spring.
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Here is a graphic chart of the weather conditions/temps for the next 48 hours in Jville area: http://tinyurl.com/Jville-48hrs
Here is a 15-day forecast chart: http://tinyurl.com/Jville-15days
Looks like we can plant our beans, squash, cucumbers--and especially peppers (if you haven't already)--soon!
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If you want more information about your garden plants, check out this link for UW Extension bulletins. Be sure to click on the "view the pdf" to read the document on-line, or print at home. The cost is if you need to order a copy.
http://learningstore.uwex.edu/Lawn-Garde...
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If you have questions, check out the Rock County Extension horticultural website: http://rock.uwex.edu/hort/index.html.
You can call, email, or even take in samples to them. Check their website for details.
May 16, 2009 at 8:03 a.m.
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The gardens are a great asset to Janesville. Yes, disappointed that there is now a fee, but, the place is beautiful, and that costs $.
Now, one thing that would help in this article would be to tell the readers if it costs the $5 to get into the plant sale, and the range in cost for the plants they are selling. That would help people make the decision between going there or heading out to K-Mart or Walmart for their plant purchases today...
May 15, 2009 at 11:16 p.m.
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armyof3: I have been there several times and have always placed donations in the container at the entrance. I appreciate the beauty and the hard work of those who maintain the Rotary Gardens. It is sad that they now have to charge an admission charge but they need to survive. I will pay the new admission price in hopes that my offering can help.
May 15, 2009 at 9:43 p.m.
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I'm not in disagreeance that Rotary isn't a beautiful garden, and is aiding the community when it comes down to seasonal harvests such as this... just disappointed that the commitee has chosen to go against the original founder's wish and charging for admission to this originally free community garden... especially seeing how we're a family of 6+...
May 15, 2009 at 6:07 p.m.
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I love Rotary Gardens! Its full of beautiful foliage. The maintenance at the facility is second to none. I'll be there! I love daylillies!
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