Prepping and Planting

Prepping for tomorrow’s big Arb event—Welcome Center dedication and Schools Field Trip—and trying to remember what, among the infinite details, I forgot to get ready.

Pussy willow

Serviceberry

Also planted a a few native trees/shrubs including serviceberry, aronia, pussy willow, false indigo, and hemlock. When it comes to native plants, as a recent convert, I do have to practice what I preach.

Sold Out (almost)

A few bladdernuts left (good tree, bad name), and a smattering of a few other species. Business slow today, but, overall, we made a profit and have some nice things to plant in the Arb. Did I mention that it was cold, gray, and damp this morning, with an emphasis on the cold?

Official photos not yet ready for publication.

Almost Two Hundred…

…trees sorted by species, color-code tagged, and ready for sale. We were accidentally shorted pawpaw and witch hazel, but the nursery will drop ship all that we sell.

Last year we had 150 offerings and sold out. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. Tomorrow’s forecast is cloudy and very cool. But nothing like last year when icy rain attacked us sideways.

Here’s what we have to offer: Tree Sale But not the ironwood—this year’s crop experienced a bad winter and did not survive.

Possibility Place

Brutal drive. Towed a heavy trailer down to the far south side of Chicago (almost to Indiana) to pick up 200 trees from Possibility Place, a top-of-the-line nursery dealing only in native midwest species. Very windy with tornado watches all the way. Found tulips in bloom on return home. Tree sale Saturday and Sunday.

And from Manitoulin friend Therese, a view of today from a different locale:

Sound The Foghorns

On the drive south from Door County we took the lakeshore route, primarily to revisit Algoma and Kewaunee, ports of call previously visited by boat.

The fog was thick.

But this Algoma coffeeshop was amazing. Sometimes you just stumble across something beyond expectation.

Fog not quite as thick in Kewaunee, but still an interesting old town, at one time the first ferry terminal for cross Lake Michigan travel.

Kewaunee is also the last resting place of the huge tug Ludington, which, before my time, helped with the D-day invasion of Normandy.

Great Fun…

…leading a “train the trainer” session. Tree ID, Dendrochronology, and Carbon Dioxide Sequestration.

Wonderful group of University students who have volunteered to be instructional leaders for the Whitewater Schools field trip to the Arb on Arbor Day, April 28.
Very fun leading them through the 3 activities they will be leading.