Hurray For Hyssops!

As I finish ordering seeds and plants for the 2015 Spring season, one of my focus areas is the Smelly Garden theme which will be featured in the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children's Garden. This garden theme is back by popular demand after such rave reviews when we did this in 2011 and 2012. We'll include plenty of fragrant blooms (including night bloomers) but also will display a wide range of plants with fragrant foliage like hyssop (Agastache sp.). This plant is marginally hardy for us with many being Zone 5 hardy. There are many species and hybrids out there so do check on hardiness issues, mature height, etc. However, grown as an annual, they provide wonderful flowers (great for pollinators...particularly hummingbirds!) and fragrant foliage like the variety 'Bolero' seen above. Hyssops thrive in full sun and are tolerant of most well-drained soils. They shrug off the summer heat and bloom for the vast majority of summer and sometimes well in to early fall. Included in this blog are a wide assortment of opportunities. Again, do a bit more research on height and zone hardiness but consider the merit of colorful, long-lasting blooms along with the fragrant foliage which must be touched/rubbed/tactilely "engaged" to detect that anise-like scent.

Mondays continue to be extremely busy at the Horticulture Center. Larry H. and Ron R. headed out to bring in more Holiday Lights Show displays and elements and Terry and Marv also headed out in the gardens for retrieval efforts. These two duos are also bringing back in obelisks and other elements that still need their 2015 coat of paint. Larry and Bill prepared some items for painting by Jenny M. and Dr. Gredler this morning. Ron Y., Dave, Vern and Bob K. worked on carpentry projects with significant progress (no Jim slowing them up...?). Dick H. did some repairs and Del stopped in as well. Gary continued his computer inventories and Maury ran errands for us. Kay worked on seed processing for five more deliveries and Cindy took over after lunch with organizing and inventorying seeds for our growers. Janice continued progress on Spring Plant Sale preparations and Art was in to chat about the status of a current project. We also saw Rollie, Cheryl R. and many others today.