Fall 2022 News & Appreciation for our Volunteers from Boerner’s Horticulturists!
Jessica Cloninger – Trial Gardens
- The 2022 All-American Selections (AAS) Display Bed theme was: Games in the Garden.
Showcasing over 40 AAS Winning varieties of plants and various classic games throughout.
As always, planted by my great group of volunteers. -
Thank you to our volunteers for your hours of weeding and mulching.
Next years bed will be ‘Whimsical’.
Becky Black – Peony Garden & Day Lily Path
- The Peony Garden was cleaned up for the season.
Future goals are to remove ailing plants and replace. - The Daylily path has been pruned. As time permits doing some tree trimming, clearing overgrown areas, and separating grasses from the flowers.
Also, many of the Daylily beds will benefit from dividing.
I would like to thank all the volunteers that helped maintain my areas. The amount of work that got done this season would not have been possible without your help! Thank you all very much!
Lorrie Burrows – Herb Garden
We are so grateful for all your help this year in the Herb Garden and area around Annabelle’s.
- New paving was installed in half of the Herb Garden and the Annabelle’s concession area this past spring.
- Two huge yews were removed from the 10-foot tall hedge to widen the entry and allow equipment into the garden. Four of the 60-plus-year-old boxwoods were dramatically pruned to enable construction.
Our Herb Garden volunteers Vaughn Ausman, Sharon Untz and A.J. Star were so instrumental with weeding, planting and general clean up following construction.
- The Herb Society display, “Plants of the African Diaspora”, flourished in its second year. Sorghum, peanuts, watermelon, collards and black-eyed peas, as well as okra, sweet potatoes and bananas illustrated this Black History-centered project.
Rose Deter – Pattern Beds & Visitor’s Center
Pattern Beds
- The pattern beds filled in swiftly after a late start (planting was delayed while irrigation repairs were made).
- The blue and silver-themed beds delighted visitors and attracted a bevy of hummingbirds. Our hummer flock feasted on Salvia Guaranitica ‘Black & Blue, an attractive perennial cultivar…one of their favorite plants.
These winged wonders were our constant companions as we worked in the garden.
Visitor Center
- Falling leaves, acorns being gathered by the squirrels and the cool mornings tell us that it’s time for the gardens around the Visitors Center to be put to bed.
- Part of this process is the removal of the Annuals and the great Tulip Bulb planting parties! Well maybe not a party exactly but, enjoying each other’s company while anticipating spring color of Jump up violets and tulips.
You have been so good to come and give your time to Boerner Botanical Gardens.
The cool spring, and the hot summer sun did not hold you down!
The impact that you have made is so grand! We cannot do it all without your help! Thank you so much!
Marla Peterson – Shrub mall & Rainwater Harvesting Garden
- With this past year being my first full year experience at Boerner, I was able to see the changes of the four seasons in the gardens.
- There was a variety of spring bulbs and short term ephemerals (annuals) that came up in the shrub mall, which I would like to expand in the coming years.
- Even though we had a slow warm up this summer the annuals that my volunteers and I planted filled in very nicely.
- A new evergreen was added to the shrub mall with the help of volunteer Rich Nehm.
It is a topiary scotch pine that came from the Domes, and I think it fits in perfectly in the collection.
As I reflect on this past year, I want to give a BIG thanks to all the volunteers that helped in the Rock Garden while Amber was away, as well as with regular tasks in the Shrub Mall and Rainwater Harvest. I look forward to seeing you next year!
Rheanne Pahl – Annual Garden
The annual garden for 2023 will have a focus on pollinator friendly annuals, playful color and texture combinations, and if possible, mosaic art pieces intermixed into the garden beds. My goal for the garden is to create a landscape that is playful, pollinator friendly and brings out the inner child in all that visit.
A focus on pollinator annuals is top priority – red and blue salvia to attract hummingbirds, Verbena bonariensis for bees and butterflies, and plenty of fragrant sweet alyssum. Expect to see playful color combinations such as bright yellows, pinks and purples as well as swarms of monochromatic themes and warm tones throughout. Mosaic garden structures are planned as a winter project and will hopefully be ready for installation come the 2023 season, if not then, certainly 2024. The idea is for mosaic pieces to complement and flow with the garden beds and add an extra element of texture, light and surprise.
“Much of life becomes background, but it is the province of art to throw buckets of light into the shadows and make life new again.” – Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of the Senses.
Thank you for all that you do as volunteers, gardeners and humans. I can’t wait to start planting with you in June!
Marian French – Rose Garden & Perennial Mall
I want to thank all of the volunteers who assisted in the Rose Garden & Perennial Mall this season.
We really got a lot done! From spring clean-up to pruning roses to the endless hours of weeding I have nothing but gratitude for everyone’s perseverance and dedication to the gardens.
- I was able to host several workdays this year that brought together many Master Gardeners and members of the Greater Milwaukee Rose Society helping with the roses. It was a great way to get people involved who didn’t otherwise have time to commit to regular volunteering but wanted to help the gardens. Because of all the positive feedback from participants, I am hoping to organize more of these workdays next year, so stay tuned and watch your emails!
For the rest of this year, I will be on maternity leave until sometime this winter.
I am expecting my first little one (a girl!) around the end of October and couldn’t be more excited to bring a new gardener into the world! By the time next spring rolls around, I will be hitting the ground running and planting new roses all throughout the garden.
For my regular volunteers, please watch for my start of spring email in early April
(weather depending).
And again, THANK YOU ALL for all of your hard work this season!!
NEWS! As of November 9: Marian had her baby and named her Bernadette Rose!
*Photo by Jessica Cloninger
**Photo by Marla Peterson