The image above (and all the images in this posting) were not taken today as it was pretty much drizzle thru the
entire day (and I melt in the rain). Above is Marianne on Friday morning when we had our first batch of American Iris Society visitors in the gar
den when the drizzling started. She was such a great ambassador for RBG and our iris collection. Today was pretty dismal although Larry ventured out to check on our water features while Little Jerry and Dr. Gredler went out to do some mowing between rain drops. I was at my desk all day and really felt good about catching up on my piles of "to do" tasks. The tasks were numerous and this rainy day afforded the time to try and catch up (almost). Janice and Jenny worked in the office with me and went thru a list of activities like labeling, organizing ferns, mounting signs, etc. We were all glad to catch up on our indoor work. Big John was here briefly and ran some errands. He'll be back later tomorrow when we can get back outside. Larry worked on equipment and picked up a new pushmower when dropping off another one for repair. We also saw Maury, Vern, Del, Art, Jean, Bev, Deb and Bradford over here today. Nice shot to the above left of our horsetail (
Equisetum sp.) along the pond near the fern & moss garden. This primitive plant has a 400 million year history and was also called "scouring rush" by early pioneers who would use it to scrub pots and pans because of it's rough texture. It was also called "tinker toy plant" because children could take apart the sections and place them back together. This patch pre-dates the garden and is quite interesting to view. Be warned,
Equisetum can spread like wildfire (spores and rhizomes) in wet soils and laughs at herbicides. The shot to the above right is the golden Hakone grass (
Hakonechla macra 'All Gold') that we put in the gaps between these boulders many years ago. I can't wait to see this entire wall look like a golden waterfall in a couple of years. Below is the pink globeflower (
Centaurea pulchra major) just starting to open up. I thought this looked like it was from Mars (note the metallic sheen) and will post the opened up version next week. The subtleties out there in the garden are amazing if you take the time to look.
We had a Garden Development Committee Meeting today (Dick P., Dr. Gredler, Dr. Yahr, Maury, Carrie, Joann
e, Hal, Big John, Iza, Mike, Julie and Dave) and accomplished quite a bit. There are many committees at
RBG and volunteers are a vital part of these groups. We discussed current activities out in the gardens and are looking at some site improvements around the gardens in the near future. It was exciting to start some discussion about future horticulture therapy initiatives. With all the rain out in the gardens and the quick warmth this spring, the foliage out in the gardens was particularly lush this spring (including weeds too unfortunately). To the left is the golden catalpa (
Catalpa bignonioides 'Aurea') sprouting up in the fern & moss garden. With the potential to become quite large, we cut this tree back down to a 12" tall grouping of stumps every winter so we get lush growth with large tropical leaves each year. We have three of these out in the gardens, treat them all the same each year with the severe cutback, and they all spring up 10' tall in one growing season. I have one at home too. I love the tropical look. Above and to the right is the hairy alumroot (
Heuchera villosa 'Autumn Bride') which has large leaves and will have white blooms later in the season. Very lush and almost shrub-sized for a coral bell. The blooms below caught my eye when I noticed them in the pot with our new cutleaf, black sweet potato vines (
Ipomoea batatas 'Illusion Midnight Lace'). My initial thought was, "Wow, how did those petunias get in there?", of course, not realizing that they were the blooms of the sweet potato vine which I had never before seen. NEAT - O. I think the warm treatment at our grower's greenhouse encouraged these exquisite blooms. The bottom picture is another sunset masterpiece from Santos.
The image above (and all the images in this posting) were not taken today as it was pretty much drizzle thru the
entire day (and I melt in the rain). Above is Marianne on Friday morning when we had our first batch of American Iris Society visitors in the gar
den when the drizzling started. She was such a great ambassador for RBG and our iris collection. Today was pretty dismal although Larry ventured out to check on our water features while Little Jerry and Dr. Gredler went out to do some mowing between rain drops. I was at my desk all day and really felt good about catching up on my piles of "to do" tasks. The tasks were numerous and this rainy day afforded the time to try and catch up (almost). Janice and Jenny worked in the office with me and went thru a list of activities like labeling, organizing ferns, mounting signs, etc. We were all glad to catch up on our indoor work. Big John was here briefly and ran some errands. He'll be back later tomorrow when we can get back outside. Larry worked on equipment and picked up a new pushmower when dropping off another one for repair. We also saw Maury, Vern, Del, Art, Jean, Bev, Deb and Bradford over here today. Nice shot to the above left of our horsetail (Equisetum sp.) along the pond near the fern & moss garden. This primitive plant has a 400 million year history and was also called "scouring rush" by early pioneers who would use it to scrub pots and pans because of it's rough texture. It was also called "tinker toy plant" because children could take apart the sections and place them back together. This patch pre-dates the garden and is quite interesting to view. Be warned, Equisetum can spread like wildfire (spores and rhizomes) in wet soils and laughs at herbicides. The shot to the above right is the golden Hakone grass (Hakonechla macra 'All Gold') that we put in the gaps between these boulders many years ago. I can't wait to see this entire wall look like a golden waterfall in a couple of years. Below is the pink globeflower (Centaurea pulchra major) just starting to open up. I thought this looked like it was from Mars (note the metallic sheen) and will post the opened up version next week. The subtleties out there in the garden are amazing if you take the time to look. 
e, Hal, Big John, Iza, Mike, Julie and Dave) and accomplished quite a bit. There are many committees at 
RBG and volunteers are a vital part of these groups. We discussed current activities out in the gardens and are looking at some site improvements around the gardens in the near future. It was exciting to start some discussion about future horticulture therapy initiatives. With all the rain out in the gardens and the quick warmth this spring, the foliage out in the gardens was particularly lush this spring (including weeds too unfortunately). To the left is the golden catalpa (Catalpa bignonioides 'Aurea') sprouting up in the fern & moss garden. With the potential to become quite large, we cut this tree back down to a 12" tall grouping of stumps every winter so we get lush growth with large tropical leaves each year. We have three of these out in the gardens, treat them all the same each year with the severe cutback, and they all spring up 10' tall in one growing season. I have one at home too. I love the tropical look. Above and to the right is the hairy alumroot (Heuchera villosa 'Autumn Bride') which has large leaves and will have white blooms later in the season. Very lush and almost shrub-sized for a coral bell. The blooms below caught my eye when I noticed them in the pot with our new cutleaf, black sweet potato vines (Ipomoea batatas 'Illusion Midnight Lace'). My initial thought was, "Wow, how did those petunias get in there?", of course, not realizing that they were the blooms of the sweet potato vine which I had never before seen. NEAT - O. I think the warm treatment at our grower's greenhouse encouraged these exquisite blooms. The bottom picture is another sunset masterpiece from Santos.
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