Wednesday, May 13, 2009

GLOOM & MIST

Very gloomy today without a hint of sunshine. We've had sporadic mist and light showers thru the day but I'd classify this as a very productive day and the perfect day to work on preparing for the plant sale. Nice shot of black-leaved ligularia (Ligularia dentata 'Britt Marie Crawford') taken in a volunteers' backyard. We have this same variety in the gardens and I love the deep maroon, emerging foliage that actually is darker in more sun. The maroon washes out with summer heat but the yellow, daisy-like blooms in mid-summer look great with the dark foliage. This plant is a "heavy drinker" and needs moist, organic soil and plenty of water. See below for the clear yellow blooms of Celandine poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum) blooming in our part shade gardens. This perennial does reseed (seed distributed by ants!) and we occasionally cull out or relocate the babies. What a beautiful native flower (Eastern U.S) though. See www.illinoiswildflowers.info/woodland/plants/cel_poppy.htm for more information on this plant.
Marianne and Janice did an awesome job organizing the plant sale vegetables this morning. Both ladies are so organized and were able to get everything set up and ready for tagging tomorrow. Margaret and Shirley have been helping with tagging for most of the day and Bev and her sister stopped by to visit and were "recruited". Dr. Gredler did some mowing, ran debris to the dump and continues to work on lawn repair. We also saw Maury, Dr. Yahr and Jim W. today. Marv and Terry have been getting the outside portion of the sale organized and have spent time tidying up our sprawling complex around the Horticulture Center. Larry and Bill went on two plant runs with our enclosed trailer and brought back all the peppers and basil for the sale as well as some New Guinea impatiens for the gardens. Larry has been working on various smaller projects including the preparation of some of our new herb garden signs. We'll really hit the planting next week and will continue to accumulate more plants from our various suppliers. We still need to pick up over 60,000 annuals and get them in the ground before the 4th of July! Nice shot of shooting stars (Dodecatheon meadia) below. See www.hort.net/profile/pri/dodme/ for more information on this picturesque native plant.

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