If the picture above doesn't scare you, I don't know what will. That's Marv as our first participant in the "daisy face" photo opportunity. We just put this flower up today in the thoughts that visitors might like a picture and it's positioned with all sorts of annuals behind it. We'll see h
ow often it's used although Marv spent about 30 minutes making weird faces thru this daisy...Nice shot to the left of a tango lily (Asiatic hybrid) called 'Cappuccino' along the sunny edge of our woodland walk garden. With rains this m
orning, Dr. Yahr and Dr. Gredler worked on peeling labels for reuse in other areas (right). This is a nice rainy day project but with the drizzle fading by mid-morning, we were able to get outside for most of the day. Marianne worked on organizing the Horticulture Center (and it really needed it) and later went out to weed and plant. Marv and Terry bounced between edging, working on water plants, staking and other duties. Big John removed a dead tree, watered, weeded and did a nice job putting in another 100 or so perennials (mostly daylilies) in the main parking lot. It looks like we may get more rain later which will keep everything damp. Little Jerry was here pruning in the Japanese garden and I was able to lay out plants for planting today and tomorrow. We saw Maury, Rollie and Steve today and were fortunate to have Margo (below) come in for some planting in the larch area and sunken garden.
We had some nice compliments from a bus tour that came thru the gardens today. Barb and Dave gave nice tou
rs and I answered some plant ID questions from the group. I believe they were from the Chicago suburbs and I told them to come back in late July or August to see our annual beds peaking around the gardens. We've seen a decrease in bus tours over previous years due to the fact that the
General Motors plant, having closed, is no longer part of a tour package that would entice visitors to see GM, RBG and The Tallman Historic Home as a one day event. We have some great tour guides and I'm glad the tour today had dry weather to view the gardens. To the left is the start of summer blooming for the bottlebrush buckeye (
Aesculus parviflora), that while native to many Southeastern states, will do fine here as a large, suckering shrub. I remember going to the Morton Arboretum (Lisle, IL) as a kid and seeing these enormous, mature colonies near their original visitors center and was struck by their appearance. To the right is the drumstick allium (
Allium sphaerocephalon) that has a neat ovoid umbel that opens up a nice deep "pinkish-maroon". This is a great partner plant to "shoe horn" in each fall (fall planted bulb) with the understanding that it blooms in July at 30" tall and may reseed in open soils. We've moved them from areas that we need to plant with annuals as we don't want to wait too long to plant. The drumstick allium comes as inexpensive bulbs in the fall and looks great in tight groupings. Below is the beautiful 'Gartenmeister' fuchsia (
Fuchsia triphylla) that has maroonish green leaves and is smothered with "orangey-pink," trumpet shaped blossoms. We plant these by the dozens throughout our shade gardens to great effect and they are appreciated by the humminbirds. The bottom shot is a close-up of a sunflower (
Helianthus annuus) at my house. Look how neat that center pattern appears. The larger outer flower petals (florets) are called the sterile ray florets. The fertile disk florets are clustered in the center and become seed after being fertilized. Don't ever hesitate to observe flowers up close. They are so neat. I learned that the spiral arrangement of the center of a sunflower follows a mathematical model. Sunflowers are tough and can extract nasty substances from the soil (lead, arsenic, etc.). Sunflowers were planted en masse around the Chernobyl nuclear event to help extract uranium from the soil. Interesting..
If the picture above doesn't scare you, I don't know what will. That's Marv as our first participant in the "daisy face" photo opportunity. We just put this flower up today in the thoughts that visitors might like a picture and it's positioned with all sorts of annuals behind it. We'll see h
ow often it's used although Marv spent about 30 minutes making weird faces thru this daisy...Nice shot to the left of a tango lily (Asiatic hybrid) called 'Cappuccino' along the sunny edge of our woodland walk garden. With rains this m
orning, Dr. Yahr and Dr. Gredler worked on peeling labels for reuse in other areas (right). This is a nice rainy day project but with the drizzle fading by mid-morning, we were able to get outside for most of the day. Marianne worked on organizing the Horticulture Center (and it really needed it) and later went out to weed and plant. Marv and Terry bounced between edging, working on water plants, staking and other duties. Big John removed a dead tree, watered, weeded and did a nice job putting in another 100 or so perennials (mostly daylilies) in the main parking lot. It looks like we may get more rain later which will keep everything damp. Little Jerry was here pruning in the Japanese garden and I was able to lay out plants for planting today and tomorrow. We saw Maury, Rollie and Steve today and were fortunate to have Margo (below) come in for some planting in the larch area and sunken garden. 
rs and I answered some plant ID questions from the group. I believe they were from the Chicago suburbs and I told them to come back in late July or August to see our annual beds peaking around the gardens. We've seen a decrease in bus tours over previous years due to the fact that the
General Motors plant, having closed, is no longer part of a tour package that would entice visitors to see GM, RBG and The Tallman Historic Home as a one day event. We have some great tour guides and I'm glad the tour today had dry weather to view the gardens. To the left is the start of summer blooming for the bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora), that while native to many Southeastern states, will do fine here as a large, suckering shrub. I remember going to the Morton Arboretum (Lisle, IL) as a kid and seeing these enormous, mature colonies near their original visitors center and was struck by their appearance. To the right is the drumstick allium (Allium sphaerocephalon) that has a neat ovoid umbel that opens up a nice deep "pinkish-maroon". This is a great partner plant to "shoe horn" in each fall (fall planted bulb) with the understanding that it blooms in July at 30" tall and may reseed in open soils. We've moved them from areas that we need to plant with annuals as we don't want to wait too long to plant. The drumstick allium comes as inexpensive bulbs in the fall and looks great in tight groupings. Below is the beautiful 'Gartenmeister' fuchsia (Fuchsia triphylla) that has maroonish green leaves and is smothered with "orangey-pink," trumpet shaped blossoms. We plant these by the dozens throughout our shade gardens to great effect and they are appreciated by the humminbirds. The bottom shot is a close-up of a sunflower (Helianthus annuus) at my house. Look how neat that center pattern appears. The larger outer flower petals (florets) are called the sterile ray florets. The fertile disk florets are clustered in the center and become seed after being fertilized. Don't ever hesitate to observe flowers up close. They are so neat. I learned that the spiral arrangement of the center of a sunflower follows a mathematical model. Sunflowers are tough and can extract nasty substances from the soil (lead, arsenic, etc.). Sunflowers were planted en masse around the Chernobyl nuclear event to help extract uranium from the soil. Interesting..
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