Synchronized Ladder Sports

Today started out with a 60% chance of rain. With that percentage, we never count on it so we started running irrigation and set up sprinklers. Well, it rained fairly nicely for about an hour with some significant precipitation for about half of that time. I'm not sure how much ultimately came down but it was very timely. Sunday was brutal with high winds, sunshine and temperatures in the 90 degrees F. Leslie, Whitey and Big John were in for Sunday watering but everything looked thirsty by this morning. We did continue running irrigation and sprinklers all day though to give the gardens a good soaking as it looks to be another dry week. The top photo is what prompted my blog title today. From left to right are Jim, Bob A. and Vern working on removing shade cloth from a structure that is currently being converted in to a storage shed. Dave T. was just off camera. I watched these guys move their ladders in tandem, climb at the same pace and it struck me as quite practiced (which was kind of creepy). The guys are very handy and this is a project right up their alley. Directly above is a shot of our moss rose collection (Portulaca) which will be filmed later this week when Shelley Ryan of The Wisconsin Gardener (WPT) comes to the gardens. She'll also feature our vertical planters. To the upper right is the 'Dark Towers' beard tongue (Penstemon digitalis) looking nice in the North point garden with feather reed grass (Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster') in the distance and the Adirondack chairs positioned for a view of the water. To the left are a grouping of oats (Avena sativa) which are one of the eight Grains of the World we're featuring this year in the Ornamental Edible & Compact Vegetable Collection.

Despite the rain and dampness this morning, we had a pretty nice turnout of Grumpies and other volunteers. Aside from the carpenters mentioned above, we had Russ, Ron W., Dick K. and Del hauling compost to one of the recently upgraded parking lot islands. Stan helped with this project initially and then moved to some skilled pruning in the Japanese garden (second photo down). Bob C. and Urban were out doing some air edging around our All-America Selections beds and Dick P. and Rollie worked on installing bricks. The photo below shows Dick (left) and Rollie looking for a stray penny which took up most of their morning. :) Maury was in to run some errands and worked with Tom C. on some electrical repairs. Maury also went with Dick H. to take one of our vehicles in for maintenance. Dr. Gredler did a nice round of mowing. Gary worked on some timely labels on the new engraver and was back later to help with our Rotary Planting Workday which attracted about a dozen members including our own Maury, Hal R., Mary (RBG Director) and many more. Other volunteers today included Janice and some volunteers from the Chestnut House as well as Cheryl, Bill O. and many others. To the above right are the blooms of the oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) which are following the trend started back in February with everything blooming about three weeks early!Directly above is the 'Morden Sunrise' shrub rose (Rosa). Our rose collection is looking pretty nice although John removed a dozen or so dead specimens last week which isn't unusual. We'll replace those shortly with some new ones. This variety always seems to "glow" and is a favorite of visitors and staff alike! To the right is the variegated Northern sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium 'River Mist') which really has a lot of white to the foliage. This variety, while showy, doesn't achieve the height (or vigor) of the standard green version but that foliage looks dynamite and I've seen this variety used in containers nicely as well.

The grounds staff had a busy day and the rain didn't stop us from some morning duties as well. Marianne worked on planting up the last of our seeds for some plants that will be installed in a couple weeks. She also did her cutting display, hauled plants & tools for the Rotary Planting Day and did a nice job tidying up some areas. Big John went on a gas run this morning, did some serious mulching around trees and spent a good portion of the day smoothing over all our potholes in gravel paths which become very apparent after a rain. He finished up with some watering as did Larry. Larry worked on all manner of projects and continued to run irrigation around the gardens. Larry also installed two new garden memorial plaques and kept an eye on watering the yard (with Bill O.). Marv and Terry kept sprinklers and irrigation going and did a nice job rototilling and preparing two more spaces that will be soon planted with annuals. The guys also spent time edging along our frontage road (Palmer Drive). I helped facilitate the morning, accomplished some desk work and later presented to the Noon Rotary Club. I later helped with the Rotary Planting project but had to leave early after leaving Gary and Hal in charge. To the left is the domed flower cluster of the German statice (Goniolimon tataricum) which I feel is grossly underused. These flowers will be of interest for over two months and are wonderful as a dried element in arrangements, wreaths, etc. To the right are the blooms of the dwarf goatsbeard (Aruncus aethusifolius). I like this 12" tall perennial (part shade) for not only the late spring blooms but the fine foliage texture and yellow fall color. We use this diminutive goatsbeard along pathway edges and as a specimen plant. Directly below shows our stacked pvc planters (courtesy of www.theurbangrow.com). The plants are filling in nicely and Janice is close to completing the planting of this entire area of edibles. At the bottom is one of the many "fabric" containers we're trying this year. We've placed many out in the gardens already and are evaluating these for efficiency and ultimately, how well plants are growing in them. This sample below has four chambers for different veggies although we planted all the pockets with a compact sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) called 'Vardaman'. We're elevating all of these "bag planters" to make sure excess water can drain out as needed. Plenty more weeding and planting will be occuring this week and we'll put in a strong push for involvement at the RBG Volunteer Planting Workday (Saturday, 8 am - 12 noon).