Hottest Day (So Far!)

We had another nice day out in the gardens although a cool start in the morning developed in to a very hot and sticky afternoon with temperatures reaching almost 90 degrees F. We need the heat for our summer annuals and tropicals and this should sure help. Some nice drenching rain would be nice too although I think there is a chance later in the week for precipitation. It was a beautiful day though with lots of visitors enjoying the scenery. Above is the 'Jade Butterfly' ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) which is a nice specimen right near the water. Our annuals continue to fill in and after more volunteer planting today, I think we're about 62.5% planted!

Our grounds crew had a brutal day in the heat but are tough and collectively juggled a wide range of duties. Big John mowed, watered, ran irrigation, moved around sprinklers, repaired an irrigation line and had myriad other projects. Cindy did a nice job weeding a nightmare area and transitioned to more watering in other areas (including containers). Cheryl did a great job tidying along the pond near the zig-zag bridge and also accomplished significant watering in the yard (which continues to have less plants out there daily!). Janice worked in the Thomas Jefferson Collection, watered and did the cutting display. I placed plants in three areas today and our volunteers almost caught up to me! I'm also trying to keep up with returning photo calls and getting paperwork done in a timely manner!

Jerusalem sage (Phlomis amazone) - perennial

'Lance Corporal' knotweed (Persicaria virginiana) - perennial (seeds around!)

'Dale's Strain' coral bells (Heuchera americana) - perennial

Our gardening volunteers were again a huge help today. Barb (above) finished planting in the reception garden. Last night Dennis and Gena did some planting in there as well while they were on their Garden Ambassador rounds (thanks!). Barb transitioned to another area with Kay and after the ladies finished that area, Kay moved on to the next and was a planting machine! Directly below are Kelley (left) and Sue in the shade garden where they continued to tidy up and planted another 60 or so annuals and perennials. They do a real nice job and both have spectacular home gardens. Eva and Kathy (second photo down, Eva in red) did their weeding and bulb foliage removal along the azalea/rhododendron garden and they did an excellent job as usual. The ladies are here daily and are a vital part of the team and don't mind diving right in to projects like this. The third photo down shows Cookie and Resa (driving) as they headed out to the North point garden (their assigned garden) where they did an excellent job tidying up prior to a wedding this Saturday in that small space. They were here for a couple hours and did a super job. Urban and Rose were in for painting and Urban also did some significant pruning. Pat M. was in for some work and Maury ran errands for us as well. Don and Pearl (fourth photo down) put in a full day in their assigned garden space where they planted about 400 plants along the far end of the shade garden. They did a great job and their color theme is maroon, yellow and chartreuse this year which should look dynamite. Larry H. (fifth photo down) worked on mulching and continued removing bulb foliage as well. He put in some solid time and always does a nice job. Bill O. did his mowing rounds and we also saw Fred, Sylvia, Maggie, Dr. Gredler, Bob T. (air edging) and many others today.