"Back To It Tuesday"

Beautiful, fragrant, and and listed by the USDA as a noxious weed. Introduced in colonial times from Europe, Dame's rocket (Hesperis matronalis) can be seen everywhere this time of year and is no doubt, very eye-catching. Often confused with phlox, this plant produces many seeds and is tough to eradicate. See www.hort.wisc.edu/mastergardener/Features/weeds/damesrocket/damesrocket.htm for more information regarding this plant. Nice weather today with looming showers (that haven't materialized yet!). We spent a good portion of the morning dismantling the plant sale with the help of Janice, Marianne and the Grumpies. We needed to make room for incoming deliveries and needed the space immediately this afternoon for another 300 flats of annuals. We have probably 50% of our annuals at the gardens now and are gearing up for a big planting day this upcoming Saturday (8am-noon). Nice shot of 'Midnight Rose' coral bells (Heuchera) taken at a nursery although mine at home looks identical. Love the pink mottling on the leaves!
Larry worked on pushmowing and did some running for plants. Marv and Terry planted roses, removed a dead tree, planted a tree, tied up clematis and went down their list quickly. Janice is getting ready for planting our pepper and tomato collection later this week while Jenny and I are grouping/organizing plants in the yard for subsequent planting in our larger areas as the bulbs go dormant in those spaces. Marianne continues to do a nice job on the cutting display and is does an awesome job tidying up various gardens, including our primary entrance garden. Little Jerry is finally back after his broken arm back in March. Good to have him back and he kept busy "candling" our pines that need to be kept in check and shaped. Dr. Gredler mowed and worked on lawn repair. Shirley weeded the color rooms and we had wonderful Grumpy help from Bob A., Vern, Rollie, Dick H., Urban, Del and Bob T. Below is a shot of poison ivy. Be wary out there. What's confounding is that box elder (Acer negundo) seedlings look a lot like poison ivy. I just avoid those "leaves of three" in general as I'm highly susceptible. Bottom picture is the short-lived bloom of our native Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) taken from ground level.