Monday Monsoon (Briefly)

We watched the "Doppler radar" this morning as a band of thunderstorms and rain headed our way. We were able to take advantage of some early work out in the gardens but then the rains (very welcome) arrived from 9 am until 11 am or so. I had hoped for more rain on Sunday but we found the gardens to be fairly dry this morning and the arrival of precipitation sure saved us lots of watering time later in the day. Once the rain cleared, we did see some sun but it was a cooler day than yesterday with ample cloud cover as well. Above is the globe flower (Trollius europaeus) in bloom in the Scottish garden. There are many late spring and early summer perennials blooming nicely in the gardens and color sure abounds even as our later spring bulbs finish up later than usual due to the colder overall spring.

Most of our Grumpies headed out to help Terry with some work in front of the Parker Education Center. Ron R., Emmett, Bob C., Larry H. and Lloyd all helped "lift" our pink tulips (Tulipa) from the entrance garden and got caught in the downpour (see Ron R. below who is significantly saturated!). The guys did a nice job and Terry finished up the last of the task once the rain finished up in late morning. Gary (above) continued producing labels for various perennials and continues to work with Pat C. on making replacement labels as well for all those that broke over the frigid winter. The second photo down shows Eva (left) and Bonnie cleaning up gardening tools which was a perfect indoor project during the morning rains. Jim, Dave, Ron Y., Vern and Bob K. worked on indoor projects and various carpentry projects. Dick H. ran to the dump before the rains and went on a trip with Larry. Pat worked on reinforcing a rack system that is storing our luminaries for the Holiday Lights Show. Maury ran some errands for us and we also saw Stan, Urban, Dr. Gredler, Dr. Yahr, Jean S., Erik and others today. I was gone half the day picking up plants (two stops) and apologize for any helpers that I missed. Our Horticulture Therapy Committee also met this afternoon and attendees included Darcie, Karen, Tammi, Art, Janice and Kris K.

Our Monday grounds crew (Larry, Terry, Big John and Cindy) hit the ground running as the rains approached. John hauled and placed 60 flats of impatiens that we'll plant later in the week. Terry lifted tulips with the Grumpies, rototilled, cut back bulb foliage and bounced between some other projects including unloading my trailer with Larry when I returned. Larry checked over our water features, ran errands with Dick H. and also shifted between projects depending on the weather. Cindy worked on cutting back roses, weeding and greenhouse watering later in the day. While I spent half the day on the road, I came back with some fun plants and have another trip tomorrow morning. More recent shots from the garden can be seen below!