A Fun Tour

Today was beautiful with a cool start to the morning and afternoon highs in the upper 80 degrees F (like it should be!). The remnants of that rain early in the week could be seen with still damp soils. We took another day off of irrigation and sprinklers but will resume tomorrow as needed. We did water the yard and check containers though as that sun was beating down pretty good this afternoon. We had a fun tour come late this morning from the Milwaukee area. These were members of the Southeast Master Gardener group and it was a full bus load of Master Gardeners. I call it a "fun tour" because they were an enthusiastic group of gardeners, many of whom I know. Doris did a nice job arranging the tour (no surprise) and they started the day up at Allen Centennial Gardens on the UW-Madison campus and received a tour from Ed Lyon. We hit the ground running (see top photo) when they arrived at RBG and they had time to enjoy lunch at the gardens and were able to tour on their own a bit too. We received lots of compliments which are important to share with our hard working volunteers! One of the "hits" of the tour was the Ornamental Edible & Compact Vegetable Collection (seen directly above). To the right is the 'Kona Gold' copperleaf (Acalypha wilkesiana) which has some very funky foliage. To the left is a portion of the formal Italian garden. You can see the nice symmetrical work on the boxwoods (Buxus sp.) and yews (Taxus sp.) that Marv and Terry recently accomplished.

The grounds staff was actually able to accomplish more gardening today with the brief respite from daily watering until early next week. Larry and Big John will have some watering this weekend for sure though. Janice planted "filler" annuals in many locations today. She also spent time weeding, making signs and watering the yard. It was nice to get some more plants in the ground. Pat was in for a half day and finished his edging around the Moss Rose Collection. He also push mowed and weeded a tough area along the Palmer Drive fenceline. Marv and Terry also did some weeding and planting. The guys can be seen to the right in the terrace garden where they weeded and planted moonflowers (Ipomoea alba) on those powder blue obelisks. The guys also cleaned the ponds and Terry push mowed. They both sheared and watered containers at the end of the day. Directly below are some of our deck planters above the English cottage garden. That blue grass is the 'Blue Dune' lyme grass (Elymus arenarius) which is a vigorously spreading perennial grass. However, this is a perfect application of this thuggish (but showy!!!) grass as we'll compost all of this at the end of the season. The next shot is a view from that back deck in to the formal gardens.

Directly above is another shot of the enormous leaf from the 'Thailand Giant' elephant ear (Colocasia gigantea). This specimen, in the copper cheese vat planter in the English cottage garden, should get up to 10' or so this summer with umbrella-sized+ leaves. We didn't have a lot of volunteers today with Dr. Gredler out of town. Kay came in to weed and tidy the shade garden and she later did some work in the sunken garden. Don and Pearl came in to tidy up their area at the end of the shade garden and it it looking top notch. Gwen and Rose were in to work on the vegetable collections at the Horticulture Center and we also saw Russ, Ron W., Bev W. and Hal R. Marianne was in as a volunteer and tidied up her cutting display and did a nice job purging some of the "undesireables" out in the yard. Janet came in to weed and plant some annuals in the orange planting (seen to the right). She's doing a nice job keeping that looking sharp. To the left is the showy 'Cherokee Sunset' gloriosa daisy (Rudbeckia hirta) which is known to have both double and semi-double blooms in a range of oranges with occasional mahogany accents. This variety also makes a great cutflower.

Tomorrow is our 18th Annual Home Garden Tour (10 am - 4 pm, rain or shine). It looks like it will be a hot and sunny day with temperatures over 90 degrees F. It's tough to predict attendance but we hope we'll have some "day of" attendees. Tickets, while still $10 today, will be $12 tomorrow and are for sale at RBG, K&W Greenery and Patty's Plants (Milton). The seven participating garden owners have done a fabulous job keeping up this summer and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's garden. This is usually a very smooth event and I expect the same tomorrow. We hope to have at least 500 attendees but we'll see how it goes. To the right is the 'Blue Jay' bell pepper (Capsicum) from one of our collections and directly below is the 'Arizona Apricot' blanket flower (Gaillardia aristata). This variety is flowering heavily and I like that hint of apricot orange in the petals. At the bottom is a nice shot of the gazebo this morning. Sporadic blogging for the next week or so!

