Another Full Parking Lot

Today was a beautiful day with blue skies and plenty of sunshine. The warm-up was quick from 40 degrees F to 75 degrees F by lunchtime. It was a busy day at the gardens as there was a group renting the visitor's center for a function and it was our "free Wednesday" for the month. It was nice to see so many people walking around and enjoying the gardens. Above is a wood rush (Luzula sylvatica) in our Scottish garden which is a grass relative and catches my attention not for its overpowering appearance but its durability in dry shade. I was in the Scottish garden placing alpine plants for installation and noted some neat perennials like the wood rush. I also placed plants in the alpine garden for Marianne to plant. She'll catch up with her custom-made labels soon enough. I had many meetings so was limited out in the gardens although with every trip thru the gardens, I ran in to many visitors, plenty of questions and many compliments for our late season color. Only 10% or so of our annuals have been frosted to the point of removal and I think the rest will be ok until we get that "killing frost" (hopefully later than sooner). I can't stop taking pictures of the Tiger Eyes sumac (Rhus typhina 'Bailtiger') to the left. It might be my most featured plant in my blog but I sure do like the summer foliage color and increasingly vivid fall coloration. To the right are those pesky boxelder bugs (Boisea trivittatus) on our horticulture center windows. They are relatively harmless but can cause some minor inconvenience in the home if they infiltrate in large numbers. See the University of Minnesota bulletin regarding this insect at http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/dg0998.html.

We had a super crew here today with Marv and Terry working on composting, rototilling, rock work and watering. Big John worked on removing spent annuals, cutting back some shrub willows, a tree removal, rock work and watering while Little Jerry worked his pruning "kung fu" in front of the visitors center. Marianne tidied up various areas and did a dynamite job in the sunken garden which is vital as we still have some looming, late season weddings! She moved on to planting in the alpine garden as well. Larry ran irrigation, cut down a tree with John, set up sprinklers and helped water as needed. Janice was here for a meeting and we'll see her tomorrow. Kay did a nice job thinning out our frosted annuals and does a nice job preserving those plants that are "lightly tinged" by frost but still have ornamental merit. She really needs very little direction and as a lifelong gardener, is one of our best. Dr. Gredler was here to mow and run loads to the dump while we also saw Lori, Dave, Becky, Chuck, Julie, Dave T., Rollie, Dr. Yahr and Dave B. Nice shot to the left of 'Marbles' ornamental hot pepper (Capsicum annuum) still looking sharp. You can see how it got it's name. Another nice spherical fruited variety is 'Holiday Cheer' which looks quite similar. To the right is the frosted, yet still visually effective, ornamental millet (Pennisetum glaucum 'Purple Majesty'). Although the frost has hit (turning the plant from maroon to brown) and the finches have cleaned the seed out of those "cattail-like" blooms, this annual grass still has stature and presence in the border! This grass will be knocked down with more frost but is still hanging on. Directly below are Terry and John manipulating a boulder placed by Marv (in the end loader). The guys did a nice job improving a retaining wall and will finish the project next week. The bottom photo is a shot of our parking lot. It's always nice to see it full!