Nice shot above of the fruiting structure (called an aggregrate of follicles) of the umbrella magnolia (
Magnolia tripetala) in our arboretum. The bold, 12" leaves are quite showy as are the short-lived sprin
g blooms. I think this fruit is eye-catching and certainly a conversation piece at almost 6" in length. It was another nice sunny day and
it felt like a Friday to me as I'm off for the next two days for various family activities. My younger daughter (10) has her birthday in January and asked for her present to be a trip to Great America (Gurnee, IL). I'm not a big fan of amusement park rides (motion sickness) but do take pictures of some of their plantings. August ends up being a good month to take some of my vacation days as it's the calm before the storm of our plant sales coming up quite soon. To the left is our August-blooming 'September Charm' anemone (
Anemone hybrida 'September Charm') that looks great despite it peaking early. Odd that everything has stayed on that 14-20 days early bloom period from way back in April. To the right is one of our koi pond patio containers that really demonstrates the value of giant papyrus (
Cyperus papyrus 'King Tut') as a centerpiece. The orange leaves are from 'Freckles' coleus (
Solenostemon scutellarioides) and the trailing plant is one of the new cutleaf golden sweet potato vines (
Ipomoea batatas 'Illusion Emerald Lace'). Below are some of our cucumbers that were picked yesterday by Bev, Gary and Cindy. The white, rounded ones are called 'Crystal Apple'. We've sampled most of the 20 varieties of heirloom cucumbers and feel they taste quite similar. However, the variability in appearance is impressive. Further below to the right is the assortment that was taken out to the food banks by Julie today.
We had another busy day today but the weather was cooperative and much was accomplished. Terry and Marv worked on various projects, the biggest of which was the re-shearing of our boxwood hedges throughout the formal gardens. There are easily over 600 boxwoods in that garden and the
fellows do a nice job shearing them twice each year. They do it by hand (with shears) and their eye for symmetry is superior. Big John worked on removing some woody seedlings, planted, watered and worked with Lisa out in the daylily collection this afternoon. They did a nice job adding new varieties, moving specimens and removing some from the collection. Lisa has done a nice job re-establishing the integrity of that collection and we're most appreciative of her efforts and attention to detail. Janice popped in (off the clock) to work on preparations for the upcoming Garden Festival and Little Jerry came in to check out some fut
ure projects. We had oodles of volunteers with Gary and Cindy back for more weeding action and Suzy working with two teens in the same vicinity (weeding). Kay did a great job grooming some of our seed trial beds and no weed was left unnoticed. Rollie came in to lay some bricks and Jumbo Jim brought down two RECAPPERS to work on placing rocks and cleaning up the leaves in the Japanese garden. Mary brought in four female RECAPPERS and joined Bev in dividing the remainder of our unknown bearded irises (
Iris germanica). Rose was in working in the cucumbers and gourds while Dr. Gredler continued his mowing regime. We also saw Maury, Vern, Dr. Yahr, Dick P., Shawna, Mike, Julie and others. I was chained to the desk again with preparations for many upcoming events. It's interesting to see how much this job has transitioned to desk work over the years! To the left is one of our huge (1 of 5) New Zealand flax (
Phormium 'Dusky Chief') specimens on the koi pond patio. These have huge impact and were donated by Mark, a horticulturist up at Olbrich Botanical Gardens (Madison, WI). Directly below is a shot from yesterday of Steve (ISS Sales, Green Bay) training us on the new laser engraver. Gary, Janice, Jenny, Marianne and I got a nice tutorial and feel comfortable proceeding with label creation after the venting system is complete and we get some "tweaks" on our label templates to streamline label creation. We'll start with our 2,000+ woody specimens, move to our 4,000 perennials, then on to annuals. Should be fun and the product is superior to what we've used in the past. At the bottom is a sweet shot of the gazebo, across the water to the arched bridge. I squatted down low so you can't see the garbage and debris floating in the water. I can't imagine someone passively tossing garbage in the water like that but it happens and we end up with it. UGH.
Nice shot above of the fruiting structure (called an aggregrate of follicles) of the umbrella magnolia (Magnolia tripetala) in our arboretum. The bold, 12" leaves are quite showy as are the short-lived sprin
g blooms. I think this fruit is eye-catching and certainly a conversation piece at almost 6" in length. It was another nice sunny day and 
it felt like a Friday to me as I'm off for the next two days for various family activities. My younger daughter (10) has her birthday in January and asked for her present to be a trip to Great America (Gurnee, IL). I'm not a big fan of amusement park rides (motion sickness) but do take pictures of some of their plantings. August ends up being a good month to take some of my vacation days as it's the calm before the storm of our plant sales coming up quite soon. To the left is our August-blooming 'September Charm' anemone (Anemone hybrida 'September Charm') that looks great despite it peaking early. Odd that everything has stayed on that 14-20 days early bloom period from way back in April. To the right is one of our koi pond patio containers that really demonstrates the value of giant papyrus (Cyperus papyrus 'King Tut') as a centerpiece. The orange leaves are from 'Freckles' coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) and the trailing plant is one of the new cutleaf golden sweet potato vines (Ipomoea batatas 'Illusion Emerald Lace'). Below are some of our cucumbers that were picked yesterday by Bev, Gary and Cindy. The white, rounded ones are called 'Crystal Apple'. We've sampled most of the 20 varieties of heirloom cucumbers and feel they taste quite similar. However, the variability in appearance is impressive. Further below to the right is the assortment that was taken out to the food banks by Julie today.
fellows do a nice job shearing them twice each year. They do it by hand (with shears) and their eye for symmetry is superior. Big John worked on removing some woody seedlings, planted, watered and worked with Lisa out in the daylily collection this afternoon. They did a nice job adding new varieties, moving specimens and removing some from the collection. Lisa has done a nice job re-establishing the integrity of that collection and we're most appreciative of her efforts and attention to detail. Janice popped in (off the clock) to work on preparations for the upcoming Garden Festival and Little Jerry came in to check out some fut
ure projects. We had oodles of volunteers with Gary and Cindy back for more weeding action and Suzy working with two teens in the same vicinity (weeding). Kay did a great job grooming some of our seed trial beds and no weed was left unnoticed. Rollie came in to lay some bricks and Jumbo Jim brought down two RECAPPERS to work on placing rocks and cleaning up the leaves in the Japanese garden. Mary brought in four female RECAPPERS and joined Bev in dividing the remainder of our unknown bearded irises (Iris germanica). Rose was in working in the cucumbers and gourds while Dr. Gredler continued his mowing regime. We also saw Maury, Vern, Dr. Yahr, Dick P., Shawna, Mike, Julie and others. I was chained to the desk again with preparations for many upcoming events. It's interesting to see how much this job has transitioned to desk work over the years! To the left is one of our huge (1 of 5) New Zealand flax (Phormium 'Dusky Chief') specimens on the koi pond patio. These have huge impact and were donated by Mark, a horticulturist up at Olbrich Botanical Gardens (Madison, WI). Directly below is a shot from yesterday of Steve (ISS Sales, Green Bay) training us on the new laser engraver. Gary, Janice, Jenny, Marianne and I got a nice tutorial and feel comfortable proceeding with label creation after the venting system is complete and we get some "tweaks" on our label templates to streamline label creation. We'll start with our 2,000+ woody specimens, move to our 4,000 perennials, then on to annuals. Should be fun and the product is superior to what we've used in the past. At the bottom is a sweet shot of the gazebo, across the water to the arched bridge. I squatted down low so you can't see the garbage and debris floating in the water. I can't imagine someone passively tossing garbage in the water like that but it happens and we end up with it. UGH. 
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