My Favorite Time of Year

The image above was taken by Santos McGill, a wonderful photographer. This shot is in the garden and Santos is talented (and very patient) at waiting for the hummingbirds to get comfortable with him around and getting that perfect shot. Lots of hummingbird activity this time of year! Incidentally, the plant is the 'Black & Blue' salvia (Salvia guaranitica 'Black & Blue') featured in a previous blog. I like this time of year, both for the weather and the small "respite" before our busy October. Janice, Larry and Jerry did their normal Tuesday routines and Rick and Tony accomplished a lot more re-graveling and pressure washing. Kay, Heidi, Geesje, Barb, Bill and Kristine all helped out in the gardens as well. Tuesdays usually have both less staff and volunteers but we sure keep busy!

Great grass below. This is the golden Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola') that we've positioned throughout our partly shaded areas to offer both color and texture. It is slow growing and fairly expensive. However, it combines well with hostas and other bold-leaved plants that would be more prevalent in shady area. I don't feel that this grass can be over-used. The straight species (Hakonechloa macra) is green, although you can try 'Albo-striata' for white variegation, 'Aureola' as seen below is the standard but my favorite now is 'All Gold' (see at bottom, photo taken at Boerner Botanical Garden near Milwaukee) that literally glows. There is a new variety called 'Stripe it Rich' that has white variegation on yellow leaf blades that looks very promising. Another new variety is 'Beni-kaze' that is normally green but gets wonderful red tones in late summer thru fall. Regardless of the variety, Hakone grass is a must in the partly shaded garden.