Above are the beautiful resurrection lilies (
Lycoris squamigera). These are also called magic lilies, August lilies and sometimes the "un-pc" term of naked ladies. These hardy (to zone 5) bulbs are in the amaryllis family and appear like clock work this time of year. The foliage emerges in spring and looks a lot like daffodil (
Narcissus) foliage. Once the foliage goes dormant in late spring, nothing happens until the stalks zoom out of the ground in August and flowers emerge 24-30" above ground. These wonderful blooms are slightly fragrant and last about two weeks. We have a couple thousand of them peaking right now (see the grouping below too).
We had three new faces today; Greg, Rick and Justin. These guys are helping work on flood clean-up for us and while we supervise their activities, they are being paid thru a federal grant. This is a great situation for both of us and I'm very impressed with their first day of work. These guys are getting some major exercise (gravel hauling today) and seem to thrive on it. Some of their handiwork can be seen below. They had to excavate out 4" of crud before replacing it with fresh, clean gravel.
Otherwise it was a smaller crew today with Janice and Jerry on grounds, Dr. Gredler, Bill and the Hunts here for awhile and our great weeding crew of Geesje, Kay and Heidi. Lots accomplished and the gardens look great. We have some visitors coming from Ball Seed Company to tour the gardens on Friday. Marv and Marianne will give them the tour as I'm at a conference in Madison, WI. This is a very important visit and our guests will be viewing the trial plants that they sent for us to evaluate. They're looking pretty good though so nothing to worry about. Sweet shot of our "blue wall" below...
Above are the beautiful resurrection lilies (Lycoris squamigera). These are also called magic lilies, August lilies and sometimes the "un-pc" term of naked ladies. These hardy (to zone 5) bulbs are in the amaryllis family and appear like clock work this time of year. The foliage emerges in spring and looks a lot like daffodil (Narcissus) foliage. Once the foliage goes dormant in late spring, nothing happens until the stalks zoom out of the ground in August and flowers emerge 24-30" above ground. These wonderful blooms are slightly fragrant and last about two weeks. We have a couple thousand of them peaking right now (see the grouping below too).
We had three new faces today; Greg, Rick and Justin. These guys are helping work on flood clean-up for us and while we supervise their activities, they are being paid thru a federal grant. This is a great situation for both of us and I'm very impressed with their first day of work. These guys are getting some major exercise (gravel hauling today) and seem to thrive on it. Some of their handiwork can be seen below. They had to excavate out 4" of crud before replacing it with fresh, clean gravel.
Otherwise it was a smaller crew today with Janice and Jerry on grounds, Dr. Gredler, Bill and the Hunts here for awhile and our great weeding crew of Geesje, Kay and Heidi. Lots accomplished and the gardens look great. We have some visitors coming from Ball Seed Company to tour the gardens on Friday. Marv and Marianne will give them the tour as I'm at a conference in Madison, WI. This is a very important visit and our guests will be viewing the trial plants that they sent for us to evaluate. They're looking pretty good though so nothing to worry about. Sweet shot of our "blue wall" below...
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