Plant Sale Closure

With the Fall Plant Sale now complete, we were able to start dismantling the sale and began untagging many of the plants that will be sent back to our participating nurseries. We will continue to sell spring blooming bulbs from our gift shop over the coming month or so and there is still a nice selection available. The top photo shows some of our volunteers from the Chestnut House removing pricing tags from plant sale perennials this afternoon. Janice had the group helping with untagging, consolidating, watering and other helpful duties as we continue to finalize the end of the sale. We thought the sale was a success and we cleared out almost all of our mums, most of our shrubs and a decent amount of perennials as well. Marianne was in this morning to help finalize some of the finances and she helped organize many of the items we need to put away until the spring sale (May). The photo directly above is the 'September Charm' Japanese anemone (Anemone x hybrida) which is blooming strongly throughout the gardens. This specimen is in the woodland walk garden. To the left is the 'Indigo Rose' tomato at the Horticulture Center. I also have this one at home as it was offered at our Spring Plant Sale. What a neat color on this variety from Oregon State University. It's not ready for eating yet though until this purple fades to a red/brown and the outer flesh is slightly soft. I ate one too early and realized my mistake with the first bite.

We saw plenty of volunteers today. Janet (to the above right) came in to tend the orange wall bed and continues to do a top notch job. Mary H. and her daughter were in to work in their assigned garden as were Magda, Ron K. and Joanne A. Rose came in later for some painting duties and many others stopped by throughout the day. Our Garden Development & Maintenance Committee had a productive meeting which also included Big John, Dr. Yahr, Dr. Gredler (mowed today too), Maury, Gary, Joanne, Dick P. and Iza. We continue to talk about a future wellness/healing garden at RBG. To the right is the trailing, 'Amethyst Falls' oregano (Origanum hybrida). This variety, while not typically used as a culinary selection, is a wonderful trailer in the container or hanging basket. Another nice variety is 'Kent's Beauty' (Origanum rotundifolium). This specimen is in one of our repurposed "pallet planters" in the Ornamental Edible & Compact Vegetable Display. Directly below, also in that display, is the 'Basket of Fire' ornamental hot pepper (Capsicum frutescens) which has a nice mounding habit and no shortage of showy fruits. The next photo down, taken in the edible collection, shows my tour participants from the Morton Arboretum this morning. The small tree in the distance starting to bloom white is the seven-son flower (Heptacodium miconioides) which is a really neat plant and a bee magnet right now.

With Larry off this week on a well-deserved vacation, we were a small grounds crew today with Big John, Pat, Janice and me. Everyone helped with some early plant sale closure details as we prepared to thwart late shoppers coming to the sale (which happens every year). John and Pat then jumped right in to push mowing around the gardens. John kept irrigation going most of the day and worked on setting up other sprinklers and handwatering beds/containers as needed. Some areas out in the gardens are still damp while others appear quite dry. After all the watering we did this summer, it would be unfortunate to have anything dry out at this point. Pat also hand watered, weeded and worked on myriad tasks. Janice also had significant watering duties and made it back to the Horticulture Center to help facilitate the efforts of our Chestnut House volunteers. To the right is another hot pepper (Capsicum annuum) called 'Marbles' which seems to be an apt naming convention. To the left is the golden waxy bells (Kirengeshoma palmata) starting to bloom in the shade garden. Also called yatabe, this hardy perennial has large, architectural, maple-like leaves earlier in the season which are a nice textural component on a sizeable, 40" tall plant.

We're really trying to tidy up the gardens prior to a social event tomorrow night (Wednesday) at the gardens. This event involves the World Water Ski Competition that the Rock Aqua Jays Water Ski Club, Inc. (Janesville) are facilitating this weekend. It sounds like we'll have many international guests and participants coming to the gardens and we hope they'll get out and enjoy our September garden. To the right is the fragrant pink spire from the 'Pink Spike' black cohosh (Cimicifuga simplex or Actaea simplex) in the woodland walk garden. This variety also features lacy, dark maroon foliage which is a great visual component when paired with lighter neighbors that allow that foliage to "pop".

I love this time of year with cooler nights and mornings followed by a warm sunny day. Today was a bit windy and I'm hoping we do get some rain later in the week. It wasn't hard to see signs of fall, particularly with cottonwood (Populus deltoides) leaves consistently fluttering to the ground. Other signs of the impending fall include ripening fruit structures like that of the oakleaf mountain ash (Sorbus hybrida 'Oakleaf') as seen directly below. At the bottom is another of our many clusters of Autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale 'The Giant'). Colchicums are in the lily family while "true crocuses" are in the iris family. Regardless of this differentiation, they both look great although the true fall crocuses wont bloom until October. I'm so glad we planted these years ago as they are still going strong and offer some vivid coloration throughout the gardens.