Monday, September 30, 2013

More Good Weather


Today was another beautiful day of sunshine and blue skies.  We did get a bit of rain overnight on Saturday which helped green up the grass but we continue to irrigate and water as needed.  We're still deficient in moisture for the summer months and will continue to water as needed until we get some hard frosts.  Above is a nice shot of the pergola in the French formal garden.  The roses are still showing some color and I believe we have one more wedding scheduled for this space yet this year.  We had a great crew of grounds staff and volunteers today and with Larry gone on vacation, everything ran smoother today.  Below are some shots from today.  See the bottom of the blog for the announcement for an upcoming program at RBG.

'Zahara Double Cherry' zinnia (Zinnia marylandica) - annual
'Zahara Double Fire' zinnia (Zinnia marylandica) - annual
fall color on Coppertina ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius 'Mindia') - woody shrub

How many Grumpies does it take to fill a bucket of water.  The answer is "two" when it involves Gary and Rollie as seen above (Rollie with hat).  The guys were loading up buckets to water new trees which is very timely as we like to give all the woody plants a good soaking in fall if Mother Nature isn't helping out enough.  The target trees the guys watered aren't near our spigots so this approach is currently the most effective.  Below (left to right) are Lloyd, Larry H. and Gene. The guys dismantled and stacked all our plant sale tables for storage which is no small feat.  Ron W. was in as well and ultimately these guys shifted to leaf collection out in the gardens as well.  The second photo down shows Dave (with a look of terror) and Jim finishing up a memorial bench. These guys, along with Vern and Ron Y., had many projects today including more bench work and some thoughts on Holiday Lights Show (HLS) displays.  Dick H. helped the guys with some projects and picked up a sweet donation of tools.  Del was also in to help out here and there.  Maury ran some errands for supplies related to the HLS and Dr. Gredler was in for mowing.  Betty H. spent more time "purging" her garden areas of spent annuals.  Eva came in to tidy the entrance garden and we also saw Darcie O., Linda, Mary W., Joan H., Bill O. and many others.  



we're seeing a lot of these puffball mushrooms emerging

The grounds staff had no shortage of tasks today.  Above is Terry smoothing out a flower bed after he removed all the plants.  Terry also set up sprinklers, watered containers and worked on many other gardening tasks.  Cindy tidied the front entrance garden, larch wall display and did a nice job watering out in the gardens and in the yard.  Big John ran irrigation, set up sprinklers, did some shearing, cut back some shrubs and worked on some other projects too.  Janice came in to work on various office tasks, many involving collecting data regarding our volunteers and their donated hours.  I spent time on multiple tasks, had a meeting and am becoming much more active in HLS preparations.  Below are some other recent images out in the gardens.

hips of the white Japanese rose (Rosa rugosa 'Alba') - woody
Short's goldenrod (Solidago shortii) - perennial
entrance garden color with the 'Dialogue' sculpture in the background
moss shot from "Mr. Moss" and his garden (same below)

Don't miss the Emerald Ash Borer Community Forum on Tuesday, October 8th at RBG (1455 Palmer Drive).  Sponsored by the City of Janesville, this event will include presenters that are familiar with this pest including Dr. Chris Williamson (Professor, UW-Madison Entomology), Rebecca Lane (Forester, Oak Creek, WI) and Mark Guthmiller (WI DNR Forest Health Specialist).  For questions, visit www.ci.janesville.wi.us/eab or call Leisure Services at 755-3030.

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