Another "Day of Thirst"

Needless to say, it was another hot one although there was some cloud cover and a breeze which made it a bit more tolerable. There was lots of irrigation running, sprinklers being set up and hand watering today as we continue to see more areas like that above where this prairie ironweed (Vernonia fasciculata) is showing symptoms of severe thirst! This is one of the few blogs that haven't included volunteers shots and that is no reflection on our volunteer contributions out on the grounds today. It was an uber-busy day for me and photography fell by the wayside. Directly below is an entrance garden planting called our "flag berm" for obvious reasons. The poles are straight by the way as this was just a goofy shot from ground level. That orange theme is looking good. In the back of that bed are the 'Hot Biscuits' amaranths (Amaranthus cruentus) with those coppery orange flower plumes. The next photo down is our large urn planter near the pergola and the third photo down shows the 'Zagreb' perennial tickseed (Coreopsis verticillata) at peak.

Nice shot above of the terrace garden border which always echoes the entrance garden color scheme. We had a nice turnout of volunteers throughout the day. Kay came in for some planting in the sunken garden and weeding in the ornamental edible garden. As usual, she does a top notch job. Betty and Shirley were also in this morning for weeding duties in their assigned garden area. Bill O. and Dr. Gredler were both in for mowing duties and Ron W. and Larry H. delivered a planter (purchased at the Garden Gala) down to Rockford to the lucky recipient. Vern came in to deal with some lumber issues related to some new memorial benches. Don & Pearl C. popped by for some tidying in their assigned gardens space which is filling in nicely with a lime theme. We also saw Bill, Marcia, Barb and Jean who are all committee members for the Home Garden Tour (tomorrow!, see our website for details). They are picking up supplies for the event which should be well attended with a nice dip in the temperature! Directly below is the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children's Garden which is starting to fill in nicely with plantings that go along with our "Pollinator's Paradise" theme. The first Family Fun Day, set in this garden, will be on Sunday, July 28th from 1 pm until 4 pm.

The gazebo seen above will be the site of a wedding tomorrow. This shaded garden is a nice site for a wedding in mid-summer and this approach (one of four) to that garden has some nice plantings and note all the golden creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea') cascading down the rocks. This is the perfect use for this perennial and it is also good as a trailing plant in a container or hanging basket. It's quite vigorous and can spread readily. The grounds staff had another productive day in the sun. Big John (half day) ran irrigation, installed signs and worked on quite a bit of additional watering out in the gardens. Pat (half day) watered, weeded and continues to work on removing runners from some of our overzealous Tiger Eyes sumacs (Rhus typhina 'Bailtiger'). Cindy watered the All-America Selections (AAS) Display Garden, weeded, watered and took care of the yard watering. She also did a nice job on the cutting display. Terry push mowed, sheared shrubberies, weeded and was a watering fiend with sprinklers up and moving all over the place. Janice also push mowed, watered, weeded, did some planting and gave a nice tour to our new Rock County, UW-Extension Horticulture Educator, Christy Marsden. We welcome her to the area and look forward to working with her in the future. My tasks were numerous and included getting everything ready for when I'm gone next week (Vancouver). I will try to blog during my trip and share some images. I'll also try to make a posting tomorrow night showing some of the Home Garden Tour highlights...or better yet, come see them yourself. Below are some other recent images out in the gardens.