We had a steady drizzle this morning but that didn't stop batch 1 of 3 American Iris Society conference attendees (100 people) from enjoying the irises and the gardens in general. What a nice group and they were able to spend a solid 1.5 hours touring the gardens. We'll have two more loads of attendees tomorrow (300 more people) and they will overlap with the American Peony Society activities occuring at the visitors center. As I type this, the peony people are getting their cut flower displays organized for tomorrow. I think everything will turn out wonderfully if not a bit congested. Marianne and I greeted the group and wandered the gardens answering questions, many of which didn't have anything to do with irises. We had dozens of very positive comments about the gardens in general and enjoyed such a cordial group.
Marv and Terry helped get everything set-up this morning and hauled hundreds of vases up the the main building fo
r the peony cutting displays. The guys hauled out all the flats for tomorrow's work day (planting the reception garden) and ran out for our last batch of annuals from a local nursery. Terry and I mowed while Marianne shifted to cutting bulb foliage debris and getting ready for tomorrow. Little Jerry was in to mow and spent some time clearing out the pump in our fern & moss gar
den pool that gets clogged every day with debris. Janice was here working on various projects and will run the planting day tomorrow while Marianne and I accomodate the iris visitors. Dr. Gredler was also here mowing and we saw Maury, Del and some other volunteers as well. Chris, Bob and August planted in the sunken garden and may return tomorrow. Nice shot to the left of a lupine (
Lupinus sp.) in the English cottage garden and to the right is our "most asked about tree" right now. This is the golden Norway maple (
Acer platanoides 'Princeton Gold') and we must have had over 2o people ask about it today as it is a real beacon out in that garden. It holds a nice golden yellow color from spring until fall and is one of my favorites for a "bright punch." Nice shot of Marianne's fancy cutting display that she put together last night. Nice use of hosta leaves, ferns and of course, peonies and irises.
Our planting has gone very well thus far and we've not only had two wonderful planting Saturdays but have co
nsistently planted significant areas almost every day. It truly is a daunting task and I'm worried about the 60% chance of thunderstorms tomorrow. This would derail our planting day and affect the tours as well. Oh well. I have to admit that I actually relax more when it's raining because I don't have to worry about figuring out our watering priorities, container watering, etc. Mother Nature is the way to go and while we can't affect the timing, we ar
e sure hoping for a nice "window" tomorrow! Nice close-up shot to the left of the "blue globe onion" (
Allium azureum, also called
Allium caeruleum) out in the gardens. The 2" diameter flower umbels have a wonderful color but be warned, this allium drops a lot of seed and in unmulched areas, can become quite a spreader. We've planted thousands of these at RBG and "cull the herd" every spring when we see all the grass-like seedlings. To the right are the blooms of deutzia (
Deutzia x
hybrida 'Magicien') that is a neat arching shrub that most people have never seen (4-6' tall). I caught the pink (white edged) blooms today and like the plant for its toughness. Deutzia has an informal, arching form and these June blooms are quite fetching. A couple other plants of interest that were frequently asked about today appear below. The gold foliage is from the golden elderberry (
Sambucus racemosa 'Sutherland Gold') and at the bottom is the "tumbleweed onion" (
Allium schubertii). We plant these bulbs in fall but haven't had them perennialize real well. Planted last October, this sure looks great. With heavy mulching, they've come back and the diameter of those umbels is 15-18". Wow! .
We had a steady drizzle this morning but that didn't stop batch 1 of 3 American Iris Society conference attendees (100 people) from enjoying the irises and the gardens in general. What a nice group and they were able to spend a solid 1.5 hours touring the gardens. We'll have two more loads of attendees tomorrow (300 more people) and they will overlap with the American Peony Society activities occuring at the visitors center. As I type this, the peony people are getting their cut flower displays organized for tomorrow. I think everything will turn out wonderfully if not a bit congested. Marianne and I greeted the group and wandered the gardens answering questions, many of which didn't have anything to do with irises. We had dozens of very positive comments about the gardens in general and enjoyed such a cordial group.
Marv and Terry helped get everything set-up this morning and hauled hundreds of vases up the the main building fo
r the peony cutting displays. The guys hauled out all the flats for tomorrow's work day (planting the reception garden) and ran out for our last batch of annuals from a local nursery. Terry and I mowed while Marianne shifted to cutting bulb foliage debris and getting ready for tomorrow. Little Jerry was in to mow and spent some time clearing out the pump in our fern & moss gar
den pool that gets clogged every day with debris. Janice was here working on various projects and will run the planting day tomorrow while Marianne and I accomodate the iris visitors. Dr. Gredler was also here mowing and we saw Maury, Del and some other volunteers as well. Chris, Bob and August planted in the sunken garden and may return tomorrow. Nice shot to the left of a lupine (Lupinus sp.) in the English cottage garden and to the right is our "most asked about tree" right now. This is the golden Norway maple (Acer platanoides 'Princeton Gold') and we must have had over 2o people ask about it today as it is a real beacon out in that garden. It holds a nice golden yellow color from spring until fall and is one of my favorites for a "bright punch." Nice shot of Marianne's fancy cutting display that she put together last night. Nice use of hosta leaves, ferns and of course, peonies and irises.
nsistently planted significant areas almost every day. It truly is a daunting task and I'm worried about the 60% chance of thunderstorms tomorrow. This would derail our planting day and affect the tours as well. Oh well. I have to admit that I actually relax more when it's raining because I don't have to worry about figuring out our watering priorities, container watering, etc. Mother Nature is the way to go and while we can't affect the timing, we ar
e sure hoping for a nice "window" tomorrow! Nice close-up shot to the left of the "blue globe onion" (Allium azureum, also called Allium caeruleum) out in the gardens. The 2" diameter flower umbels have a wonderful color but be warned, this allium drops a lot of seed and in unmulched areas, can become quite a spreader. We've planted thousands of these at RBG and "cull the herd" every spring when we see all the grass-like seedlings. To the right are the blooms of deutzia (Deutzia x hybrida 'Magicien') that is a neat arching shrub that most people have never seen (4-6' tall). I caught the pink (white edged) blooms today and like the plant for its toughness. Deutzia has an informal, arching form and these June blooms are quite fetching. A couple other plants of interest that were frequently asked about today appear below. The gold foliage is from the golden elderberry (Sambucus racemosa 'Sutherland Gold') and at the bottom is the "tumbleweed onion" (Allium schubertii). We plant these bulbs in fall but haven't had them perennialize real well. Planted last October, this sure looks great. With heavy mulching, they've come back and the diameter of those umbels is 15-18". Wow! .
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