Soggy Soils

When I was home last night, it started sprinkling around 7 pm and it was still sunny outside. I didn't give it much thought until we received more and more rain (and wind). By this morning, we had a good 2" of overnight precipitation and while it came down fast in some instances, it was a good soaking and we all arrived to a very damp garden this morning. We didn't have much damage aside from some moderate path washouts and various tree branches. This is the first day in literally 57 sequential days (since late May) that we haven't had some sort of irrigation running out in the gardens. We also didn't have to water any containers today as it was overcast and humid with everything appearing to stay quite damp. My established level of anxiety regarding the drought dropped a bit but I wont be duped in to thinking we're back to normal as we're still very deficient in precipitation for the year. The top photo is the beautiful 'Zahara Double Cherry' zinnia (Zinnia marylandica) in the All-America Selections collection. Look for any of the "Zahara series" in your seed catalogs and garden centers as I like all the varieties and they are a nice height at under 18" or so. Directly above is the Moss Rose Collection (Portulaca) that is looking dynamite. These are all some tough annuals that haven't minded the recent heat wave one bit. To the above right is the 'Toreador' crested or cockscomb celosia (Celosia cristata). Talk about interesting flower architecture. Celosias are all good for children's gardens or instances where the sense of touch is being encouraged. Who could resist touching this interesting bloom? To the left is a shot of the 'Queeny Purple' dwarf hollyhock (Alcea rosea). This plant only gets about 3' tall and is covered with these 4" wide blooms. However, Japanese beetles are currently decimating the foliage and this plant becomes unsightly by mid-August. Look at that bloom though!

We had another great batch of volunteers today. Grumpies included Ron W. and Larry H. who both helped Larry haul off the sizeable remnants of a downed tree (old boxelder) on the north path. The guys moved on to some other projects (fourth photo down). Bob C. (directly below) worked on regraveling many of the pathways and Ron B. worked on air edging with Bob T. in the arboretum. Dave, Vern and Jim continued work on their shed project and Dick H. came in later to run loads to the dump and replenish our fuel supply. Dr. Gredler mowed most of the lawns in preparation for the weekend. Gary was also in to help out as was Bill O. in the afternoon. Our Grumpettes included Suzy and Marilyn (to the right, Marilyn in teal). Other Grumpettes included Karla, Donna, Sue and Cheryl. The ladies did a great job of weeding almost all of our flower beds at the east end of the gardens and they had time to work in the daylily (Hemerocallis) collection as well (see Sue and Donna three photos down). Shirley was in early and we positioned her in the All-America Selections garden for some weeding. The second photo down shows Pat edging the moss rose (Portulaca) beds. Hal & Doris continued to work on their awesome garden area too. We also saw Mary F. today and Stan pruned in the Japanese garden this afternoon.

With watering taken off our "to do" list for the day, the grounds staff was able to actually do some traditional gardening. Janice worked with the Grumpettes this morning and spent some time with Karla in the Ornamental Edible & Compact Vegetable Collection. They staked plants, removed plants, weeded, re-seeded and picked many vegetables. Janice also worked in the new moss islands, weeded in the formal gardens and did some various odds and ends. Larry worked with the guys this morning and spent a good portion of the day with the weedwhip in hand. He also ran some errands and helped load up three truckloads of debris for the dump (thanks Dick H.!). To the right is the 3" diameter sphere of orange offered by the 'Moonsong Deep Orange' marigold (Tagetes patula). I've recently decided that I really like marigolds and this would be one of my top five favorites. Our marigold (Tagetes) collection last year was interesting and also helped demonstrate not only the differences between varieties but the fact that marigolds are just darn tough in the landscape. To the left is one of our many moss roses (Portulaca) in the collection. This is the variety 'Pazzaz Pink Glow' which really was glowing today with the overcast skies. This variety, and others in the series, are technically ornamental purslanes (Portulaca oleracea) which are bred for these large colorful flowers.

Pat had offered to come in today for five hours to help with our watering efforts. I was happy to use him for gardening though. He did a nice job weeding two huge areas along our frontage road (Palmer Drive) and edged the moss rose collection as seen further above... I think he also enjoyed the break from slinging hoses. We'll have his help tomorrow as well. I spent most of the day in meetings or catching up on desk work before my vacation next week. This morning, I went up to NBC15 in Madison (see bottom photo) where I was taped with Amy Carlson interviewing me about our upcoming Home Garden Tour this Saturday. This segment will air early (6 am?) this Saturday and will hopefully encourage some more attendance for this important fundraiser. The event runs from 10 am until 4 pm and you can get tickets at RBG, K&W Greenery and Patty's Plants (Milton). To the right is the 'Mexican Way' daylily (Hemerocallis) in our collection. Daylilies are quite photogenic and there are so many beautiful varieties. Directly below is a view thru the "bamboo gridded" window in the Ma Chii' structure in the fern & moss garden.

