A Day of Testing

This St. John's wort (Hypericum calycinum 'Brigadoon') was a real eyecatcher today with it's golden/orange coloration and thanks to a late leaf drop, this subshrub (root hardy hopefully) really glows in our woodland walk. We planted 50 of these and I hope they continue to mature and offer great color (golden thru the summer). They are hardy to zone 5 and do prefer full sun but we'll see how they do. Speaking of do (as in doo-doo), the deer are starting to forage in the gardens and we're now erecting posts and will protect their favorite munchies this winter (arborvitae and small pines). See picture below for one of many of their "calling cards". Ugh.

I finished running cords for the Holiday Lights Show and we "fired up" the entire thing today. We had some minor although not unexpected problems. We'll be troubleshooting over the next couple of weeks and will pray for no rain during this event. Marv, Terry, Marianne and I worked on the lights all day while Larry bounced between projects as usual. Rick and Tony finished removing buckthorn and started remulching our arboretum. They'll finish up on Friday and we sure appreciate their help. Jerry worked on pruning and debris collection and Jumbo Jim brought in the RECAPPERS to help pound posts for deer protection. Other volunteers included Del, Vern, Dr. Gredler, Bill and of course the lovely Kay who continues to be our "go to gal" out in the gardens. Below is another nice sedge. The blue sedge (Carex flacca 'Blue Zinger') has a wonderful blue coloration and is listed as a nice color improvement over the straight species. I've known this species to be a moderate spreader although descriptions for this variety say "more clump forming"... I'm not sure what that means but we'll see how they fill out and grow in the future with the thought that we may have to remove them if they get too vigorous. As a side note, I wont be blogging for a couple days as my wife is having surgery and I'll be away from the gardens and computer.