An Uber-Productive Day

We had an impressive turnout of volunteers this morning and really had one of our most productive mornings in a couple of weeks. The morning temperatures weren't too bad (75 degrees F) but it did warm up fairly quickly out in the sun. The top photo is of the 'Summer Beauty' ornamental onion (Allium angulosum) just starting to open with these violet-pink spheres (umbels). We have plenty of these around the gardens and they offer some nice coloration as well as a persistent and notable flower architecture. Directly above is a large grouping of the 'Karl Foerster' feather reed grass (Calamagrostis x acutiflora) in the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children's Garden. This grass really has an impact in a large grouping and these are doing well in this location with periodic irrigation. To the right is the fragrant bloom (smells like vanilla) of the white heliotrope (Heliotropium arborescens 'Alba'). This flower cluster really packs a scented punch and is a primary component of our Smelly Garden. To the left is one of our squash (Cucurbita sp.) blooms opening up over at the Horticulture Center. It certainly has been a struggle for our volunteers to keep this expansive vegetable collection watered. This collection (at the Horticulture Center) contains tomatoes, bell peppers, hot peppers, basil and some other veggies as well.

Our Grumpies this morning included Ron B., Ron W., Bob C., Vern, Jim D., Dave T., Bob A., Urban, Dick H., Stan, Dr. Gredler, Dr. Yahr, Del and Gary. The Grumpies watered, repaired paths, mulched and continued work on the new storage shed. Our Grumpettes included Sue, Suzy, Glenna, Marilyn, Karen, Cheryl (first photo down) Mary, Shae, Karla and Terri. We also had Jane and John (new volunteer) and Becky (new volunteer). The Grumpettes worked on some planting (in and near the Smelly Garden) and significant weeding (a thousand curses upon you purslane!). We also saw Jumbo Jim and four RECAPPERS (see photo below). The guys helped water in the Japanese garden, weeded and worked on myriad projects. We also saw Bev, Lori, Mary, John P. and many, many others. To the right is the chocolate daisy (Berlandiera lyrata) which really does have a chocolate overtone if you breathe deeply (dusk is best). I hand watered the Smelly Garden today and became reacquainted with some great scents. We have a Smelly Garden Family Fun Day next Wednesday, July 18th from 10 am until 2 pm.

The grounds staff had another day of comprehensive watering around the gardens. Larry was again in early to start running irrigation zones around the gardens. He also set up various sprinklers, weed whipped and helped water the yard at the end of the day. Larry also had some irrigation repairs and other small projects. Big John was "Mr. Sprinkler" today and set up sprinklers in many areas. He also hauled plants, hand watered, installed signs in the Smelly Garden and watered containers. Terry, while not normally in on Thursdays, came in and was a huge help with watering. He also had a planting/fertlizing project which he made quick work of this morning. To the right is Marilyn and I love her shirt which shows how proud our volunteers are of their involvement at RBG (as well they should be!). To the left are a couple 'Stargazer' lilies (Lilium sp.) in the Smelly Garden. We planted about 300 of these last fall and the scent today was quite apparent. I layed out the plants for our Grumpettes this morning (they planted about 1,500 plants!), had meetings and spent the afternoon watering. It sure was hot by the end of the day and I'm bummed to see that we're in for another heat wave with daytime high temperatures around 100 degrees F by Monday. UGH. To the right is the 'Milkshake' coneflower (Echinacea purpurea). Directly below are the maturing blooms of the native rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium). I love this perennial for flower form and interesting, bold blue-green foliage. The bottom photo is the North point garden which looked great today. That haze of lavender around the structure is provided by the South American verbena (Verbena bonariensis). L.P. Tree Service was also at the gardens removing a huge, dead boxelder (Acer negundo) on our north path that had fallen in a hazardous way over the path.