Believe it or not, spring is just around the corner!  I am sure you are already thinking about gardening, even though we have a few months until we can get out into our gardens and yards.  Have you been thinking about what you will need to nourish your garden.  Will you be purchasing compost, potting soil or mulch?  Green Bay Botanical Garden can help you out - we are now taking orders for our Annual Mulch, Compost and Potting Soil Sale.  Each year we sell bagged Cocoa Bean Mulch, Cocoa Bean & Rice Hull Mix, Fafard Mix 3B, Rice Hull Mix and Worm Castings.  This year we are offering two new products: STA Certified Leaf Compost and Organic-Based Potting Soil.  Purchasing these products through Green Bay Botanical Garden is easy and convenient (we load everything into your vehicle for you) and it supports the Garden too!  Click here for more information on the products available and to download a printable order form. 

All pre-orders are due by March 30, 2010 and products will be available for pick-up on Friday, April 30, 2010 for GBBG members and on Saturday, May 1, 2010 for non-members.  Interested in membership to Green Bay Botanical Garden, click here.  Limited quantities of these products will be available on the pick-up days and throughout the spring to accommodate those who missed the deadline. 

Happy Gardening and thank you for supporting Green Bay Botanical Garden!  THINK SPRING!

Green Bay Botanical Garden (GBBG) is excited about the new gardens that are being installed in 2010!  Both areas are located across the asphalt path from the existing Gertrude B. Nielsen Children’s Garden.  GBBG received gifts from Herb and Gladys King to create a shade garden and from the estate of Elsie Jenquine to create a pavilion, overlook, and garden. 

The King Shade Garden includes numerous boulder walls as well as a constructed ruin of a spring house.  The garden will have a strong collection of hostas with approximately 190 different cultivars.  There will also be about 75 other species and cultivars of shade tolerant perennials as well as understory trees and shrubs including a large variety of hydrangeas. 

The Jenquine Project planting includes numerous species and cultivars of native plants.  The many new cultivars of coneflowers and false indigos are well represented in the collection.  The area also will have many new trees and shrubs.  Together the King Shade Garden and Jenquine Project will add 200 trees and shrubs to the garden.

The majority of the hardscapes (paths and stonework) for both areas were installed in the fall of 2009.  In early 2010, the spring house will be constructed in the King Shade Garden and the pavilion will be erected in the Jenquine Project.  GBBG staff along with NWTC students, volunteers, and local garden clubs will install the plants.  We hope to have the majority of the plants in the ground by the end of June and for sure by the 2010 Garden Walk (July 10th and 11th).

So, get ready for the roll out of a 1.5 acre addition to your local botanical garden and experience a perennial adventure – literally!!

Do you ever wonder what the staff at Green Bay Botanical Garden are doing during the winter months?  Winter gives the staff and other gardeners time to plan for the upcoming gardening season.  While winter has laid its blanket of white all around us, color is being fed to us through magazines, brochures, seed catalogs, and if we are lucky, trips to faraway places where color abounds.  Winter gives us a fresh start, a clean slate.

So where do you start?  First, seek inspiration- inspiration from fellow gardeners, magazines, other gardens and of course, Green Bay Botanical Garden (check out our resource information section on our website)!  And for special gardens such as our Gertrude B. Nielsen Children’s Garden, inspiration comes from kids.  Consider what you like and what you don’t like… gardening is truly a personal thing.  Then start with the “bones” and work from there (“bones” are fixed objects such as hardscape, trees, etc).  Some things to keep in mind: are the plants you are choosing tolerant of sun or shade, dry or moist soil, annuals or perennials?  (Annuals are plants that have a plant hardiness zone rating that is higher than the current zone that you live in.  Around Northeast Wisconsin, the plant hardiness zone tends to be Zone 4 or 5).  Also consider the space you have to work with.  Drawing or mapping out your plans can be helpful; others prefer to visualize in their mind their plans.  Whichever method you choose, sometimes the hardest part is getting started.

Gardening is truly an expression of you… not anyone else, so let yourself be the guide.  Once you have an inspiration, there will be no stopping you!  Share your inspiration with me – send me an e-mail at spingel@gbbg.org (Sarah Pingel, Horticulture & Education Specialist)

Still don’t know where to start?  Sign up for our Landscape Design classes this spring and get expert advice on how to plan your spring garden!

Think spring and happy planning!

If you’ve been longing for the sweet scent of spring and feel like you need the refreshment of a quick getaway to make it through these last long weeks of winter – we’ve got the perfect solution!

You’re invited to join us March 9 & 10 for Green Bay Botanical Garden’s overnight trip to the Chicago Flower & Garden Show at Navy Pier! 

February 5 is the last day to sign up, so don’t hesitate or you’ll miss out on one of the country’s premier floral events.  From intricately designed theme gardens to realistic displays that will give you ideas for your own garden, from hands-on workshops to educational seminars, from the latest garden gadgets to time-tested favorites – there’s something for everyone.  Also returning for another year are the hugely popular Tablescapes and Garden Gourmet presentations.

In conjunction with the “Cultivating Great Performances” theme of this year’s show, which highlights Chicago’s acclaimed theaters, we will stay in the heart of the theater district and enjoy a private tour of the legendary Chicago Theatre.  And to make our getaway even better, a special group lunch and visit to the Art Institute of Chicago are included on March 9, in addition to our full day at the flower show on March 10.

Click here  for full details and a registration form.  We hope you’ll come along!