#2342 volunteer time is starting

I got my first volunteer hours of the year this morning when I went on a tour of the Water Conservation Garden (WCG) at Red Butte Garden (RBG). The WCG is the newest part of the overall garden. The plantings began in 2016 and the area was open to the public in May 2017. It's been fun to watch the plants fill in and grow over the past couple of years.

The tour this morning was given by a couple of the gardening staff, and I believe their specialty is the WCG. They were very knowledgeable about everything from the rocks that were used on the walls (from the Heber area) to the soil (enhanced clay) to the hundreds of different plants that are in the area.

Granted, it is not very beautiful here right now. Winter is slowly, slowly giving way to spring. Lots the plants are matted down from the snow, ice, and rain. There are no leaves or buds on most of the trees. There are still patches of dirty snow laying around in places. But...there are signs that spring is on the way. Red Butte Garden has done an incredible job of planting thousands of bulbs throughout the garden, mostly daffodils, but there are lots of little crocuses and hyacinths and other little bulb flowers starting to shoot up. I saw patches of purple and splashes of yellow here and there.

It was cold, cloudy and a little windy. Up at the top of the WCG, the highest part of the garden, the wind was cold. I was glad to be wearing layers of clothing and that I had some gloves.

By far the best part of day though, was the super-cute gardener who gave the tour. His name is Guy and damn, he is handsome. Kind of a Ryan Reynolds look with long hair and a beard. Sometimes I just stared at him and didn't tune in to what he was saying, even though he was smart and interesting and knew what he was talking about. I wanted to take his picture but that would have been obvious. LOL I'm pretty sure he's a good 25 years younger than me. I can still appreciate a cute guy, though!