Impressive Visitation

The summer heat is finally showing up with a high today near 80 degrees F. This, of course, necessitated more watering and irrigation but we were prepared and ready for that as a typical July chore any way! Above is the always beautiful Azumaya structure in the fern & moss garden. What a tranquil setting. We had a bus tour from Ebert's Greenhouse Village (Ixonia, WI) come today and the folks seemed to enjoy the tour given by four of our garden docents (Layton, Art, Virginia and Margaret). Ken shadowed Art and will likely be an excellent tour guide as well. The color is really filling in nicely and we had another "bumper crop" of Thursday volunteers help out primarily in the morning. With the Home Garden Tour looming this Saturday, July 11th, it should be an exciting weekend. The tickets for this event are on sale now for $10 at K&W Greenery and RBG. They'll go to $12 on the day of the event so come get them now and know that they are also valid as a one day pass (July 11th) in to RBG as well. See eight beautiful home gardens and RBG for a full day of garden enjoyment! All the photos in this blog were taken today!

'Briant Rubidor' golden weigela (Weigela florida) - woody shrub

American elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) - woody shrub (thicketing!)

variegated sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus 'Variegatum') - woody tree

the classic 'Caramel' coral bells (Heuchera villosa) - perennial

Our volunteers were such a huge help today and I'm sure I'll forget some of those helping hands as the memory is not what it used to be. The "family atmosphere" with our volunteers is such an asset as these folks help each other out, bond, chat and ultimately form new friendships (like Peg and Bonnie above...Bonnie driving). Other volunteers today included Ron P., Ed, Ron Y., Dave, Jim, Bobby K., Vern, Dick H., Dick P., Winifred, Kathy, Eva, Mary R., Suzie, Pam B., Gary B., Dr. Yahr, Dr. Gredler, Lloyd, Bob C., Shirley H., Kylie, Forrest, Betty, Maury, Gary S., Doris, Sue S., Janet M., Jean, Barb T., Mary H., Kathy P. and many more! It was another amazing day with gardening, vehicle repair, carpentry, path work, brush clearing, etc.! The photos below have some captions as well...

Ed (in blue) and Ron P. leaning on their shovels

Gary watering one handed (new skill)

Dr. Gredler out for some mowing

Vern continues to work on re-lettering this bench

Lloyd...always "mugging" for the camera

Kathy, Eva, Pam, Peg, Bonnie, Suzie and Mary R. finished weeding our massive entrance slope planting which is transition nicely in to peak reds, oranges and yellows! (above and below)

Shirley above in the Woodland Glen garden

Betty continues to weed her berm

left to right...Gary, Bob C. and Lloyd out for a spin

Dick H. had this vehicle up and running again but has two more to work on!

Above is a nice bee balm (Monarda didyma) patch in the Thomas Jefferson Collection. The grounds staff all had watering duties today. With just Nolan, Janice, Big John and myself on staff today, we bounced between some important projects and are addressing some of the dry spots out in the gardens. Nolan worked on more path repair and quite a bit of fertilizing. Janice helped orchestrate the volunteers this morning but also had duties with watering, weeding, the cutting display and working with some afternoon volunteers. Big John ran irrigation, set up many sprinklers and spent more time trimming on our boxwood (Buxus) hedges. I was able to place plants for installation and interacted with many of our volunteers before retreating to vital desk work in the afternoon. Another great day!