Glorious October Day

It was another gorgeous day although a bit chilly early this morning. The sun came out and we enjoyed a great day out in the gardens. The photo above is from the Japanese garden with a pruned Amur maple (Acer ginnala) offering the fall color. Progress continues daily in regards to the Holiday Lights Show (HLS) preparations and set-up although plenty of gardening tasks were accomplished as well. It was a solid day of work both inside and outside with an industrious and ambitious crew of volunteers helping with many tasks. Further below are some additional images from the gardens taken yesterday and today.

flowering kale (Brassica oleracea) continues to get better coloration with the cooler temperatures

'Chiba Gold' Japanese kerria (Kerria japonica) has formed some interesting fall color - woody shrub

Korean feather reed grass (Calamagrostis brachytricha) is peaking right now - perennial

flame grass (Miscanthus sinensis 'Purpurascens') is starting to get increasingly reddish-orange hints of fall color - perennial

Our volunteers were engaged in a wide range of tasks today. Ron P. above continues to be one of our primary "lights repairmen" (along with Pat M., Joe and Patrea). Below are Jim (left) and Dave working on a top secret new addition to the HLS. Our carpenters are extremely handy and these gentlemen were joined by Bob K. later in the morning. Bob also helped bring back a cart with Larry that had some mechanical issues. The second photo down shows Gary B. (left) and Larry H. bringing back one of dozens of loads of leaf debris. The guys focused on the North path and other areas. Our WWW (Women Weed Warriors) focused on leaf collection today. We had Mary R. (third photo down), Peg (fourth photo down), Bonnie, Suzie, Sue C., Linda S. and Vicki in the afternoon. Shirley H. (fifth photo down) focused her efforts in the Scottish garden and did a superior job as usual. Both Shirley C. and Betty came in to tend their respective garden areas and Nancy N. was in for an office project most of the day. Bill O. came in for mowing duties and Randy M. spent most of the day repairing many of our HLS displays. Urban popped by at the end of the day for some pruning too.

Jim (left) and Dave

Gary B. (left) and Larry H.

Mary R.

Peg

Shirley H.

Fall color continues to look increasingly great. Above is a shot from beneath a 'Aconitifolium' fullmoon maple (Acer japonicum) which always has great fall color. The grounds staff had a busy day. Big John spent the entire day working on HLS decorating in front of the Parker Education Center. We have a lot of LED lights set up there and John has always done a nice job with this task. Larry had some mowing, weed whipping, cart repair and other duties today. Janice helped orchestrate our substantial volunteer morning and had her own gardening tasks and decorated many obelisks with lights which is one of her traditional tasks for the HLS. I had some meetings, toured the gardens and have no shortage of duties. Below are some additional images from today.

fall foliage tinting on 'Copper Ridges' doublefile viburnum (Viburnum plicatum var. tomentosum) - woody shrub

Our "dead sedge" (Carex) bed here still looks good with painted culvert pipe planters. Represented are 'Toffee Twist' drooping sedge (Carex flagellifera) and leatherleaf sedge (Carex buchananii)