Above is the showy balloon flower (
Platycodon grandiflorus) that is always so colorful as it opens up. The gardens are becoming more colorful daily but are starting to also look parched. We h
ad irrigation and sprinklers running all day and will continue to soak the gardens throughout the week. The weather, while mild this morning, became almost furnace-like later with highs in the 90 degrees F with a strong, hot, drying wind too. Mondays continue to be very busy with both grounds staff and volunteers. Marv replicated his mammoth sprinkler routine that he has been following every Monday, Wednesday and Friday to keep many of our annual beds watered throughout this "mini-drought". It seems quite strange to have so many days in June already 90 degrees F or hotter. Marv worked on other tasks as well including watering containers with Larry and others. Big John also set-up sprinklers, hand watered, composted and prepared an area
for planting. Marianne started the day by watering the yard plants which looked quite thirsty after a hot, windy day yesterday. She later planted and tidied in the entrance garden, watered, did her cutting display and worked on other projects as well. Larry ran irrigation throughout the day, set-up sprinklers and orchestrated a
lot of essential watering. I was able to lay out some plants this morning and did a quick tour of the gardens. While we do plan on continuing planting each day, we can't neglect some of the weed and watering issues that are becoming more prevalent daily. A little rain would free us up from watering so we can tackle some of these "growing problems." The moss garden (upper right) is coming along well and we'll take off that protective netting soon in the hopes that the moss has attached and the local wildlife wont borrow too much of it either! To the left is the 'Hummelo' wood betony (Stac
hy monnieri) which is a very strong bloomer and looks great for a good 4-6 weeks in the early summer garden. Pat was here as a volunteer today and both he and Urban (to the right) hauled over the ladder to our espaliered apple (
Malus sp.). They did a nice job pruning this specimen and moved on to some similar corrective pruning on a bur oak (
Quercus macrocarpa). Directly below is one of our weeding challenges. Purslane (
Portulaca oleracea) has become a serious issue for us and is very hard to keep up with as it seems to have spread throughout the gardens.
Directly above is another of our breadseed poppies (
Papaver somniferum) in the English cottage garden. We finally put some labels out on these as we had so many que
stions from visitors regarding their identification and the usual, "Where can I buy that?". We had a super group of volunteers today. Ron W and Russ jumped right in to hauling shredded bark up to the parking lot island. The guys did a nice job topressing that large space which we'll continue to monitor over the summer. With both islands relatively open now, we will continue to control weeds and consider additional plantings later in the summer / early fall. To the right are Karen M. and Stan consulting in the Japanese garden. These two volunteers, along with Jumbo Jim, maintain the vast majority of that popular garden. Bob C. an
d Ron B. cleaned up path debris while Rollie continued to install the new memorial bricks that just came in last week. Gary worked on more sign creation while Maury helped run for supplies. Dave, Jim, Vern and Bob continued work on their new shed project and had some help from Dick H. as well. Urban and Pat pruned together and we also had some wonderful planting assistance from Bev W., Cindi B. and Jane. The three ladies pla
nted a large section of the last portion of the entrance garden overlooking Palmer Drive. It became quite hot and sunny there quickly but the ladies weathered the heat and did a great job. Janice was also in to work with some of her volunteers. T0 left is the barley (
Hordeum) which was swaying in the breeze today in the
Ornamental Edible & Compact Vegetable Collection. Our eight patches of grain compose our
Grains of the World collection which seems to be getting more attention. To the right is a section of the
Moss Rose Collection (
Portulaca) which looks great in the morning. Directly below is the 'Double Extra Orange' moss rose (
Portulaca grandiflora) which is one of the 60 or so varieties in this collection. At the bottom is the showy bloom of Queen Anne's lace (
Daucus carota). Lots going on tomorrow (including a talk for the Delavan Garden Club) and plenty of watering!
ad irrigation and sprinklers running all day and will continue to soak the gardens throughout the week. The weather, while mild this morning, became almost furnace-like later with highs in the 90 degrees F with a strong, hot, drying wind too. Mondays continue to be very busy with both grounds staff and volunteers. Marv replicated his mammoth sprinkler routine that he has been following every Monday, Wednesday and Friday to keep many of our annual beds watered throughout this "mini-drought". It seems quite strange to have so many days in June already 90 degrees F or hotter. Marv worked on other tasks as well including watering containers with Larry and others. Big John also set-up sprinklers, hand watered, composted and prepared an area
for planting. Marianne started the day by watering the yard plants which looked quite thirsty after a hot, windy day yesterday. She later planted and tidied in the entrance garden, watered, did her cutting display and worked on other projects as well. Larry ran irrigation throughout the day, set-up sprinklers and orchestrated a
lot of essential watering. I was able to lay out some plants this morning and did a quick tour of the gardens. While we do plan on continuing planting each day, we can't neglect some of the weed and watering issues that are becoming more prevalent daily. A little rain would free us up from watering so we can tackle some of these "growing problems." The moss garden (upper right) is coming along well and we'll take off that protective netting soon in the hopes that the moss has attached and the local wildlife wont borrow too much of it either! To the left is the 'Hummelo' wood betony (Stachy monnieri) which is a very strong bloomer and looks great for a good 4-6 weeks in the early summer garden. Pat was here as a volunteer today and both he and Urban (to the right) hauled over the ladder to our espaliered apple (Malus sp.). They did a nice job pruning this specimen and moved on to some similar corrective pruning on a bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa). Directly below is one of our weeding challenges. Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) has become a serious issue for us and is very hard to keep up with as it seems to have spread throughout the gardens. 
stions from visitors regarding their identification and the usual, "Where can I buy that?". We had a super group of volunteers today. Ron W and Russ jumped right in to hauling shredded bark up to the parking lot island. The guys did a nice job topressing that large space which we'll continue to monitor over the summer. With both islands relatively open now, we will continue to control weeds and consider additional plantings later in the summer / early fall. To the right are Karen M. and Stan consulting in the Japanese garden. These two volunteers, along with Jumbo Jim, maintain the vast majority of that popular garden. Bob C. an
d Ron B. cleaned up path debris while Rollie continued to install the new memorial bricks that just came in last week. Gary worked on more sign creation while Maury helped run for supplies. Dave, Jim, Vern and Bob continued work on their new shed project and had some help from Dick H. as well. Urban and Pat pruned together and we also had some wonderful planting assistance from Bev W., Cindi B. and Jane. The three ladies pla
nted a large section of the last portion of the entrance garden overlooking Palmer Drive. It became quite hot and sunny there quickly but the ladies weathered the heat and did a great job. Janice was also in to work with some of her volunteers. T0 left is the barley (Hordeum) which was swaying in the breeze today in the Ornamental Edible & Compact Vegetable Collection. Our eight patches of grain compose our Grains of the World collection which seems to be getting more attention. To the right is a section of the Moss Rose Collection (Portulaca) which looks great in the morning. Directly below is the 'Double Extra Orange' moss rose (Portulaca grandiflora) which is one of the 60 or so varieties in this collection. At the bottom is the showy bloom of Queen Anne's lace (Daucus carota). Lots going on tomorrow (including a talk for the Delavan Garden Club) and plenty of watering!
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