Monday, September 22, 2014

Autumn Reality


Autumn is certainly here despite tomorrow being the first "official day"!  Above are some of our remaining mums (only $7!) that we're still selling from the Garden Gallery at the Parker Education Center along with spring blooming bulbs.  The gardens continue to be affected by cool evenings with last night right around 40 degrees F.  The Jungle Garden (directly below) is "sagging" a bit but still looks great.  We'll be digging and saving most of these tropicals very shortly.  Despite the cooler mornings, our stalwart volunteers arrived in good order and we tackled a wide range of projects throughout the morning and afternoon.  Below are additional images from this morning. 

 The Jungle Garden
the Azumaya structure in the background looks great with Japanese lantern in the foreground in the fern & moss garden
 'Blue Angel' gentian sage (Salvia patens) - annual
 Little Lime panicled hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata 'Jane') - woody shrub

There were plenty of gardening duties out in the gardens and most of the Grumpies (like Ron B. above) helped with garden clean-up.  Ron B. worked with Ron R., Gary B. (below) and Larry H. on leaf collection along our paths and in many of the shadier areas where the cottonwoods (Populus deltoides) are dropping leaves en masse.  The second photo down shows our newest gardening volunteer Fran who worked with Kathy (third photo down) and Eva in the entrance garden with tidying efforts. The ladies did a great job out there.  Dr. Gredler was in for mowing and our carpenters (Dave, Jim and Bob K.) had their share of tasks both inside and out.  The fourth photo down shows Del starting to work on his deer cutouts that will ultimately be part of the Holiday Lights Show.  Gary S. was in for label making early this morning.  The fifth photo down shows Patrea and Ron P. working with Pat M. on lights repair which is tedious but essential.  Urban came in this afternoon to trim back some roses along our Palmer Drive bed.  We also saw Rollie, Jumbo Jim, Bill O. and many others today.






The grounds staff had a busy day although some light rain over the weekend helped alleviate some of our watering needs today.  Larry did run some irrigation, tested lights displays and push mowed.  Cindy worked on converting containers to mums and did some serious gardening in two other areas.  She continues to focus on the "Pollinator's Paradise" theme in the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children's Garden and has made great efforts to extend the color in that garden space.  Pat worked on lights repairs and pre-Holiday Lights Show activities.  Big John hauled and watered mums, converted many containers to fall displays, watered and bounced between other projects.  I was able to tour the gardens and had some meetings before tackling more desk work.  Below are additional images from today.

cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) with 'Sky Rocket' variegated fountain grass (Pennisetum x advena) - both annuals for us
 'Redstone Falls' foamy bells (xHeucherella) - perennial
 blanket flower (Gaillardia aristata) still blooming - perennial
mums are filling many of our containers now!

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