Another Bed Planted...

Despite the overcast skies today, the picture of the 'Ben More' rock rose (Helianthemum nummularium) in our Scottish alpine garden sure offers some exciting orange color! I took a lot of pictures today as it's so tough to keep up with all the wonderful blooms and colorful foliage out in the gardens. I came to work thinking we would be "rained out" and have to stay inside. Those days are good to catch up on desk work but we really need to keep our planting momentum. We didn't have sprinkles until late in the day and were able to have a very productive Tuesday that included planting our American Garden Award collection (see below) with the help of Janice, Jenny, Lee, Barb and Heidi. Yesterday afternoon was also very productive for planting in the reception garden with a group of 10 or so Rotarians that came to help after their lunch (see Heather below). We're making some great progress and hope for rain only at night and the weed fairy to come help us take care of our most serious weedy areas!
Jenny worked on labels today and helped us plant the American Garden Award bed. Janice helped plant, worked in the veggie area and did many odds and ends. Little Jerry continues to mow and work on pruning our pines and tidying up the Japanese garden while Larry ran for a load of plants, pushmowed and has bounced around as needed today. Bill, Dick H., Jim H. and Dr. Gredler were here to help as were the volunteers mentioned above. I have two groups of middleschoolers coming at the end of the week to do some planting and we have a big work day this Saturday and hope to plant all of our extensive annuals around the entrance garden. Nice shot of ornamental onions (Allium 'Globemaster') taken today near the reception garden. The tricolor beech (Fagus sylvatica 'Aureo-marginata') that I pictured in the blog yesterday looked so good with the overcast skies, I took a picture (see at the bottom) from underneath the leaves. What a neat look!