A Bit Of Closure...

It was a productive Grumpy morning with most of the guys helping "disassemble" the plant sale. We sorted plants, took down tents, and otherwise called it "quits" for this event. We will still be selling mums, bulbs and bagged compost over the coming weeks as we still have both the supply of and demand for these products. Our carpenters, with some minor exceptions, have completed the new storage shed and will finish up the final touches in the next week or two. This structure should help alleviate some of our storage concerns at the visitors' center for the near future.
Note our fall hanging baskets to the right. We have spaces for 24 large hanging baskets throughout the gardens. In mid to late September, the summer baskets are rotated out and we hang these for wonderful effect well in to October. They look like freakish, yellow jellyfish! Yellow mums hold their color fairly well although we are perpetually checking these for watering. These baskets are started back in June and nursed along for us to utilize this time of year. The yellow really shows from a great distance (see these at the top of the picture, along the pergola, at the beginning of the blog!). Mums may seem ubiquitous at times but they are unmatched for color in the late season garden. The trailing plant in these baskets is the golden creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea') that was planted back in June with three little mums sprigs to start these baskets out. I got a great shot of 'Blue Star' morning glory (Ipomoea sp.) today which is on the obelisks in our annual vinca (Catharanthus) collection. Note the darker blue "star" on the light blue petals. This is my favorite morning glory and was an All-America Selections back in 1949. How many generations of gardeners have enjoyed this variety over the past 59 years then later regretted the rampant reseeding of this annual that then engulfs the garden. Watch out for morning glory babies the year following the "enjoyment phase"!... Check out the close-up at the bottom. This is the foliage of the variegated sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus 'Variegatus') that is in our color rooms garden. This maple is marginally hardy for us but has a nice protected location. We receive lots of questions about this plant and certainly have grown to appreciate the variable leaf patterns every year...