A Hint Of Fall This Morning

Today was a wonderful day with lots of activity around the gardens. The plant sale continued and saw plenty of traffic throughout the day. Marianne got the sale up and running and left it in my semi-capable hands. We're still hoping for a dynamite weekend of sales and the weather looks like it will cooperate. Nice shot to the left of feather reed grass (Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Avalanche') with golden silver lace vine (Fallopia aubertii 'Lemon Lace') working its way thru the grass. I love this time of year when the mornings are cool (chilly today) and the afternoons are in the 70s. That fall shift can be seen to the right as well with rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium) starting to dry up but still offering intrest and structure in our prairie. As the prairie heads in to October, we have local prairie clubs and enthusiasts collect seed and distribute collected seed to new naturalizing projects and prairie restorations in the area. We have so many wonderful relationships with various plant organizations and I was fortunate to do a presentation for the Wisconsin Hosta Society last night at Olbrich Botanical Gardens and thanked them for their financial support as well as many wonderful donations over the years. Below is a shot from yesterday. These are some of the ladies from Coldwell Banker that were helping organize daylilies as part of the United Way Celebration of Caring. The gang did a great job and "heeled in" over 400 plants. The Grumpies finished the rest today.
We had another nice Grumpy day with Ron and Gary watering, Del, Charlie and Ed cleaning up garden areas and John, Rollie and Dick H. finishing the daylily project described above. Dr. Yahr coordinated lots of work down in the wishing well garden and many Grumpies went over to help after break. We had Suzy, Suzanne, Glenna and Marilyn working as our talented weeding "quartet" in one of our most visible annual beds. They cleaned it up well and it should go the distance until hard frost at this point. Janice worked on all sorts of projects including watering and faciliating another nice group of volunteers from the local high school (see below) that worked on cleaning up the asters in the plant sale. Larry ran irrigation all day and had many duties that came up throughout the day. Little Jerry worked in the Japanese garden again today and that space is looking quite nice. Jumbo Jim was here with four RECAPPERS and they worked in the Japanese and alpine gardens. We had great plant sale volunteers as usual and continue to appreciate the role that volunteers play in making Rotary Botanical Gardens a wonderful resource for the community. The bottom image is of false aster or boltonia (Boltonia asteroides 'Snowbank') in our English cottage garden that blooms late in the season (now) and offers a nice airy effect (at 48" in height!). This perennial will take up some space, particularly in damper soils so consider frequent division and staking as needed.

Busy Day At The Gardens!

Nice shot of the Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum var. pictum) above in our azalea/rhododendron garden. I love the painted ferns although many look very similar. We hope to really beef up our fern collection next year and try some new ones as well. Today was cooler with temps in the 70s but a perfect day to work in the gardens or come to the plant sale. Marv and Terry set up plenty of sprinklers and worked on an assortment of projects. Little Jerry pruned in the Japanese garden and did a nice job cutting back on a shoreline willow. Bill was here to help Jerry and did his rounds of debris collection. We had Kay for 5 hours and she renovated our sign area which now looks great and was in need of her particular attention (see below)! That huge clump of petunias in front of Kay are 'Tidal Wave Hot Pink' and create a huge mound! Marianne was able to do some gardening and watering in the entrance garden and has kept the plant sale running smoothly for the day. Dr. Gredler aerated some lawns and worked on other projects as well. Another great assortment of plant sale helpers today and we had a great group of nine employees from Coldwell Banker that helped as part of the United Way's Celebration of Caring. They inventories and organized our new daylily donation and "healed in" most of the plants out in our recently vacated tomato beds. This was no small feat and I appreciate their efforts greatly. Busy day at the gardens as it has been our "free admission week" and many have taken advantage of the nice weather and beautiful gardens.

