Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Another Busy (Overcast) Tuesday

Nice shot of our English cottage containers above. Note the nice splash of white from wooly sage (Salvia argentea 'Hobbit's Foot') that has felty, "lamb's ear-like" leaves. In keeping with the pink theme around the gardens, we've used lots of nice tropicals in there including a very vivid calico plant (Alternanthera dentata 'Brazilian Red Hots'). See the picture to the left for a close-up. The magenta pink highlights almost glow. This is one I'll use again and I'm finding myself more dependent on various alternantheras as foliage components.

I thought we'd lose another day of planting with overcast skies and a 60% chance of precipitation. As of 1:30 pm, we've had a light misting and have had staff and volunteers planting all morning. Janice worked with Barb, Rose and Shirley to finish some areas on the east of the garden while Jenny bounced around to finish some spaces where plants were still arranged from last week. She ended up planting with Shirley and I was very impressed with our progress. Magda and Sara planted their area as well. While in their area, I noted the neat bellflower (Campanula hybrida 'Sarastro') to the right that somehow escaped consumption by our rabbits and woodchucks. Note the bindweed working its way up the stem. While there is a threat of rain tomorrow (and we could use it), I hope we get to take advantage of some "dry time" to continue our planting momentum. Larry worked on water features, mowing and watering while little Jerry continued to prune and shape various shrubs. Dr. Gredler mowed and helped water and Peg K. did a nice job tidying up the English cottage garden. Jerry and I toured the Japanese garden to come up with various priorities and a plan of attack. That garden requires lots of "hands on" attention. It's nice to have Jerry, Karen, Dr. Neeno, Jim, Bill and others working in that popular garden. Beautiful images below of the ornamental onion (fall planted) known as Star of Persia (Allium christophii). Only 18" tall, the metallic "spheres" (umbels) are almost 12" across on some specimens. We LOVE this bulb that will go dormant shortly and appear next year. The bottom image has two of these coming up thru meadowrue (Thalictrum sp.).




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