Sunny & Productive

Today, while beginning as the coldest morning we've had yet this fall, turned in to a gorgeous day. Above is a nice shot of our southern Japanese garden entrance (shot taken from within the Japanese garden) and directly above is a portion of the moss island in the fern & moss garden featuring clubmosses transplanted by Marv. We were talking today about the moss island that Marv and Janice replanted this summer and are looking forward to it becoming more established. We joked about how prehistoric it looked and thought little plastic dinosaurs would complete the scene. While everything was frosty this morning, the sun started warming everything up quickly and we jumped right in to our Friday tasks. Friday activities in May thru early October are frequently dictated by where and when we have weddings that weekend. It's nice not to have that stress as we were able to do a nice mix of gardening and holiday lights show preparation around the grounds and everybody was able to "mix it up" and enjoy the day. To the left is the clear gold fall color of the ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) that is very fetching. When a ginkgo gets to this color, you have a day or so before the leaves drop. Ginkgos are good about dropping all their leaves at once. In last night's blog, I mentioned the long history of the dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides). Look a bit further in to the history of the ginkgo and you'll see that it existed 270 million years ago, even before the Jurassic period! To the right is a shot taken in the fern & moss garden, where I was running electrical cords this morning. Directly below is the subtle pink fall color of the golden Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra 'All Gold'). Further below is a shot of the completed arbor structure that our Grumpies (primarily Dave T., Jim D., Bob A. and Vern B.) constructed out on "the point." They finished it this past Monday and it looks awesome. After spending so much time this past winter on the arches (a major woodworking project), the total structure went up fairly quickly for the guys and it scoffed at the 60 mph wind gusts this past Tuesday and Wednesday. Marv and Terry heeled in our surplus plants for planting next spring and spent the majority of the day putting up lights displays around the gardens. Marianne and Janice spent the morning repairing lights, decorating obelisks and collecting/organizing the leftover plant sale bulbs for planting next week. Both ladies went out in the afternoon to cut back perennials, yank annuals and collect leaves/debris. It was the perfect temperature to be outside gardening (50 degrees F). I finished some presentations and other desk work but was able to run my first 1,000 feet of cords. The time has come though. I have to really get in to the cord running next week in anticipation of getting the remainder of the show up in the next two weeks. Dr. Gredler was here mowing and running loads of debris to the dump. Kay and Robin worked in the North American and Sunken gardens respectively, removing annuals, cutting perennials and gathering leaves. Robin left early as she was ill but both ladies created a sizeable dent in our daily plant removal operations. Mary W. and Jean S. were here today and utilized six RECAPPERS to plant 1,000 daffodils (Narcissus) in a nearby park. We also saw Gary, Hal and others. To the left is the yellowing fall color of the katsura tree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum). This happens to be the dwarf, rounded variety called 'Heronswood Globe'. Katsura trees are really neat and tough as nails. To the right is the foliage of the dwarf golden bald cypress (Taxodium distichum 'Peve Yellow') in the alpine garden. Its summer foliage is also yellow but as a deciduous conifer, this specimen will drop needles shortly. Both this variety and 'Peve Minaret' (narrow, dwarf and green) have a nice, tight look, albeit a bit variable and irregular. Below are some of our latest blooms in the garden from the common witchhazel (Hamamelis virginiana) and the "burnt mustard" fall color of the 'Spring Grove' magnolia (Magnolia sp.).

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf's a flower." Albert Camus (Nobel Prize for literature in 1957).