The Influx of Annuals

I went mobile today with our truck and trailer to Ahrens Acres (Brodhead, WI) to pick up some of our plants for the gardens. The good news is that I brought back about 5,000 plants, the bad news is that most of what you see above (another 30,000 plants) still has to be picked up and planted! We get our own dedicated greenhouse! That's exciting though and Audra (below) and the gang from Ahrens did a great job helping me load up. They have a wide variety of excellent plants in their garden center and nursery. Check it out. I spent a portion of the day getting ready for our first Saturday Volunteer Workday (tomorrow from 8 am until 12 noon) and am wondering about the weather. Not sure what the weather will be like and while I rarely know how many folks will show up, we'll be ready. The grounds staff also assisted in preparations as we want to be ready to rock and roll in the morning and have some fun tasks planned. Further below are some additional shots from the gardens including some of our newly arrived plants.

'Sunset Boulevard' coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) - annual

'Oompah' coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) - annual

Painted Paradise 'Orange Improved' New Guinea impatiens (Impatiens hawkeri) - annual

'Blazin' Rose' bloodleaf (Iresine hybrida) - annual

variegated fiveleaf aralia (Eleutherococcus sieboldianus 'Variegatus') - shrub

variegated knotweed (Fallopia japonica 'Variegata') emerging - perennial

golden meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria 'Aurea') - perennial

We had a nice volunteer turnout today. Above is the 'Gold Heart' golden bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis) at peak. Bill O. came in for some mowing and Vern was in for carpentry projects. We saw Bob K. and his wife as well as Elsa, Russ, Lois, Mary Kay T. and many others. Kathy and Eva did a dynamite job weeding in the woodland walk garden and sunken garden. Kay tidied up her portion of the shade garden and did some planting as well.

The grounds staff had a busy day. Big John (half day) and Terry push mowed, put up some hanging baskets and did some other odd jobs. Terry moved on to helping get ready for the work day and he sure hauled a lot of mulch to stage for use tomorrow. Cheryl worked on tidying up the rose garden (wedding tomorrow) and helped water among other projects. Cindy did some serious weeding and tidying, did a nice cutting display and helped get ready for the work day tomorrow too. It was a productive day and despite the weeds starting to really poke up...the gardens are extremely colorful right now (more photos from today can be seen below...).