It was strange today not to have any female grounds crew members around. No Cheryl, Cindy or Janice. I'm not complaining. It was just odd! We did have some female volunteer help but for grounds today, it was Terry, Pat, Big John and myself. Above is the 'Pinca' zinnia (Zinnia elegans) which struck me for not only the color but the interesting petals and flower texture. This is just one of the 800+ varieties of annuals we have out in the gardens this year. Peak summer color is occurring right now so come see everything filling in and looking great! See the photos at the bottom for some of the larger arrangements in different garden areas. Directly below is the 'Charmed Wine' ornamental shamrock (Oxalis hybrida). This tropical gets white flowers but the foliage is the best part! Great in a container or as a bedding plant in part shade or full sun. The next photo down is the 'Uptown Grape' zinnia (Zinnia marylandica) which is one of our many trial plants this summer.
It was nice to have Terry back and he eagerly jumped back in to myriad projects as seen above. Here he's staking some of our large plants (i.e. amaranths) that have become floppy with rain and wind. Terry also watered, set up sprinklers, edged and accomplished many other projects as well. Pat was here for a half day and weeded, staked plants and planted caladiums (Caladium). He accomplished a lot of work in five hours. Big John also set up sprinklers, hand watered, dug out weedy seedlings and continued on his path repair project. I did some fertilizing, placing plants (for planting tomorrow) and continue to work on special events preparations. Below is our "Giant Garden" which is becoming more lush by the day. There is a neat path through this space with the option to go under our 20' tall "mega-obelisk."
Our two female volunteers are featured here although we also saw Julie G. and Rose N. later in the day. Above is Janet working along the lime wall planting, her assigned garden. She does a nice job and that garden is also at peak color. Below is Pat heading out with labels for the rose garden. She has been keeping up with label inventory, creation and placement. We spent some time in the rose garden matching up labels to plants and determining other label needs. Dr. Gredler was in for his mowing duties and Maury F. came by for some errands. We also saw Bill O., Dr. Yahr, Gary S., Kris K. and some others. Further below are some other photos of potential interest.
fruits of pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifiolia) - yummy for birds
'Surfina Summer Double Pink' petunia (Petunia) in the American Garden Award display competition (www.americangardenaward.com/) near the arboretum
the reception garden druid
the sunken garden this morning
sunken garden with Parker archway in the center
the gazebo garden looking good
the prairie with summer color!
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