Cloudy, Cool and Productive

We all arrived at work today with some light mist/drizzle coming down. That ended early but the rest of the day, while overcast and grey, was perfect gardening weather. Thursdays always see a good population of volunteers out in the gardens and today was no exception. The top picture is a portion of our prairie restoration which starts looking very colorful this time of year with asters (Aster sp.), goldenrod (Solidago sp.) and all the native grasses. It's nice to see the Youth Education volunteers will be utilizing this space again for their late season programs. The image directly above is of the 'Morden Blush' shrub rose (developed in Canada) which is very hardy and has no difficulty looking good late in the season. Our rose garden is still looking good and should show color until a hard frost arrives (hopefully not too soon!). To the right is one of our containers out in the North Point garden. The centerpiece of purple fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum') is surrounded by 'Diamond Frost' spurge (Euphorbia graminea) that looks like baby's breath throughout the entire summer. The sprig of pink is from a 'Dragon Wing Pink' begonia (Begonia hybrida) which has been engulfed but is still offering some color.

We had a nice Grumpy and Grumpette turnout today. To the left is Larry H. who worked with Dennis and Pat (seen directly below) to dismantle all of our plant sale tables. We stack and store these and only use them for our spring and fall plant sales. The guys, along with Ron W., also took down the last of our plant sale tents and helped put some odds and ends from the sale away. Ron also ran back some serious recycling. Bob C., later joined by many of the aforementioned gentlemen, shifted to collecting leaves and debris from our paths. This is now a daily task! Dr. Yahr planted some small trees while Dr. Gredler mowed and aerated the entire arboretum. Dick H. worked on equipment repair most of the morning and ran some loads to the dump. Dave, Jim and Bob A. finished refurbishing (new wood) our large hand cart (see to the right) and are preparing for other projects next week. It's so nice to have such a quick "carpentry turnaround" as I mentioned the cart on Monday to the guys and it's now good as new. Our Grumpettes of Suzy, Karen, Glenna and Mary R. worked with Janice tidying up the sunken garden. In the afternoon, Gena, Myrt and Mary worked on the reception garden. Janice had her Thursday afternoon volunteer group come in and they did a top notch job of raking/collecting leaves off some of the primary paths. Hal and Doris were here to check out there area and we also saw Joan, Maggie, Kelli, Julie, Bill O., Harold and many others too. Further below are some of our mammoth hostas in the Hosta Hollow garden.

I'm sure all my past, late September blogs, feature the plant above. This is the bushclover (Lespedeza thunbergii 'Gibraltar') which blooms strongly from now until the second week in October. This legume (fixes nitrogen) dies to ground level each year and springs up in June with quick growth and has this nice arching form. It's not truly a shrub which would have woody growth overwinter above ground. It is a sub-shrub that regenerates the bulk of its woody growth each year. Olbrich has many of these blooming as well and a neat white variety called 'Avalanche'. What other shrubs are at peak bloom right now? None. To the right is the interesting, cutleaf, maroon with pink edged foliage of the 'Sizzle Scissors' copperleaf (Acalypha wilkesiana) which is quite unique (and definitely not hardy). To the left are the fragrant flower spires of the dark-leaved fairy candles (Cimicifuga simplex 'Black Negligee'). This perennial has maroonish foliage which looks nice with lighter neighbors (white or yellow) and the blooms extend the interest in to October.

The Thursday grounds staff kept busy today. Larry worked on push mowing, pruning, running for supplies and helping with various tasks. Larry has been working on some irrigation issues out in the gardens that we'll need further expertise to finalize and repair. Big John also push mowed and moved on to watering (containers too), digging out tree seedlings, etc. All the grounds staff had lots of projects to bounce between. Janice accomodated our Grumpettes this morning, made signs, gardened, watered and worked with her afternoon volunteers. I continued catching up on desk work but was able to get out in the gardens to see how things were looking. Recent compliments have made us feel that our later season color is working well and the gardens still are quite engaging despite the later calendar. I'll be attending the North American Japanese Garden Association (NAJGA) regional meeting this weekend at the Chicago Botanic Garden with Karen M. (a RBG volunteer) and am looking forward to that experience. To the right is one of the few goldenrod species that doesn't mind a bit of shade. This is the elm-leaved goldenrod (Solidago ulmifolia) in the English cottage garden and we also have this species scattered throughout the shade garden. The arching sprays of yellow do catch the eye although this plant can be a bit floppy in shadier conditions. Directly below is a bloom close-up of the perennial sunflower (Helianthus hybrida) called 'Lemon Queen'. The blooms are about 3" in diameter and if this plant is happy, it can get 6-8' tall and will form a nice clump 4-5' or so in full sun. We'll keep an eye on it in case it gets too aggressive as many of the perennial sunflowers can become. At the bottom is the flower of the cupid's dart (Catanache caerulea 'Amor Blue') which is a short-lived perennial that blooms from June until October and prefers lighter soils (no clay!). Early Greeks and Romans would make love potions out of this flower (2" diameter), hence the common name. The Latin name has a rough translation to "strong incentive".....