Above is one of my roses at home (picture taken last night) and wow!, what a load of Japanese beetles (
Popillia japonica) enjoying a snack. Of my 12 years at RBG, I would say this is our second worst year fo
r beetle damage and many of our roses in the gardens look similar to the image above. I'm not sure about all the factors involved with these beetle populations but they have done significant damage this year. See
http://wihort.uwex.edu/gardenfacts/X1062.pdf for some more information on this voracious pest. When visiting the Dubuque Arboretum & Botanic Garden (
www.dubuquearboretum.com/) years ago, I was amazed to see that they had community service volunteers hand picking Japanese beetles off of their rose collections and were keeping up daily. I was very impressed but unfortunately we don't have the time and resources for such manual control. Nice shot to the left of the fruiting structure (poisonous) of the Italian arum (
Aru
m italicum). I've shown the nice foliage of this woodland perennial (currently dormant) in past blogs and love the contribution of these orange/red "berries"? We have many of these in our woodland walk garden although gardeners in warmer climates should be concerned about it reseeding and spreading around the garden. To the right is the start of the "oat-like" seedheads of the Northern sea oats (
Chasmanthium latifolium) out in the gardens. The seedheads will go from green to tan to bronze later in the season. This grass reseeds a bit but is one of my favorites for durability in full sun or part shade. Below is the 8" wide bloom of the hybrid mallow (
Hibiscus hybrida) called 'Cranberry Crush'. These large blooms are on sturdy, 4' tall stems and are quite showy for a couple of weeks. The beetles are working on the flowers and foliage but I found at least one "as-yet-to-be-despoiled" bloom!
We had a small but "heat durable" crew today. Marv and Terry bounced between watering, shearing, edging, and other duties. The guys are great observers and are good about pointing out things they se
e that need to be done or recommend better ways of accomplishing tasks. Big John fertilized, watered, hauled rock and planted 50 or so perennials and small shrubs out in the gardens. Marianne tidied up various areas, did her cutting display and prepared our iris photographs/signs for the upcoming sale (August 28). I worked on various event preparations and was able to spray some major herbicide around our Horticulture Center which has become a weedy mess. Dr. Gre
dler was here to mow and we had Suzy and Eric working on weeding our Siberian iris divisions prior to the looming sale. Dick H. and Dick P. came in to fix one of our utility carts and also fixed an umbrella on the terrace. Those guys sure are handy. Chuck came in to recycle our aluminum and we also saw Maury and Dave. To the left is the golden dewdrop (
Duranta erecta 'Golden Edge') that has such a visual presence. We use this tropical in containers and bedding schemes every year. To the right is one of our red-blooming nasturtiums (
Tropaeolum sp.) along our ornamental edible wall. With edible blooms and leaves, this annual is east to grow in containers or beds. Speaking of the ornamental edible wall, there it is below. We've had plenty of questions regarding the plants along this wall and I hope to get additional signs up along its length. Landscaping with ornamental edibles is still a very hot gardening topic of possible interest. At the bottom are more of our annual beds in composition. Note the repetition of the grain amaranth (
Amaranthus cruentus 'Hot Biscuts') which offers such uniquely colored, substantial bloom clusters.
Above is one of my roses at home (picture taken last night) and wow!, what a load of Japanese beetles (Popillia japonica) enjoying a snack. Of my 12 years at RBG, I would say this is our second worst year fo
r beetle damage and many of our roses in the gardens look similar to the image above. I'm not sure about all the factors involved with these beetle populations but they have done significant damage this year. See http://wihort.uwex.edu/gardenfacts/X1062.pdf for some more information on this voracious pest. When visiting the Dubuque Arboretum & Botanic Garden (www.dubuquearboretum.com/) years ago, I was amazed to see that they had community service volunteers hand picking Japanese beetles off of their rose collections and were keeping up daily. I was very impressed but unfortunately we don't have the time and resources for such manual control. Nice shot to the left of the fruiting structure (poisonous) of the Italian arum (Aru
m italicum). I've shown the nice foliage of this woodland perennial (currently dormant) in past blogs and love the contribution of these orange/red "berries"? We have many of these in our woodland walk garden although gardeners in warmer climates should be concerned about it reseeding and spreading around the garden. To the right is the start of the "oat-like" seedheads of the Northern sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium) out in the gardens. The seedheads will go from green to tan to bronze later in the season. This grass reseeds a bit but is one of my favorites for durability in full sun or part shade. Below is the 8" wide bloom of the hybrid mallow (Hibiscus hybrida) called 'Cranberry Crush'. These large blooms are on sturdy, 4' tall stems and are quite showy for a couple of weeks. The beetles are working on the flowers and foliage but I found at least one "as-yet-to-be-despoiled" bloom! 
e that need to be done or recommend better ways of accomplishing tasks. Big John fertilized, watered, hauled rock and planted 50 or so perennials and small shrubs out in the gardens. Marianne tidied up various areas, did her cutting display and prepared our iris photographs/signs for the upcoming sale (August 28). I worked on various event preparations and was able to spray some major herbicide around our Horticulture Center which has become a weedy mess. Dr. Gre
dler was here to mow and we had Suzy and Eric working on weeding our Siberian iris divisions prior to the looming sale. Dick H. and Dick P. came in to fix one of our utility carts and also fixed an umbrella on the terrace. Those guys sure are handy. Chuck came in to recycle our aluminum and we also saw Maury and Dave. To the left is the golden dewdrop (Duranta erecta 'Golden Edge') that has such a visual presence. We use this tropical in containers and bedding schemes every year. To the right is one of our red-blooming nasturtiums (Tropaeolum sp.) along our ornamental edible wall. With edible blooms and leaves, this annual is east to grow in containers or beds. Speaking of the ornamental edible wall, there it is below. We've had plenty of questions regarding the plants along this wall and I hope to get additional signs up along its length. Landscaping with ornamental edibles is still a very hot gardening topic of possible interest. At the bottom are more of our annual beds in composition. Note the repetition of the grain amaranth (Amaranthus cruentus 'Hot Biscuts') which offers such uniquely colored, substantial bloom clusters.
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