Is This Early May?

Nice fall color of the Diabolo ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius 'Monlo') above out in the gardens although most have lost their leaves. The summer color of this large shrub is a dark maroon. Today was another nice day although it was hazy and overcast until this afternoon when the sun came out and blue skies emerged. Our small crew did a great job outside. We missed Kay today as she was sick but Janice went out and did more gardening, lights work and decorating. Larry spent most of the day in the reception garden working on his "pavilion" (see left) which is quite involved but really neat when you walk under it when lit up at night. I ran cords all day except for some meetings that I had to attend. Little Jerry worked on the east border with shrub cutting and leaf collection. Bill helped out today by collecting leaves out of those hard to reach locations. Dr. Gredler was here to run loads to the dump and worked on adding soil to some low spots out in the gardens. Rose and Urban came in yet again (yay!) to repaint our gates and have taken full advantage of the nice weather (see below). As much as we discourage public displays of affection here at the gardens, these two are decidedly incorrigible. Interesting shot (bottom) of a leaf that is all around the gardens. This is the white back-side of a leaf from the upright white poplar (Populus alba 'Fialaspire') in our arboretum that has grown quickly and its leaves are everywhere right now but look neat when you see that white underside. This tree sends out some major root suckers and I imagine wants to create a colony. More of the same tomorrow (including weather!).

This Weather Is On Borrowed Time!

One of my favorite "bench quotes" out in the garden is above. We had another mild day and accomplished a wide range of tasks. The Grumpies had another great turnout and we had Charlie, Roger and Mike scraping up old mulch from the rose garden with John, Rollie, Gary, Dick P and Dick H. all working on pounding stakes to create some temporary deer fencing around our tasty arborvitae hedges. I wish we had done this over the past couple of years. Ron W. and Dick K. helped decorate arches for our lights show (see below). Ron came back with his wife Bev and continued on the arches. We appreciate their effort and hard work (see them two shots below...). Ron B. and Bob C. worked on woodchipping and cutting back daylilies. Urban and Rose were here for pruning and painting and all the carpenters (Del, Dave, Bob A., Jim and Vern) were all here today as well.Marv and Terry continued putting up displays and string lights around the gardens. Marianne and Janice started with tulip planting in the English cottage garden then Marianne moved to string cords and Janice continued bulb planting and general gardening. Jumbo Jim brought in four RECAPPERS that helped plant bulbs and collect leaves. Little Jerry continued to cut back shrubs and Dr. Gredler ran more loads to the dump and continued collecting/mulching leaves out in the turf areas. Larry was a big help with lights set up and all I did today was run cords.

There is still lots of interest out in the gardens despite most of the perennials being cut down. See 'Rave On' coral bells (Heuchera) to the above left. The ornamental grasses are really looking nice including the tall purple moor grass (Molinia caerulea subsp. arundinacea 'Transparent') that starts to yellow up and is a nice grass (see to right) for "transparency" (pun intended). These grasses, while tall, allow for a view thru them as evidenced in the picture. Most of the foliage is in the lower third of the plant with the inflorescences extending well above that to 7' or so. I love all Molinias and we're happy to include many here at the gardens. Speaking of puns, it's a nice time of year for reflection. See below. Get it? "Reflection".

Windy & Warm

The day was chilly to start with but warmed nicely. It ranged from breezy to downright windy today but we all got outside and accomplished a great deal of work. Nice shot above of the fall color of shingle oak (Quercus imbricaria) looking from underneath the tree with light streaming thru. Marv and Terry worked on putting up displays and lights all day and accomplished more than I had planned and were very industrious. Marianne spent most of her time on stringing out our luminary bulbs while Janice did some decorating but was able to do some clean-up gardening in the fern & moss garden. Kay was here and worked in the shade garden. Dr. Gredler hauled loads to the dump and did some more leaf mulching. We also saw Urban, Rose, Julie and Dick H. today. I hauled out displays for the guys to set-up and spent a good portion of time running cords to our growing lights show. We couldn't ask for a better week for set-up as I seem to recall doing these same activies in freezing weather and occasional snow. Larry will continue decorating tomorrow and I'm sure Bill will be in to help clean up. Another nice shot to the left of the Korean feather reed grass (Calamagrostis brachytricha) in our woodland walk garden. We have about 10 clumps like the one above and it really makes a statement this time of year. To the right are the ornamental stems of the coral-stripe maple (Acer pensylvanicum 'Erythrocladum') which gets increasingly brilliant red stems in fall thru the winter. The bottom photo shows the variable fall color of the sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) that really catches the eye as it peaks as most other trees have finished dropping their leaves.

Taking A Day "Off"

Nice shot of our new "duck arch" above. I'm off today but have come in for a meeting this morning. Lots of Grumpy activity including putting our terrace furniture in to storage, hauling shredded leaves, carpentry, etc. Little Jerry is out continuing to prune and Janice will be testing lights and decorating. Larry is working on his display in the reception garden and we should have Bill back this afternoon for more cleanup work. Marilyn and Glenna are out cutting perennials and collecting leaves in the shade garden. Below is one of our signs that Rose has restained and repainted. Our gardens have such a fresh look with all the benches re-lettered and signs re-done. See further below for our assortment of teak and cedar benches that we bring back in each winter to have repaired and restained as needed. Since I'm deficient in plant photos for this blog, look at the "second from the bottom" photo for the fall color of Coppertina ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius 'Mindia') which emerges in spring with copper/orange leaves (see bottom photo) that get a deeper/brighter maroon this time of year. Love that shrub. The bottom two photos are of the same plant (fall and spring). On a total tangent, if you have teen drivers (kids, grandkids, neighbors, etc.) consider passing along this video link about the dangers of text messaging while driving. http://www.maniacworld.com/Texting-While-Driving-PSA.html . Warning, it is very graphic but will hopefully save some lives.

