Earliest Color in the Garden
This year I’ve been out in the garden just looking around, deciding where I can move plants when it is finally warm enough to start the annual chore of garden clean up. Here in Northern Michigan our weather has been - as it always is in April - capricious.
So, until there have been enough heating degree days for me to feel comfortable that my clean-up won’t affect pollinators that have overwintered in my garden, I’ve enjoyed the blooms of snow drops and three types of squill that have naturalized in a couple patches in our gardens.
Because the squill are several different colors I used the Picture This app on my phone to photograph them all and that’s provided me with the opportunity to learn a little more about squill. Using the app I identified three different types that are in our yard: they include Siberian Squill (deep blue) Lucille’s Squill (blue and white) and Striped Squill (white with blue stripes) which is also known as Russian Snowdrop.
I have no idea when my mother first planted squill in the yard or where she planted it but it’s been there over 35 years and I’ve done nothing to stop its spread.
Maybe I should… in reading up on it I realize that it can be invasive, but I’m doing bigger battles with Myrtle (or Periwinkle), Oriental Bittersweet, Tree of Heaven and Lily of the Valley.
Now that I know that squill can be invasive I’ll keep my eye on it to make sure it’s not spreading into any woodland areas. If that happens, much as I love the naturalized patches of it as the first harbinger of spring, I’ll start eradicating it.
Creative and targeted programs that make an impact are the hallmark of experienced marketing professional Ruth Steele Walker. Focusing on results that improve the bottom line, she accelerates projects from conception to implementation with a mastery of writing, production, placement, budgeting and coordination.
During more than 25 years with Foremost Corporation of America, the nation's leading insurer of manufactured housing and recreational vehicles, Walker consistently produced effective communications programs that resulted in increased net written premium. Her expertise in crisis communications was a vital part of Foremost's exemplary customer service in the wake of hurricanes, floods and earthquakes. Walker specializes in communications targeting the 50+ demographic, with an emphasis in communications for the 65+ segment.
Among other achievements, Walker developed communications for the merger of Foremost and Farmers Insurance, addressing audiences including customers, employees, trade and consumer media. For Foremost's 50th anniversary, she created a celebration program of internal and external promotions, special events, recognition and a 162-page commemorative book.
Earlier in her career, Walker was a newspaper reporter, a TV and radio producer, and worked in national sales and traffic at network TV affiliates. Walker earned a BA in journalism from Michigan State University and an MS in communications from Grand Valley State University.
She and her husband Scott operate a small vineyard in Michigan's Leelanau Peninsula, producing premium vinifera wine grapes. The vineyard has been the largest local supplier for Suttons Bay wine label L. Mawby, recently named one of the world's top producers of sparkling wines.