A Smelly Day

Today was the first of our four Smelly Garden Family Fun Days and it was nice to see so much activity in the Smelly Garden today (see top photo). Sarah (RBG intern) and her volunteers did a nice job helping facitiate this event and despite the heat, it looked like there was steady traffic. The photo directly above is the 'Zowie! Yellow Flame' zinnia (Zinnia elegans) which is in our All-America Selections collection. Reaching about 3' tall in full sun, this zinnia offers a "flame-like" appearance but note the magenta overtones closer to the flower center. I imagine this is an awesome cut flower and we'll continue to grow this variety every year for it's mass appeal! Not far from these zinnias are the annual vincas (Catharanthus roseus 'Pacifica Burgundy Halo') seen to the right. Even with this heat, the annual vincas (all varieties) out in the gardens look great with clean, glossy foliage and showy flowers. This variety gets about 15" tall and you can see the impact of these blooms with the prominent white centers. To the left, you can see the flower power of the 'Arizona Sun' blanket flower (Gaillardia grandiflora) which is actually a zone hardy, short-lived perennial. However, this plant is an award winner for All-America Selections and Fleuroselect and we use it typically as a bedding plant. I've seen this variety bloom strongly all the way to the hardest of frosts in October.

This morning was quite nice with a cool breeze (78 degrees F) and overcast skies. We heard thunder to the north and heard that Madison received some light rain. When the sun came out, it became quite hot again although we didn't hit 100 degrees F (only 98 degrees F)! I started some irrigation zones early and Marv continued running zones throughout the entire day. He also worked his "sprinkler kung fu" and addressed some of our drier flower beds. Marv has been quite creative with how he positions and rigs up his sprinklers for maximum coverage. We have all learned a thing or two about this process from Marv. Marv also planted caladiums in the gazebo garden. Terry's "to do" map this morning was all blue highlighter which meant that he was out watering, setting up sprinklers, watering containers, etc. He gave a good soak to the entrance garden and found some very dry spots. Marianne planted in the entrance garden early, watered, weeded, tidied and did her cutting display. She also watered the yard (round #2) and inventoried some plants for me. Pat did some significant weeding, plenty of watering, yard watering (round #1) and some other odds and ends. I also did some watering, spent time on the last of our Home Garden Tour preparations (it's this Saturday, see our website for details!) and caught up on most of my desk work before my vacation next week. To the right is the 'Limelight' panicled hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata). I like this color stage although we still will see this lime color turn white, pinkish and then brown in October. This variety has few equals. Directly below is the 'Blazin' Rose' bloodleaf (Iresine hybrida) which we plant in drifts throughout our partly shaded gardens. That foliage really pops! The second photo down is the 'Torch' Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia) which tops out over 6' tall and is smothered with these orange daisies. This is also an All-America Selections winner and is a "must have" in a garden for butterflies (particularly monarchs).

With the cooler morning temperatures, we had some nice volunteer involvement at the gardens. Directly above are (left to right) Mary, Gena and Myrt. After their modeling shoot, the ladies spent time planting annuals in two different locations and also did some weeding as they went along. While we're still filling in little gaps here and there, the ladies addressed two larger areas that still needed to be filled. While this is the latest we've planted annuals, we had that hot weather delay and I feel there is still significant merit in installing these plants in the ground as they'll still have 12+ weeks of interest. I also abhor gaps as they tend to host our magical purslane (Portulaca oleracea) collection that pops up everywhere. To the right is the 'Summer Jewel Red' scarlet sage (Salvia coccinea) which is an annual with plenty of color. I hope to see hummingbirds around this plant soon! There is also a 'Summer Jewel Pink' for a slightly different look.

Jan and her daughter came in to work in the Scottish garden and did a nice job after we turned off the irrigation that was soaking them down. Dr. Gredler came in for some light mowing and he also helped water out in the terrace garden. We also saw Art, Gordy, Mark S. and Mary W. To the left and lower right is one of our compact vegetables in the Ornamental Edible & Compact Vegetable Collection. This is the 'Minnesota Midget' melon (Cucumis melo). Bred by the University of Minnesota in 1948, this variety ripens in 60 days and produces small, 4" diameter, sweet melons (cantaloupes) that are said to be "sweet all the way to the rind". This variety is also short vining which lends itself nicely to this support which also keeps some of the fruit off the ground. Directly below is one of the flower shades provided by the 'Thumbelina Mix' zinnias (Zinnia elegans). This variety, an All-America Selection from 1963, has a mix of colors on small-statured plants (18" tall). At the bottom is a white gerbera daisy (Gerbera ‘Drakensberg White’) which is a primary component in our white/silver/powder blue scheme this year.