Maintaining Momentum

I was very pleased with all of the progress today. The morning had some drizzle but the weather quickly cleared and warmed up, making it another perfect day for gardening and setting up the holiday lights show. Our momentum has been maintained and progress is evident daily. Nice shot above of a weeping larch (Larix x marschlinsii 'Varied Directions') getting it's golden color before the needles fall (decidious conifer). Kay came in today and continued clearing perennials, collecting leaves, weeding, etc. in the color rooms and we'll utilize her talents yet again on Friday. Urban pruned crabapple suckers today which is an annual endeavor. He does a nice job and wont run out of work anytime soon. Dr. Gredler ran loads to the dump and continued collecting leaves. He finished the last of his 2009 turf mowing today and his efforts are so much appreciated (by staff and visitors alike). We also saw Vern and appreciate Jumbo Jim bringing down 4 RECAPPERS to finish planting our last 2,000 spring blooming bulbs. They did a nice job (see the shot below of all the bulbs layed out in their yellow mesh bags). The shot to the left is in the fern & moss garden although the mossy plant is golden pearlwort or Irish moss (Sagina subulata 'Aurea') that still looks great (not a true moss). To the right is the fall foliage of the smooth witherod viburnum (Viburnum nudum 'Winterthur'). It's nice to see this beacon of red after most other red fall color woodies have already dropped their leaves.
Marianne worked on stringing out our C7 luminary bulbs most of the day. This is not easy as we also have to consider the proximity of power for these and there are close to 2,000 luminaries that need to be ready to go shortly. Jenny may come and help finish with Marianne. Marv and Terry tilled and prepped the bed you see above before the RECAPPERS came to plant bulbs (tulips and alliums). They then did some major decorating in the English cottage garden among other duties related to lights show set-up. Marv and Terry put up over 50% of the lights show which is extraordinary and not common knowledge. Little Jerry worked on pruning/tidying in the parking lot islands and in front of the Parker Education Center. I strung more cords and helped get other projects set-up. LP Tree Service sent four guys down today to help put up lights with their bucket trucks. They are such a great supporter and will be back later to finish the portion of the show that they have historically set-up for us. A great day made better by seeing the blooms of the field scabious (Knautia arvensis) in the Scottish garden, below that the fall color of moor grass (Molinia caerulea subsp. arundinacea 'Skyracer'), the bright needles of the golden lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia 'Chief Joseph') and a nice shot of the Japanese garden which looks great year-round.

A Lucky Break With This Weather

Today was another pleasant day and we accomplished a lot of work with a small crew. Nice shot to the left of the fall color of the golden Boston ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata 'Fenway Gold'). This should get more red soon but I like the current pink overtones. Janice worked on lights and garden clean-up today while we were again fortunate to have Kay here to continue working in our color rooms garden which is a huge space to clear and tidy up. She is truly a "keeper". Dr. Gredler was on the mower all day mulching more leaves. Hopefully all leaves will be down soon! Little Jerry worked most of the day in the main parking lot cutting back various shrubs and collecting debris. Larry worked on putting up a major display and push mowed. I ran about 3,000 feet of cords today which put a nice dent in this overall task. Nice shot to the right of one of the golden variegated yuccas (Yucca filamentosa) that look great even thru the winter. We still have a very full week as we continue to prepare for the holiday lights show and finish up garden clean-up. We hope to finish our bulb planting tomorrow too! Nice shot directly below of the fall color of the oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia). The bottom photo shows some of my handiwork which would be appreciated by Clark Griswold.

A Delightful Autumn Day

The fallen leaf above is from a sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) near our arboretum. This plant will struggle further north and we're lucky to have such a nice specimen. Nice shot below to the left of the fall color of the Beaver Creek fothergilla (Fothergilla gardenii 'KLMtwo'). The weather was perfect and quite mild. We had mostly sunshine which made our outside activities much more enjoyable after dodging rain drops last week. The Grumpies worked on cutting grapevine for decorations, hauling in benches, cutting down vines, leaf collection, carpentry and myriad other activities. We had Del, Vern, Dave, Bob A., Jim, John, Gary, Ron B., Ron W., Mike, Dick P., Dick H., Bob C., Rollie, Maury, Urban and Charlie. It was a huge crew today. Mary worked on cutting down perennials and later, Janice and Marianne came out in the gardens after working on lights this morning. Janice and Marianne have been very steady and committed with lights work as our timeframe is tight. Dr. Gredler worked on mowing and other tasks and we also saw Jean and Rose. Larry pumped out the sunken garden pond and will be helping put up displays later in the week. Little Jerry worked on cutting back shrubs and light pruning on trees. He brought back plenty of debris. I ran cords and started laying out various areas for displays and lights.

Note the fall color and form of this upright beech (Fagus sylvatica 'Fastigiata') in our arboretum. Narrow trees create focal points, make statements and may be warranted in those narrower garden spaces or locations where that form can be accomodated and featured. There are upright versions of many trees and shrubs. Note some foliage interest below (from today). In order, we have the fall color of the American smoketree (Cotinus obovatus), the yellow brown fall color of an 'Elizabeth' magnolia and the beautiful needles of the white fir (Abies concolor 'Candicans').