A Nice Mix Of Autumn Tasks

The Amur maple (Acer ginnala) above is looking nice in the Japanese garden. In fact, there are some excellent patches of fall color out in the gardens and some is a bit delayed (compared to last year) and should look great next week. It looks like impending light frost over the next two evenings so we'll see what makes it through these low temperatures. It's nice to see so many visitors enjoying the gardens and despite removing about 50% of our annuals so far, there is still plenty of color out there. We had some great volunteer assistance today and spent time getting ready for our last Volunteer Work Day tomorrow (October 17th, 8 am until 12 noon, park at the Parker Education Center lot). We'll focus on planting bulbs and removing more annuals in that immediate area. There will be no shortage of work for sure. We also have our Bagged Compost Sale from 8 am until 12 noon at the Horticulture Center. Bags are 1.5 cubic feet (45 lbs.) and are priced at $6 each. RBG Friends members get a 10% discount!

flame grass (Miscanthus sinensis 'Purpurascens') - perennial

cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) with 'Vertigo' elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum) - seasonals

'Ruby Parfait' wheat celosia (Celosia argentea spicata) still showing some color and texture! - annual

'Alpha' pot marigold (Calendula officinalis) doesn't mind the cool weather - annual

We had excellent volunteer help out in the gardens today. Both Bill O. and Dr. Gredler did their mowing rounds. Above is Eva (left) and Kathy who did a great job tidying in the woodland walk garden and cleaned up the gazebo garden as well in advance of the wedding tomorrow. Joe (rookie below) helped the ladies mentioned above. Joe, while a new volunteer, has a long history as a garden center owner and manager. Hopefully the ladies didn't scare him away. He's a great addition to the team (especially if he buys lunch). The second photo down shows Marleen (left) and Magda who did a great job tidying up their assigned garden area. The ladies brought back many loads of debris but their space still has some nice color remaining as well. Marv B. (third photo down) not only helped move around the ever increasing compost pile but spent time in time in the two moss areas which he tends faithfully. Kay (fourth photo down) primped her area as well which had plenty of twigs, leaves and perennials to cut back. Pat M. continued his Holiday Light Show (HLS) preparations with more work with the arches. We also saw Jean, Cora, Maury and many others today as well.

The grounds staff did a wide range of tasks today. Above is a truckload of Abysinnian bananas (Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii') which went to a local greenhouse for winter storage. There was also a trailer of them connected as well. Big John and Terry loaded, delivered and unloaded these this morning after many tasks including mowing. The guys also worked on some HLS tasks as well. Cindy spent some time watering select plants and containers and continued removals in the Smelly Garden theme in the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children's Garden. Bob K. continued putting lights on arches, did some blower work and had some electrical tasks as well. I was able to run more cords and finished a nice chunk of my "to do" pile today. We should have a great Volunteer Work Day tomorrow and a productive week ahead.