Warm Weekend Ahead

Today was another beautiful, sunny day but the heat continued! The gardens continue to look quite colorful and our annuals, like those above in the terrace garden, still are thriving with the heat. Watering out in the gardens has become more critical as we haven't had rain in a week but there is a slight chance over the next couple of days. We had more deliveries for our Fall Plant Sale today including shrubs and more mums. See www.rotarybotanicalgardens.org for more information on this important fundraising event. We'll have a wide range of shrubs, perennials, bulbs, mums (like those below) and much more. The photo below actually showcases both the mums for the Fall Plant Sale and two of our "Holiday Houses" that will go out in the gardens for the Holiday Light Show (HLS). Our tough grounds staff and excellent volunteers had a great day out in the gardens.

While we don't traditionally have as many volunteers on Friday, we had a good crew that weathered the heat fairly well. Kathy and Eva were out tidying up the sunken and reception gardens respectively. Maury was in to help unload our shrub delivery for the sale and ran many errands for us as well. Marv came in to check out his two moss areas which continue to look excellent. Marv also unloaded our bulbs for the fall sale. Pat M. came in for work related to the HLS and is doing lots of preparations at home as well. Jim H. brought in four RECAPPERS and the crew did a great job with tidying out in the gardens as the cottonwood (Populus deltoides) leaves are dropping like crazy. Hal R. and Jennifer J. came in for a meeting with me and Bill O. did his mowing rounds. We also saw Dr. Yahr, Joan, Corky and many others today.

Quickfire panicled hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata 'Bulk') - woody shrub

popcorn plant (Cassia didymobotrya) and Abyssinian banana (Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii')

Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia) - perennial

The grounds staff had a busy day. Cindy spent time watering and primping in the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children's Garden which includes these relatively new sculptures seen above. These four children are doing a "Ring Around the Rosie" but the gaps allow for other children to join in as well (which we've seen often!). Cindy also spent a lot of time watering, particularly in the yard that continues to get filled with plants. Janice also had significant watering duties, helped unload shrubs and spent time with the cutting display and tidying up three different garden areas. Terry had mowing duties, helped unload plants, set up lots of sprinklers and had plenty of other duties as well including additional watering. I'm focused on getting ready for the Fall Plant Sale although the HLS is always on my mind too! It was a good day and the long weekend should help us prepare for the crazy week ahead.