Many of us ended up in t-shirts (or at least shedding major layers) after the warm-up from the upper 30 degrees F this morning to almost 70 degrees F this afternoon. It was nice weather in which to both garden and set up the lights show. Above is
the late-blooming ornamental onion (
Allium thunbergii 'Ozawa') that I seem to feature every October or November! The backlighting really made this perennial glow and it is one of the few perennials left blooming out there after so many hard frosts. We had quite a few people here tod
ay, both staff and volunteers. John and Janice planted bulbs and worked on decorating some of the pine trees that Marv and Terry secured yesterday. Both John and Janice then went to an afternoon seminar on healing garden elements offered here at RBG by Mike M. Little Jerry worked on cutting back more shrubs and collecting debris. He is doing minor pruning as he goes thru an area as well. Larry worked on putting lights up on the ropes that form his overhead "canopy". I had some meetings but was able to run more cords. I'm only 1/3 done with cord running but will catch up quickly by next week once everything is up and ready to go. To the left is the spiny bark on a young castor aralia (
Kalopanax pictus) tree. The trunk above is about 5" in diameter although I've seen larger specimens where the primary trunk loses the thorns but the branches are still thorny. This specimen is above our Japanese garden waterfall (see below) and while it looks nice with larger, star-shaped, tropical-like leaves in summer, it is a mess in fall with the leaves falling in the pond. This tree also has been known to drop seeds and create offspring with little effort. To the right is the dwarf American larch (
Larix laricina 'Blue Sparkle') turning golden (another deciduous conifer). This specimen, in the alpine garden, caught my eye because of the remnant blue needles on the outside and interior gold coloration. We hope to rebuild the waterfall below in the near future as it has leaks and has settled enough that water flow is not easily achieved. A total rebuild, using these rocks and additional materials as needed, is warranted in my opinion but can become quite costly.
Our deer visitors were again in the gardens (see above) and seemed genuinely irked that I disturbed their nap/nibbling this morning in the Japanese garden. Fortunately, our resident deer haven't been chewing on our evergreens as we are still getting organized for our mass protection
efforts this fall. Robin was here today cutting back more perennials and collecting debris in three different areas. Kay did a nice job clearing ferns and debris in the fern/moss garden and will continue her efforts in the shade garden later in the week (tomorrow I believe). Dr. Gredler was here to run loads to the dump and watered in our new birches. Dave T., Vern and Jim came
in to put a new roof on one of our sheds that was damaged in the recent wind storms. Ron and Bev W. came in and put up lights on the remainder of our arches out in the gardens. They are veterans at this task and made quick work of this project. Mary W. came in and helped decorate some trees as well. Don't forget to enjoy those perennials that provide fall color too! To the left is the cranesbill geranium (
Geranium sanguineum) that will continue to get more red over the next week or so. To the right is the reddening foliage of prairie smoke (
Geum triflorum) which gets more attention for spring flowers and plumose, wispy seed heads. I have to admit that I never noticed fall color until this year. Maybe it's quite variable but no doubt, very beautiful. Directly below is some recently installed deer protection on a yew (
Taxus sp.) in the Japanese garden. Karen M. was here yesterday and started the laborious process of wrapping our "tasty treats." The bottom photo was taken today but I know I feature it every year. This is the fall foliage of the swamp white oak (
Quercus bicolor) in the woodland walk garden (look for the arched bridge in the distance). What a neat tree overall and very durable.
Many of us ended up in t-shirts (or at least shedding major layers) after the warm-up from the upper 30 degrees F this morning to almost 70 degrees F this afternoon. It was nice weather in which to both garden and set up the lights show. Above is
the late-blooming ornamental onion (Allium thunbergii 'Ozawa') that I seem to feature every October or November! The backlighting really made this perennial glow and it is one of the few perennials left blooming out there after so many hard frosts. We had quite a few people here tod
ay, both staff and volunteers. John and Janice planted bulbs and worked on decorating some of the pine trees that Marv and Terry secured yesterday. Both John and Janice then went to an afternoon seminar on healing garden elements offered here at RBG by Mike M. Little Jerry worked on cutting back more shrubs and collecting debris. He is doing minor pruning as he goes thru an area as well. Larry worked on putting lights up on the ropes that form his overhead "canopy". I had some meetings but was able to run more cords. I'm only 1/3 done with cord running but will catch up quickly by next week once everything is up and ready to go. To the left is the spiny bark on a young castor aralia (Kalopanax pictus) tree. The trunk above is about 5" in diameter although I've seen larger specimens where the primary trunk loses the thorns but the branches are still thorny. This specimen is above our Japanese garden waterfall (see below) and while it looks nice with larger, star-shaped, tropical-like leaves in summer, it is a mess in fall with the leaves falling in the pond. This tree also has been known to drop seeds and create offspring with little effort. To the right is the dwarf American larch (Larix laricina 'Blue Sparkle') turning golden (another deciduous conifer). This specimen, in the alpine garden, caught my eye because of the remnant blue needles on the outside and interior gold coloration. We hope to rebuild the waterfall below in the near future as it has leaks and has settled enough that water flow is not easily achieved. A total rebuild, using these rocks and additional materials as needed, is warranted in my opinion but can become quite costly. 
efforts this fall. Robin was here today cutting back more perennials and collecting debris in three different areas. Kay did a nice job clearing ferns and debris in the fern/moss garden and will continue her efforts in the shade garden later in the week (tomorrow I believe). Dr. Gredler was here to run loads to the dump and watered in our new birches. Dave T., Vern and Jim came
in to put a new roof on one of our sheds that was damaged in the recent wind storms. Ron and Bev W. came in and put up lights on the remainder of our arches out in the gardens. They are veterans at this task and made quick work of this project. Mary W. came in and helped decorate some trees as well. Don't forget to enjoy those perennials that provide fall color too! To the left is the cranesbill geranium (Geranium sanguineum) that will continue to get more red over the next week or so. To the right is the reddening foliage of prairie smoke (Geum triflorum) which gets more attention for spring flowers and plumose, wispy seed heads. I have to admit that I never noticed fall color until this year. Maybe it's quite variable but no doubt, very beautiful. Directly below is some recently installed deer protection on a yew (Taxus sp.) in the Japanese garden. Karen M. was here yesterday and started the laborious process of wrapping our "tasty treats." The bottom photo was taken today but I know I feature it every year. This is the fall foliage of the swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor) in the woodland walk garden (look for the arched bridge in the distance). What a neat tree overall and very durable. 
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