Snuck This One In!

Another nice, durable, low-maintenance rose is 'Nearly Wild'. This floribunda gets about 2' tall and 3' wide and looks great when mass planted. We have 25 of them together in a full sun area, on a slope, in poor soils. They do wonderfully and actually have a slight fragrance. I have one at home and I only wish they were a bit taller.

I'm sneaking this blog in as we prepare for a mini-vacation. The combination of impending thundershowers, high gas prices, rampant mosquito population and a slight case of general malaise have contributed to some altered plans but still looking forward to a "breather" before next week's planting crunch continues. Larry, Marv, Terry, Jerry, Janice and Marianne have things well in hand I'm sure.

The image to the right is of the Korean bellflower (Campanula takesimana). We started with about eight and now have a couple hundred if you catch my drift. Descriptions of this perennial include the beautiful white/light pink, dangling blooms but also use the words "colonizing groundcover". Ironically, our rabbits nibble down most of our other campanula species but leave this one alone to bloom and reseed at will. We'll keep some but will need to "cull the herd" annually.

The Grumpies below are starting to work on building a storage shed outside of our visitors center. When the Parker Education Center was built five years ago, we found out quickly that we were lacking in storage space for tables, chairs, gift shop stock, etc. This shed will help alleviate that pressure. Dick P., Dick H., Vern, Rollie, Maury and Rod have things well in hand. Dave, Jim and Bob will assist I'm sure. In the bottom photo, note the bold texture of umbrella magnolia (Magnolia tripetala) with its huge, tropical looking leaves. Native to the Appalachians, this tree is hardy here but wont get much over 15-20' tall. We have three of these in partly shaded areas to provide bold texture.