Missed The Kiss Of Frost

This morning was quite frigid although we only saw 37 degrees F on the thermostat this morning. Some of our volunteers told of seeing frost on both rooftops and grass this morning in some areas. I saw no evidence of frost damage out in the gardens (or at home) but some of the tropicals are looking a bit more "tired" after the chill. Tonight should be quite cold too (slight chance of frost) but I see a nice warm-up soon that should extend color nicely. Both today and tomorrow (Friday) will be a hiatus from the plant sale until we open the gates for our final "plant sale push" this Saturday from 8 am until noon. We'll continue the 15% off everything and are starting to sell mums from the Parker Education Center as well ($5.95 + tax right now!). We had a great volunteer turnout today and while some (like Dave Thomas above) decided to nap, the rest kept quite busy. Directly above is the start of our Autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale) season. The 8,000 or so we planted over 8 years ago are just starting to bloom around the gardens... To the left are Bob A. and Jim (Dave was close by napping) working on repairing/stabilizing our back porch steps which have seen some wear and tear over the past 20 years. The guys did a nice job and continue to be a huge asset with their woodworking/carpentry skills. To the right is the sizeable batch of mums out front of the Parker Education Center that are being sold thru the gift shop. The gentlemen that hauled the mums to that location (seen to the right) are part of the witness protection program and had to screen their identity (with mums). We hope many of these mums will be sold tonight at the Local Artisan Fair (4 pm - 8 pm) which emphasizes the Cottage Garden Gallery (our gift shop) and all the artists and wares that are part of this newly organized shopping destination. The artists will be on hand, items will be for sale and there will also be a cash bar. Come check it out. Directly below, left to right, are Marilyn, Jenny and Karen (Grumpettes) that were working on fall clean-up down near the fern & moss garden. Peer further down in the blog to see them in action. Ron W., Steve, Del and Dick H. started the morning by taking down two of our seven plant sale tents. These were our "non-essentials" as we'll have enough work getting the others down next Monday after the sale concludes at noon this Saturday (September 17th). The guys moved on to helping Dr. Yahr plant 15 large shrubs in the Japanese garden. Ron B. and Bob C. worked on raking leaves around the gardens and many of the other guys moved on to that work as well. As mentioned, the carpenters (Dave, Jim, Bob, sans Vern) worked on the back porch and have plenty of upcoming projects. Aside from the ladies above, Mary R. was also helping in that space and we also saw Glenna and Geesje this morning. In the afternoon, Mary, Gena and Myrt came in and did a nice purging of "yucky-looking" annuals in the North American garden. Many plants are limping along and I'd rather have a gap than a sickly looking plant. We are about a month out from planting our bulbs and will continue to extend the color as best we can. Chuck was also in to process our recycling. Dr. Gredler was here to mow and we also saw Kelli, Sally, Mary W., Pat, Vern (later) and many others. Janice had her Thursday volunteer crew in to rake leaves and they did a great job. We had a small staff today but they kept busy. Big John worked on lots of container and bed watering and also watered in the plant sale. John dug out some unwanted plants as well and is preparing an area in the parking lot for new plantings. Janice helped facilitate the morning volunteers, did some watering, worked with her afternoon volunteers and tidied up a few areas as well. Larry ran irrigation all day (still very dry out there) and spent a good portion of the morning draining, cleaning and re-filling the sunken garden pool for our last couple weeks of weddings. That pool gets so much leaf debris that it really needs a frequent "cleansing". Larry also watered and worked on some other tasks as well. I worked on my upcoming presentations and caught up on desk work although the weather outside was quite nice once the sun came out. Below are Ron B. and Bob C. collecting cottonwood (Populus deltoides) leaves in the woodland walk garden.