A Scorcher With A Light Rain Teaser

With the potential for temperatures around 100 degrees F today, we all came in early to avoid the late afternoon heat. It was breezy and overcast this morning and we also had some thunder followed by a brief and very weak drizzle. It was actually fairly comfortable until lunchtime when the sun emerged. Our primary activity was watering today as we want to keep everything damp over this hot, three-day weekend. The top picture is 'Tomato Soup' coneflower (Echinacea hybrida) which strays from the coneflower colors that we normally expect to see out in the gardens. Above is the 'Zowie! Yellow Flame' zinnia (Zinnia elegans) which has a very unique, vivid coloration. Reaching about 30" tall, this heat tolerant annual loves the sun and will perform until late in the season. To the left is the variegated foliage of the Autumn Delight stonecrop (Sedum hybrida 'Beka'). With pink flower clusters later yet this summer, this showy variety is a sport from the ever popular 'Autumn Joy' sedum. To the right are Marv's world famous sticky buns. These didn't last very long which is no surprise and they are always a hit (along with his cookies and pies). With many volunteers baking for our Grumpies and other volunteer helpers, treats like these keep us going.

Volunteers today included Kay and Art (seen below) who did an awesome job weeding in the Children's Garden which is our "Smelly Garden" this year and next. The purslane and other carpet weeds had a foothold until they went thru that garden with Marianne. John and Joanne were here to weed their area as were Don and Pearl. Dr. Gredler was in to mow and we also saw Deb, Kris, Joan, Ron W., Darcie and some others today. The weather did get brutal in the afternoon so the early start was very prudent. Directly above is 'Little Wine Cup' daylily (Hemerocallis) which is one of many varieties that we have out in the gardens. I was spraying herbicide near the daylily collection (along the arboretum) and noted some of the earlier varieties starting to show color. The Potter Daylily Collection was donated back in 2000 and we have over 300 varieties in this space. What a neat group of plants and we appreciate Lisa's (volunteer) continued assistance with proper inventory, identification and labeling. As a National Display Garden for the American Hemerocallis Society, we need to make sure our collection is always "up to snuff"!

All the grounds staff had watering on their lists today. Marv ran irrigation around the gardens and transitioned quickly to other duties like setting up/moving sprinklers, fertilizing containers, pruning, etc. Terry watered throughtout the day but also mowed, sheared shrubs, etc. Marianne weeded, watered, did her cutting display and watered the yard. Janice was in to give a tour, pushmow and also did lots of watering. Big John went on a gas run, helped consolidate the yard and moved on to some watering as well. Ariel continued her "label conversion" in the woodland walk garden. To the above left is the neat foliage of the variegated five-leaf aralia (Eleutherococcus sieboldianus 'Variegatus') which is a durable, medium-sized shrub that has done very well for us. This shrub is not real picky about soil and can take full sun all the way to full shade. To the right is the "texturally wispy" 'Silk Tassels' sedge (Carex morrowii) which tops out at 15" tall and looks great repeated along a shady path or border. This one is in our shade garden and is a nice clumper. Be wary of "non-clumping" sedges as they will go beserk. Below is one of our entrance garden hanging baskets with a cool yellow petunia (can't remember the name) and the leatherleaf sedge (Carex buchananii) as a centerpiece. Keeping our hanging baskets watered is always a challenge but never a duty that we neglect. The bottom photo is Dr. Gredler pruning as he mows....If his shade canopy hits a branch as he circles a tree ring, he pauses to remove the offending branch. Looking forward to three sequential days off which hasn't happened since December of last year! I'll try to keep blogging though.