Expectations Exceded Yet Again

My favorite petunia is pictured above. 'Merlin Blue Morn' is an award winner from All-America Selections (AAS) and Fleuroselect (Europe). I love the purple blue petals fading to the white center. I have used hundreds of this variety every year and wont get tired of its appeal. With our blue and orange theme this year, we're using lots of petunias. Below is the variety 'Daddy Blue Vein' that is also a favorite of mine. I'd love to do a petunia collection some year although we would never have the room to grow every variety. I don't think petunias will ever be ubiquitous and the value of such a stalwart annual in a sunny location can't be understated. The concern now is the amount of rainfall and overly damp soil that these petunias are attempting to tolerate. I would say that 25% of our petunias have rotted already. We were replacing some today and are lucky to have a back up supply for this purpose. The "cotton" produced by our numerous cottonwoods tends to stick and collect around all of our plantings and after it rains, this creates a damp blanket around the plant, thereby making it harder to dry out. I think this is why the petunias are suffering. Hungry rabbits and woodchucks also take their toll of course.The Grumpies accomplished myriad tasks today. Geesje and Glenna did a great job weeding and clearing areas for planting. Ron, Sandy, Shirley, Linda (& her two kids), Sue, Kelley, Don, Thelma, Jim and four female RECAP inmates from the Rock County Jail helped plant today. Despite a record pace with our seasonal planting, we wont be done for another 3 weeks or so. It seems late but the reality is #1, we're limited by the number of hands planting and #2, those plants put in late really peak in late August in to September. Essentially, it's still worth our time. In addition, we do rely on donations that don't come in until after the 4th of July.

I worked near our main parking lot and the Parker Education Center (our visitors' center) today and observed a lot of confusion as to how to enter the gardens. We are admission by donation and are trying to route all visitors to enter and exit the gardens via the building. Many attempt to bypass this obvious entry for various reasons. Some truly don't know where to enter the gardens and we need to improve our signage. However, some that perceive that there is a fee, go thru great efforts to enter the gardens by climbing thru gates, over fences, thru flower beds, etc. These are not isolated incidents and I'm not exaggerating. I saw it many times over today. It always amazes me how Rotary Gardens is taken for granted (not by everyone) with misconceptions that we're a City (tax) supported venue. Most visitors do not donate which is unfortunate as we struggle annually just to bring in our operating income. I could go on about reductions in grounds that are borderline crippling....but back to some flowers.
Another foxtail lily (Eremurus sp.) of unknown variety/species (maybe bungei) that is stealing the show with it's color and stature. We ran out three loads of flowers like this today. Probably three tomorrow...come on down soon if you're within planting range!