A Blog Milestone

Nice shot above of the entrance garden last evening with the setting sun hitting it nicely.  When I started this blog 5.5 years ago, it was as an experiment and I wasn't sure it would "stick".  I was new to blogging and my wife helped get me started (much to her chagrin now).  Go back and see some of my earlier blogs as they are quite different from the current format.  My original intent was to provide some photos and descriptions each day of what was going on in the gardens in terms of plants and people.  I enjoy doing it and have fallen in to a pattern/system of doing it each day that I'm at the gardens.  I was happy to see that there have been over 200,000 "page views" of the blog over the years and this milestone was reached this past Monday.  Some of the blog content has initiated communication with other gardens, nurseries, plant geeks and certainly our visitors and volunteers.  Regardless, I'll continue to plug away and if the blog plays any role in connecting more people (volunteers, visitors and donors alike) to the gardens, it's certainly worth the time!  Below is another shot of the formal annual sections last evening.  The tall yellow obelisk in the back is in the Giant Garden.

We had a brief but productive morning before the storms arrived.  I was depressed this morning when I saw it hadn't rained yet and we prepared for another solid day of watering.  As the sky darkened, I checked the weather online and saw a huge system coming that while windy, did provide some nice rain.  With rain arriving around 9 am, that shortened our Grumpy/Grumpette morning.  Dick H. can be seen above repairing one of our vehicles.  He's quite talented with this sort of work and we appreciate his time.  The guys below (Ron P., Ron W., Larry H., Gene and Bob C.) put up two more tents for the Fall Plant Sale before it rained.  Dave, Jim and Vern all had carpentry projects (second and third photos down...note Dave's expression) and Bob K. did some yard work in preparation for the plant sale. Zach did some watering and shifted to indoor duties as well.  Del and Steve collected leaves out in the gardens briefly this morning.  We had four Grumpettes (Vicki, Marilyn, Suzy and Eva) tidying up in the daylily (Hemerocallis) collection before the storms.  Dr. Gredler was in for some mowing and Pat M. repaired some sprinkler heads.  Gary S. worked on some labeling issues and we also saw Mary W., Bill O. and many others.

We had a small grounds staff today and while their earlier watering efforts were duplicated by Mother Nature, they also had a productive morning. Cheryl started with some watering and then had various indoor projects during the rainfall.  Big John set up many sprinklers and ultimately had to take them down in the rain and wind.  He also anchored a new bench out in the gardens.  Larry had multiple projects this morning including work on some of our water features that have been having issues in the fern & moss garden and Japanese garden. He also had many indoor projects.  I worked on a wide variety of indoor tasks, had a meeting and am ultimately (and obviously) pleased by the rain.  We'll see how much debris comes down with these winds though!  Below are additional items of interest from the past two days at the gardens.

seed pod for a breadseed poppy (Papaver somniferum) - annual

Summerific 'Cranberry Crush' hibiscus (Hibiscus hybrida) - perennial

'Zahara Starlight Rose' zinnia (Zinnia marylandica) - annual

'Sparkler' variegated hot pepper (neat foliage too) - annual

'Moonstruck Deep Orange' marigold (Tagetes erecta) - annual

texture in the ornamental edibles garden

waterfall setting in the fern & moss garden

banana-leaf cannas (Canna 'Musafolia') in the Giant Garden - annual

"Pollinator's Paradise" in the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children's Garden