I thought I had summer pics of the rock garden plants and the new troughs but I cannot find them. I have one pic I will post now and continue to look. Well, two.

Oh, I found the pictures of the 21 troughs we positioned last fall. Some are really old and were moved to the new site and many were brand new. They do not hold just Semps or Jovi (which I don't think do well here), but all sorts of rock garden plants. some are actually blooming now. Here are a couple of the small troughs. The first is obviously one of the old ones. We have one trough dedicated to semps only. It is probably the best looking at this point in spring and survived quite well. Some of the plants (rock garden) were a bit of an experiment so we are anxious to see who made it and who didn't.

Looks great!!

I like how they're located on a wall so you can see them better at eye level. So is the Alaska Botanica Garden considered to be in zone 4b also? How long do you have snow on the ground during the year?

The troughs are about 24" at the top so not quite counter level high but better than the ones on the ground. They are considered a zone 3. Normally I would say we have snow on the ground from October to late March but this year it was pretty skimpy. We had snow but not very deep. Maybe a foot or so on the ground out back. Normally snow covers my raised beds which are 18" tall. As with the terrible weather the folk down south have been having, we have been having really mild winters with little snow. Not entirely a good thing as gardeners know when the temps persist in going down to the mid low 20's at night. It was 28F last night at my house. AccuWeather shows that the last week of April we will start being above freezing at night and solid above from May on. Time to move stuff to the raised beds for sure.

Actually your weather doesn't sound a whole lot different from ours these days. When I got up yesterday it was 32 deg.! We only had a few snowstorms this winter too, which was pretty unusual. Hubby had to keep going out and shoveling snow on top of my raised beds to try and keep them covered.

Yup. Sounds familiar. And sort of silly also. I have two beds next to the house, little ones, that are so protected that I shovel snow on them also to protect the few perennials I have there. I think I will cover part of one small rectangular one, leaving only the wild geranium that always does well exposed, and maybe put fabric and mulch down then put a nice large pot on top with annuals. It would look better than what has transpired the past few years.

Got a call from the rock garden people. They are building the new troughs for the ledge built last fall on May 10. I soooooo much want to help. A perfect opportunity to learn how to do it without having to pay for a workshop. But also a great way to meet the other rock garden maintenance crew. Unfortunately I have PT for my back that day. I am going to try to get it moved but not sure how I can help as I have the feeling that it involves heavy lifting and bending both of which are a no no. I could get away with it probably but my PT person would have a cow. Dratdoodle. Guess I can hope for the best that with 10 or so more days of rest and therapy my back can handle a little 'light' lifting.

Don't risk hurting your back (again?) Mary. It's not worth it as new backs won't be issued at milestone birthdays...

You can watch and ask questions!!

I got my PT date changed and Madge (directing this project) said there was a lot of things needed doing that wouldn't involve lifting bags of cement or gravel. So I am happy to be going.

This Sunday is spring cleanup at the rifle range and if you work six hours you get a free annual pass. I am hoping to be able to do that. We'll see. Depends on what needs doing.

Good news on the event of not having to lift heavy things. Tell Madge we all said thank you.
Great photos of both snow and newly emerging troughs. Love those troughs.

I find crevice gardens quite fascinating. It doesn't matter if they are big or small. One of these days I will make one but it is hard to find suitable rocks here.

I am eyeballing a bed (3x3' is all) that I made up last year. I am thinking the way it is set up and rimmed with rock that with a little change in soil composition it would make a great rock garden. If I actually get it done, and I think I will, I will post a picture.

That sounds like a perfect size!!

Can't wait to see a picture!!

Tomorrow we are making more new tufa troughs for the garden. Not really tufa, but rather some sort of concrete aggregate mix. I have not made them before but have seen many articles about making them. They said they would be quite large. Not sure how they will move them from the lady's home to the botanical garden but happily I won't be involved with that. It will be nice to be involved in actually making them though. Then maybe I can make a couple of my own.

Sounds exciting!

We'll see. I was also asked to take pictures of the process for the garden's photo album and newsletter. Glad to be able to do something helpful.

How exciting. I can't wait to see the photos Mary. From beginning process of making them, to the finished placement and planting.