More Of The Same

If my recent blog titles seem to be lacking creativity, that's simply because there isn't much more to report other than another 100 degree F day with plenty of watering to accomplish. However, the gardens continue to look more colorful each day and our displays are filling out quickly. The top photo is a portion of our All-America Selections display to the east of the Parker Education Center. We've been soaking this display down every other day and the plants are really filling in nicely. Directly above is one of our fragrant plants in the Smelly Garden which is also doing well. This is the lemon eucalyptus (Eucalyptus citriodora) which has a very strong lemon scent when the leaves are crushed. For us, this is a non-hardy annual that will reach 3' tall or so. However, this plant (tree) is native to Queensland, Australia and can reach heights up to 100' tall. Also known as the blue-spotted gum, this tree is extremely drought tolerant and develops very interesting bark as well. To the right is one of our terrace containers featuring the 'Blue Dune' lyme grass (Elymus arenarius). This grass, while hardy in our climate as a perennial, is extremely vigorous and should not be "open planted" in the landscape. We've containerized most of ours and will make sure we remove others at the end of the year. That steely blue foliage is perfect for our color scheme this year. To the left is the colorful 'Pink Flamingo' Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris) in our Ornamental Edible & Compact Vegetable Display. You can't go wrong with chard as an ornamental and a nutritious, easy-to-grow vegetable.

We had some nice volunteer help this morning (primarily). Ron W., Ron Y. and Dennis came in to set-up three tents for the Smelly Garden Family Fun Day tomorrow (10 am until 2 pm). The guys made quick work of that project and both Rons went on a trip to pick up some donated hostas (thanks Jeff!). Lynn spent a good portion of the day planting and watering in the English cottage garden. She sure is a trooper. Mary and her daughter came in to tidy up their area and Ron K. did some clean-up in the woodland walk garden. Janet T. worked on the orange wall planting this morning and did a nice job. Dr. Gredler came in for some brief mowing duties and we had Bill O. all afternoon. Bill mowed and helped us gather all our hoses at the end of the day. To the right is the start of the dwarf Joe-pye weed (Eupatorium dubium 'Little Joe') which is a nice size (4') for the average garden. We use 'Gateway' Joe-pye weed (Eupatorium maculatum) in the sunken garden and it is quite large at close to 7' tall. Lisa (directly below) came in and we did a "hands on evaluation" of the Potter Daylily (Hemerocallis) Collection (near the arboretum) which involved matching up some labels, removing unknown plants and relocating some others. Lisa has done a great job keeping up with this collection for the past four years and continues to work on observing, evaluating, mapping and assessing the daylilies in this area. Two of the varieties are further below with the interesting names of 'Topguns Anita Causey' (top) and 'Spacecoast Sharp Tooth' (bottom). Directly above is a flower close-up of the 'Lemon Delight' African zinnia (Melampodium paludosum) which has these cheery blossoms (3/4" diameter) all summer long. This variety is one of our Fleuroselect (Europe) winners and is quite showy (as are all the Melampodium varieties). What I like most about the African zinnias is that they are "self-cleaning" meaning they shed old flowers on their own and continue bloom strongly. You may see some chance seedlings the following year but they're easy to remove or relocate. To the right is the showy veins and foliage of one of our beet (Beta vulgaris) varieties. Of course we all know beets and how nutritious they are and it's important to note that the greens are also edible (and nutritious too!).

With two of our grounds staff off on vacation, it was a challenge today to keep up with watering. Larry came in again at 5:30 am and ran irrigation zones all day, all over the gardens. He also set up sprinklers in various areas, push mowed, weed whipped, watered containers and watered the yard (round 2). Pat came in early too and took care of watering the yard early (round 1). Pat also push mowed, watered containers and did a lot of hand watering in our "hard to reach" spots. We are augmenting our irrigation with handwatering which allows us to apply a lot of water quickly in a select location. To the left is the showy bloom (2" long) of the snail flower (Vigna caracalla) or corkscrew vine. This annual vine, native to Central and South America, has a slight fragrance and gets its name from the closed flower shape (see above the open bloom for one ready to pop open). I also spent some time watering today and was rotating five sprinklers around to different areas. While we didn't see a lot of visitors, there was some morning activity out in the gardens while it was still cooler. Our watering regime has become challenging for visitors but I think they are understanding of our predicament which many are also experiencing. To the right is a new Fleuroselect winning plume celosia (Celosia plumosa argentea 'Arrabona') that caught my eye this morning. We have plume celosias in red, yellow, orange and gold but this burnt orange/red is quite unique and I like the overall look of this new annual. Directly below is our perennial blackberry lily (Belamcanda chinensis) in full bloom which will then be followed by glossy black clusters of berries. This plant is also called leopard plant for the showy, spotty flowers. At the bottom is the 'Senorita' zinnia (Zinnia elegans) opening up in the English cottage garden.