Gary and Cindy, volunteers and Master Gardeners, can be seen above. They did a nice job weeding our annual beds and picking cucumbers this morning with Bev. They are a neat couple and paid me $100 to get on the blog (that's 50% off the normal rate). I started the day by going thro
ugh our gourd collection and was amazed at how many are out there in our collection of 20 varieties. I always see
gourds at the grocery store or farmer's market in late summer and thru October offered as common decorating items, particularly for Halloween. Janice and her crew have done a nice job with both the gourds and cucumbers this year. I've included some of the gourd photos in this blog. 'Speckled Swan' can be seen to the left and 'Daisy' is to the right. We're still novices with gourds and are talking to others that have experience with picking, handling, storing, processing and using gourds for crafts. We hope to get involved with the Wisconsin Gourd Society (
www.americangourdsociety.org/WIGS/) as they have much knowledge to offer and have been involved with classes and activities at Olbrich over the past couple of years. The gourds are really cool though and we hope to utilize everything we've grown. Directly below is the warty Bule (pronounced boo-lay) gourd and further below is the white crown of thorns gourd which is frequently used by crafters to create ghosts for Halloween.
The words "small crew" are usually attached to my Tuesday blogs but this was by far, our busiest Tuesday
at the gardens (maybe ever!). We had a superb turnout of volunteers with Kay and Margaret weeding in the reception garden (and beyond), Gary and Cindy weeding the annual beds east of the gardens, Hal and Doris weeding in their corner gar
den and Roy and Mary weeding the shade garden. Dr. Yahr, Dr. Gredler and Bill were here too. Dick P. helped out with some electrical work this morning then joined Maury and Dick H. in putting up the last sections of our new fence. Over the past two years, the guys have done a superb job putting up the fence and while we may have some other areas to fence, the bulk of the project is done and it looks superb. Jenny and Gary came in to join us for "laser) engraver training" (more on that later). Nice shot to the left of one of our annual compositions (note that
Pennisetum 'Prince' in the background behind the maroon
Hibiscus acetosella 'Maple Sugar'). To the right is my favorite four o' clock (
Mirabilis jalapa 'Limelight') that has chartreusy foliage that is sometimes bicolored as seen above and bright fuchsia pink blossoms. This is an easy annual to grow from seed and can top out well over 3' tall. Below is a nice, part shade perennial called yellow waxy bells (
Kirengeshoma palmata) that has large, maple-like leaves and yellow summer flowers as seen. I like the visual texture of this Asian perennial and the flowers are the secondary interest. Position this perennial in moist, part sun and allow for its ultimate size (3' tall by 4' wide).
Our laser engraver is up and running! We had Steve come down from Green Bay and spend the day meeting with Maury and Dick P. regarding venting and exhaust issues and then helped Jenny, Janice, Marianne, Gary and I with label creation training. It was neat and not as tough as I thought it would be. Marianne was here all day (shifted from Wednesday) and did a nice job working in the front entrance garden and accomplishing watering as well. Before the engraver training, Janice worked on pushmowing and watering tasks. Big John came in this afternoon to help water and Larry kept busy running irrigation, watering, mowing and many other tasks. Below is Larry mowing. He's getting a bit confused and was mowing the asphalt (see below) before I sent him to actual turf....
Gary and Cindy, volunteers and Master Gardeners, can be seen above. They did a nice job weeding our annual beds and picking cucumbers this morning with Bev. They are a neat couple and paid me $100 to get on the blog (that's 50% off the normal rate). I started the day by going thro
ugh our gourd collection and was amazed at how many are out there in our collection of 20 varieties. I always see 
gourds at the grocery store or farmer's market in late summer and thru October offered as common decorating items, particularly for Halloween. Janice and her crew have done a nice job with both the gourds and cucumbers this year. I've included some of the gourd photos in this blog. 'Speckled Swan' can be seen to the left and 'Daisy' is to the right. We're still novices with gourds and are talking to others that have experience with picking, handling, storing, processing and using gourds for crafts. We hope to get involved with the Wisconsin Gourd Society (www.americangourdsociety.org/WIGS/) as they have much knowledge to offer and have been involved with classes and activities at Olbrich over the past couple of years. The gourds are really cool though and we hope to utilize everything we've grown. Directly below is the warty Bule (pronounced boo-lay) gourd and further below is the white crown of thorns gourd which is frequently used by crafters to create ghosts for Halloween. 
at the gardens (maybe ever!). We had a superb turnout of volunteers with Kay and Margaret weeding in the reception garden (and beyond), Gary and Cindy weeding the annual beds east of the gardens, Hal and Doris weeding in their corner gar
den and Roy and Mary weeding the shade garden. Dr. Yahr, Dr. Gredler and Bill were here too. Dick P. helped out with some electrical work this morning then joined Maury and Dick H. in putting up the last sections of our new fence. Over the past two years, the guys have done a superb job putting up the fence and while we may have some other areas to fence, the bulk of the project is done and it looks superb. Jenny and Gary came in to join us for "laser) engraver training" (more on that later). Nice shot to the left of one of our annual compositions (note that Pennisetum 'Prince' in the background behind the maroon Hibiscus acetosella 'Maple Sugar'). To the right is my favorite four o' clock (Mirabilis jalapa 'Limelight') that has chartreusy foliage that is sometimes bicolored as seen above and bright fuchsia pink blossoms. This is an easy annual to grow from seed and can top out well over 3' tall. Below is a nice, part shade perennial called yellow waxy bells (Kirengeshoma palmata) that has large, maple-like leaves and yellow summer flowers as seen. I like the visual texture of this Asian perennial and the flowers are the secondary interest. Position this perennial in moist, part sun and allow for its ultimate size (3' tall by 4' wide). 
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