Ditto From Yesterday

The shot above is of the Autumn "crocus" (Colchicum autumnale 'The Giant') here at Rotary Botanical Gardens. We planted over 8,000 of these bulbs years ago and they continue to be a huge hit this time of year but also create much confusion. Despite the name of Autumn crocus, colchicums are in the lily family while crocuses are in the iris family. There are true blooming Autumn crocuses that bloom in a couple of weeks including the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus) but colchicums are planted typically in August, will bloom in September but then send up their foliage in spring (that goes dormant by mid-June). These fist-sized bulbs should be planted 6" down in rich, well-drained soils that don't receive summer irrigation. Colchicums are native to meadows and low, rich soils in Europe. While expensive, once these perennialize, they will offer many years of enjoyment. Below you see colchium poking out amongst some plectranthus and variegated papyrus (all of which was planted above the bulbs in June). Nice arrangement.
The plant sale was busier today than yesterday and we saw a steady stream of customers although it was never overwhelming. I hope we are overwhelmed this weekend! Marianne took a well-deserved day off from the plant sale although she was in this morning to make sure everything started up ok. Larry ran irrigation, worked on mower repairs and kept busy with various brush fires. Little Jerry mowed and spent the rest of the day pruning and tidying up in the Japanese garden. Janice helped with the plant sale but was able to go out and water as well as plant some perennials in the woodland walk garden. Kay helped Dr. Yahr plant more perennials in the wishing well garden and then shifted to work with Barb with more weeding and ugly annual removal. Patti and Sally, our newest garden volunteers, did a "wander, weed and tidy" thru the gardens and have impressed me with their attention to detail. They are not novice gardeners! Dr. Gredler and Vern worked on a couple projects and we had another great group of plant sale volunteers (Mary, Sally, Tammy, Virginia, Gary, Nancy, Laurie, Maggie, Heather, Ron, Joe and Rose). The shot to the right is of the beans of the hyacinth bean (Dolichos lablab or Lablab purpureus) that I showed in an early post in bloom. I love the glossy purple pink pods! I took the shot below this morning and caught a good look at our 'Dialogue' sculpture in the entrance garden. Our prairie (bottom photo) is looking good as the big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) creates a pinkish haze.

Business As Usual

Above is a nice shot of a new African daisy (Osteospermum) called 'Serenity Lemonade'. We've had difficulty getting these to bloom well thru a hot summer but this cool summer has allowed them to look good although they need lots of deadheading to keep them blooming well. I sure love this color though. We have this variety at the gardens although this picture was taken up at the West Madison Agricultural Station. Below is a neat little rain garden (same site) that was developed to catch rainfall off the roof of their facility. Great idea and easily done (note the gutter at the corner of the building that feeds in to this garden).

The plant sale continues today thru Sunday (possible clearance days beyond that) and while lightly attended, did bring in some nice sales. We hope to have increased traffic and a super weekend if the weather is nice. Today, though, was business as usual with Marv and Terry working on all sorts of projects, including watering and Marianne and I hanging out by the plant sale. Marianne was able to work out in the gardens for a bit but kept close to the plant sale as needed. Larry kept irrigation moving along and checked water features as usual. Dr. Gredler mowed and worked on some turf repair while the Grumpies went right down my list of things to do. John and Dick P. hauled some wagons back that were lent to us for the plant sale. Ed, Ron and Bill cleaned up the east parking lot and helped with mulching after break. Maury ran lots of errands. Del and Gene watered then moved on to help others while Rollie, Dick H. and others worked on composting our veggie collection (essentially the open areas vacated by our tomatoes). Mary helped with weeding and Kay was here to help Dr. Yahr do more planting. It was a busy crew augmented by plant sale volunteers and a very productive day with perfect weather. The image below is of 'Fireworks' globe amaranth (Gomphrena) that is new this year. It has a distinctive shape as opposed to other gomphrenas that are tightly rounded. Note the "sprays" coming off the flowers. I didn't think this was too interesting until I saw it en masse (next picture down). Next year, our annual collection will include lots of gomphrenas, including this one. However, my favorite continues to be 'Strawberry Fields' at the bottom!

