This Week at Red Butte - Rose the Impaler

The daffodils are doing mighty fine.

We have cherry blossoms too.

I like all the miniature daffodils we have in the rose garden.

And now there are hyacinths. The fragrance garden is just overwhelming with the scent of them.

On Wednesday while most of the volunteers and staff were moving  trees,

I worked on more rose pruning. I had to spend an inordinate amount of time with this vicious bush

that I now not so affectionately have named Rose the Impaler because that was what she did to me, many times. I found little wounds all over my arms after I got home.

On Saturday the regular volunteers and some of the staff did "skilled labor" a.k.a. weeding

while a LARGE number of students from more than one school had to do a fair amount of standing around.

Their job was to mulch and the staff driving the trucks back and forth to the mulch central couldn't keep up with all the help.

I took a walk through the whole garden and was walking behind a bride who was there for photos. It was like following a ghost .. a veiled lady al in white who was always walking away from me. I would just get glimpses of her ahead as the path wound in and out. 

I had the pleasure of talking with some visitors including nice family here from Calgary who couldn't have been more pleased with how much spring we had.

And we do have a lot of lovely spring right now!

Gardening at Red Butte begins

My volunteer work at Red Butte Botanic Gardens has begun. April 2 was the first day. I have only been able to go 3 times so far, what with all the school work I still have to do and the terrible weather we have been having on and off lately. I'm supposed to go tomorrow, but rain and cold may keep me away.

So this blog is a picture blog about what I have done so far. I'll start with some lovely pictures of spring flowers in bloom.

I helped to plant all these little bulbs in the new rose garden a couple of years ago. It was a lot of work.

These little blue irises are my favorites.

But the white ones are pretty sweet too.

So the first day we pruned roses. There was a lot of damage over the winter. I had to prune some bushes almost totally away.

These bushes might not survive.

I also cut back on dead grasses on the second day.

Cutting back on the rosebushes did allow these beautiful shrubs to shine though.

And you will notice my Coffee Garden travel mug there in the corner.

Here is one of the rose beds again.

Be sure to visit the gardens if you can!

Farewell little kitty

I can't yet write any details without crying. Little kitty died on Tuesday April 5, 2011.

I find I look for her all the time and sometimes "see" her out of the corner of my eye, ever so briefly. I plan that in the autumn I will welcome another kitty into my life. But not just now.

Meanwhile the amount of work I have had to do is a bit overwhelming.

And the Zen Center has a big "for sale" sign in front now. Life is all about impermanence, no?