Thursday, May 21, 2009

Slowly But Surely...

Nice shot above of germander speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys) in bloom in our alpine garden. Spring really highlights these gems in the alpine garden. Another hot, sunny and windy day today. We had Bob and Chris planting in the sunken garden, Cora planting containers in the English cottage garden, Don and Pearl planting a large bed near the arboretum and Tom and Nancy planting annuals in the gazebo garden. Needless to say, it was a challenge getting everything together for those areas and I found the time to make a "plant run" for impatiens and wax begonias that we'll plant this Saturday. Nice shot of one of my favorite ornamental grasses to the right. I took this shot in the Scottish garden yesterday. This is blue oat grass (Helictotrichon sempervirens 'Sapphire') and has a nice coloration as well as a semi-arching form. This needs plenty of summer water to keep its color and is what is termed a "cool season" grass with active growth early in the season.

Great Grumpy day with Ron and John helping Larry continue to clean the koi pond. Gary started digging some planting holes for yews in the Japanese garden and once Del and Dick H. were finished tidying up the sunken garden (for a wedding), they brought down the shrubs for planting. Vern and Bob worked on carpentry projects and we seemed to have lots of people coming and going. Our female "Grumpettes" (Glenna, Marilyn and Char) weeded the rose crescents while Shirley worked solo in the color rooms and planted after she weeded. Dave and Mary H. worked in their space and Jumbo Jim brought in the RECAPPERS to work in the Japanese Garden. Janice worked with Suzanne in the fern/moss garden and also had her high school volunteers work in the vegetable collection planting bean seeds. Plenty of action today although we do hope for a nice soaking rain in the coming days. We'll see what happens. Look to the left for a shot of the pink lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis 'Rosea') in our Scottish garden. I love lily-of-the-valley in bloom but not so much after that. It is a vigorous spreader but I can name a dozen other perennials that are more rampant spreaders that this plant. The leaves tend to get tattered later in the season so I enjoy the spring blooms and try to keep the colonies "in check". Tomorrow is the juggling act of tidying the garden, running irrigation, pulling plants for our Saturday planting day, tidying up wedding areas, mowing, watering and of course, our extended plant sale (9 am until 3 pm for those that can make it!). You can't go wrong with 'Purple Sensation' ornamental onions (Allium), see below!






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