Three Days Down, Seven To Go

We're in to our third day of the sale and everything has gone quite smoothly. The shot above is from yesterday which was quite busy. The Garden Festival, also held yesterday, had a decent turnout and we had many people attending both functions. The weather has been sunny and warm with a steady stream of customers. In organizing the plant sale this morning, we found that many things have been purchased although we'll still have a great selection to extend thru the sale this Sunday. Shrubs and roses have sold well and the mums are walking out steadily. So far so good and Marianne continues to keep everything on track. We had wonderful volunteers today and look forward to another seven days of this event. Nice shot at the bottom of the blooms of the hyacinth bean (Dolichos lablab or Lablab purpureus). I'll post a shot soon of the ornamental pods too.

Steady Traffic

The plant sale started today for Friends members and volunteers and we had fairly steady traffic throughout the day. We had plenty of volunteer help this morning to get everything organized for maximum efficiency. The forecast for the weekend looks better with almost no chance of rain now and we hope for a super turnout tomorrow. The first Saturday is typically our busiest day and we hope that trend will continue. The Garden Festival is also tomorrow (11am-4pm) and there should be a "crossover of crowds" that will go to both events. Our mum supply is currently holding (see below) but will be decimated tomorrow. Marianne and I were mentioning how we'll have to put in another 120 hours at this sale and sure hope we get the crowds we need to make this a successful fundraiser.

Life in the gardens doesn't stop for these plant sales so we were fortunate to have our Friday team out there as there will be plenty of visitors this weekend (we start a free admission week) and three weddings to boot! Little Jerry and Dr. Gredler took care of the riding mower work and Jerry had time to work in the Japanese garden as well. Janice helped prep for the Garden Festival but also put out labels, watered and pushmowed. Terry also mowed and worked on many tasks that included moving sprinklers around all day. Marv helped in the plant sale this morning getting things arranged and ran lots of irrigation and sprinklers around the gardens. I'm sure I'll miss some of the names but special thanks to our Friday volunteers of John, Becky, Gene, Elaine, Judy, Joanne, Mike, Joe, Jonas, Bonnie, Shirley, Ron, Lynda, Kristine (to the left cutting up pepper), Jumbo Jim, Bev, Julie, the RECAPPERS, Laurie and everyone else I forgot. This is such a great time of year in the gardens and despite all the prep work involved with our plant sale and the Garden Festival, it always ends up being worth it and we're glad to provide these events and activities for the community. At the bottom is just one of the beans ('Speckled Cranberry') that will be featured at the Garden Festival tomorrow. This variety also has neat seeds that are white with that same color pink as splotches. A true "ornamental edible"!

Plant Sale Is Poised...

With the help of many volunteers today (under the direction of Marianne), the plant sale is ready for tomorrow. Special thanks to our "taggers" today (Luis, Laura, Magda, Shirley, Gary, Cindy and Sally). We had some last minute deliveries of mums this afternoon but spent most of the day preparing for what we hope will be a "shopping onslaught". Being a Grumpy day, the guys helped with the sale but were also able to do some other tasks. Del and Ron set up the temporary parking lot while Ron W. and John swept up the lot and put up labels for our shrubs. Bob T. did a nice job air edging out in the gardens. Rollie and Ed tore up our diseases tomatoes (no small project) while Maury and Gary went out for more donated daylilies. The carpenters did their thing and helped with sale tasks as well. Suzy, Suzanne, Marilyn and Glenna all worked on the east of the garden, weeding and tidying up in an area that we traditionally don't get to (ever). They did such a nice job. Below are some of the dwarf asters ('Magic') that we typically offer at the sale. I will say I think we have the nicest assortment of plants that we've ever had but the key is getting in the crowds to appreciate (and patronize) the selection.
See Dr. Yahr (the founder of Rotary Botanical Gardens) in the bottom photo. He's been planting the wishing well garden and doing a darn nice job of it