I think it was roughly 10 day ago that the above image appeared in my e-mail. The fellow standing here (for Scale) is Dennis Groh, a past president of the American Conifer Society, a consummate gardener, and tireless promoter of Conifers as well as the ACS. He is also a patient friend and mentor to countless plants people, and was a dear friend of departed giant-of-the-ACS, Chub Harper, without whom the Harper Dwarf and Rare Conifer Collection would not exist. This conifer collection is a prominent feature of the Hidden Lakes Garden (Michigan State University Botanical Garden) located in Tipton, MI.

Dennis and his wife Carol had gone to Hidden Lakes Garden that day to join in the festivities of a Birthday Celebration and Fundraising event for HLG, but he couldn’t do so without first popping over to have a quick look at the Harper Conifers.

What he found was a familiar sight in this “Age of Covid”. Being closed to the public for such an extended period of time, combined with crippling shortage of staff, gave the opportunistic weeds free range.

Once he returned home, Dennis wasted no time in getting the word out.

All that was required, was to post a note of his visit to Hidden Lakes and the opening photo above.

Within very short order, responses came in, and 2 work days of weed pulling were scheduled for the following week. Much of the Canada thistle were about to shed their seed, and quick action was required.

At roughly 8:00 am Wednesday morning 13 volunteers joined in with 5 Hidden Lakes Garden staff and interns. Some quick directions by the gardens director Paul Pfeifer and it was on!

Everyone got right to it and there was no looking back. Pulled weeds were tossed onto tarps, when the piles of weeds was sufficient, the tarps were rolled up and placed onto carts to be hauled off to the burn site.

Some of the beds had previously received an application of herbicide, and those areas got a quick going over as well.

In spite of the 90 degree temperature and high humidity the work carried on thru the morning

Water breaks and short visits gave everyone a chance to catch up on recent events.

And weedy nooks in need attention offered a shaded, if short-lived respid from the sun.

A wonderful, catered box-lunch revived everyones’ spirits.

These determined gardeners went right back to it, while half of my crew said they’d had enough. It must be noted that not only did Carol & Dennis Groh along with Teresa Holmquist & Betsy Turner carry on thru the remainder of the afternoon session (as did many others) but these four dedicated “Cone-Heads” returned the following day, to guide another group thru a second grueling assault of weed pulling. It is said that many hands make for quick work, but I can tell you it wasn’t quick enough for any of those above.

However, the results could not be denied.

Everyone was far-more than pleased with what was accomplished!

No one more so than this guy! Way to go Dennis, this wouldn’t have happened were it not for you!

(Take a moment and compare the last photo with the very first photo)