Chilly & Productive

We had some great help today during our overcast and chilly day.  It never really rained but there always seemed to be a light mist coming down.  Above are Amy (mom) with her twins, Owen and Emily, planting in the English cottage garden.  Here they are planting 'Merlin Blue Morn' petunias (Petunia).  This team did a nice job and both Janice and Jenny helped them finish planting many annuals in that garden space.  It didn't take much training for the kids to understand the nuances of planting and they both did a fine job and should be future gardeners (I hope!).  Amy is part of a MOMS group that had scheduled this planting morning but the potential rain apparently kept everyone else away!  Directly below is the 'Mystic Haze' dahlia (Dahlia) with showy blooms over maroon foliage.  This selection is planted throughout the terrace garden which also features our orange theme for this year.  The next photo down is an Oriental poppy (Papaver orientale) in the English cottage garden.  The third photo down features the native, yellow wild indigo (Baptisia sphaerocarpa) peaking nicely out in the gardens in many locations.  Those are some luminescent yellow flower spikes.

We had some great volunteer assistance today and the chance of rain didn't scare away our most stalwart of volunteers.  Aside from Amy, Owen and Emily above, we had Marleen and Magda (seen above, Marleen in yellow) working in their garden space.  The ladies did a nice job weeding, purging overgrown perennials and planting lots of annuals.  Note how Marleen's shirt matches the 'Globemaster' ornamental onions (Allium) in the foreground!  We had some Grumpy help too out in the gardens include Bob C. (seen below) who worked with Gene composting a corner of the sunken garden.  The guys also did some weeding in that location.  Dick P. and Maury helped get our major water line up and running this morning with some help from Dick H. and new Ron.  Dick H. also made some dump runs and has spent the day working on the tail lights on our dump truck.  Dave T., Vern, Jim and Ron Y. finished work on a nice planter for the Garden Gala (Dinner Dance) in July.  The guys have plenty of looming projects as well.  Bill O. came in for mowing this afternoon and Dr. Gredler took care of most of his mowing this morning.  The second photo down shows three of our four Grumpettes that worked in the sunken garden today.  It's tough to see faces but, from left to right, are Mary R. (in green), Marilyn and Winifred in the distance.  Suzy is just off camera.  The ladies weeded, cut back bulb foliage and planted over 500 annuals this morning.  They did a super job.  Gary finished some vital computer repairs and was in this afternoon fine tuning our laser engraving process prior to getting back in to action with the backlog of labels yet to be made.  I was pulled in some different directions today so probably missed some of our volunteer arrivals.  We also saw Dr. Yahr, Amy H. and many others.

The grounds staff had a busy day with no shortage of projects.  We had about .25" of rain last night which was welcome but not as much volume as I would have liked.  It saved us quite a bit of watering today but with the repair of our water line, Larry (seen above) ran irrigation in select areas.  He also did quite a bit of tree trimming and focused on low hanging branches on four good-sized trees.  He also push mowed and worked on other projects as well.  Big John and Jeremy were attached at the hip today and did a dynamite job planting twenty four boxwoods (Buxus hybrida 'Green Velvet') in one of the parking lot islands after clearing the daffodil (Narcissus) foliage.  The guys also dug out some cruddy looking yews (Taxus) that the deer had nibbled down to nothing.  They also filled some of our raised planters and planted at the end of the day.  Jenny worked on labels, planted, weeded, tidied and kept busy in many areas today.  Janice worked on myriad projects including weeding, cutting back bulb foliage, spreading our slug bait/repellent, etc.  She also had a meeting and helped our volunteers seen in the top photo.  Cheryl was in for a half day and did a very thorough job of clearing weeds and preparing the garden space that will become our "Giant Garden" full of tropicals.  She has a keen eye for detail which is much appreciated.  I placed many of the plants this afternoon for planting and had a wide range of tasks today as well.  The photos below show some more features out in the gardens today.

variegated foliage of 'Shockwave' garden phlox (Phlox paniculata)

blooms of horseradish (Armoracia rusticana) in the herb garden

'Suncatcher Vintage Rose' petunia (Petunia)

one of three Canadian geese families cruising the gardens

120 Extra Hands Today

My blog title refers to the fact that we had over 60 garden volunteers here throughout this overcast day.  This morning we welcomed our fifth school group of the spring to come help work at the gardens.  We had over 40 seventh graders from St. Paul's in Janesville and the group also included nine adults (including a past neighbor of mine).  The photo above and two photos below show some of the hard work that this team accomplished.  The first project was to plant the larch wall bed with our lime color theme (seen above).  The group made quick work of this project and we then moved to the gazebo garden where we worked this garden over to target and pull the multitude of hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) seedlings that came up as a "bumper crop" this spring.  This group has come to the gardens for many years now and we greatly appreciate their help and thank their teacher, Jim K., for coordinating this work day.  The students had breakfast out early, worked at the gardens and then went bowling after lunch.  School is out for them tomorrow.

The grounds staff welcomed Jeremy to the team as he will be helping out for the next month as temporary "garden muscle".  He dove right in to our projects after a quick tour and was of immediate assistance.  Terry worked with Jeremy early on hauling, spreading and rototilling compost in the entrance garden slope which is our target planting area for the the Volunteer Work Day this upcoming Saturday (and the next!) from 8 am until 12 noon.  Jeremy worked on the front slope all day and finished by raking everything smooth and edging the bed to contain the recently worked up soil.  Terry, after his composting involvement, pruned four good sized shrubs and helped water containers at the end of the day.  Jenny helped finalize the area for the lime-themed planting early this morning.  She also helped bring extra supplies for my volunteer group and prepared our back up project (pulling seedlings) nicely.  Jenny also weeded/cleared three other areas, watered the yard plants and continues to accommodate matching labels to our newest plants or anything that needs a new label.  Cheryl finished tidying up the shade garden section which was later planted today by volunteers.  She does a nice, thorough job and moved on to two other areas.  Big John finished preparing our newly renovated gazebo garden bed, composted, rototilled and helped water containers at the end of the day.  Janice was in as a volunteer and took Victoria (front seat), Jordan and another volunteer (can't remember her name...) on a tour of the gardens in our new cart (seen below).  All three are members of the Chestnut House volunteer team that comes and helps out every week at the gardens.  I worked on various projects but ultimately spent most of my time placing plants and keeping ahead of the planters!  The second photo down is the hybrid magnolia (Magnolia sieboldii x tripetala) still blooming nicely near the zig-zag bridge.

Aside from our large morning crew, we had solid help from  many others out in the gardens.  Above is Patrea who was later joined by Terri in the reception garden where they finished planting the last of our annuals for that space.  Roy (directly below) and his lovely wife Mary did some serious planting in the west end of the shade garden that Cheryl had finished tidying up.  Kay spent time cutting back bulb foliage, weeding and tidying in both the shade garden (her assigned section) and down in the sunken garden.  Mary and Nancy arrived in the afternoon and did a thorough job of clearing out bulb foliage from two garden areas.  Rose came in to size up more painting and we saw Urban as well.  Maury and Dick P. stopped in to check on our major water leak repair efforts.  Everything is fixed and irrigation will go back on tomorrow if we don't get the rain we were promised.  We just had some wimpy, "on and off" drizzle throughout the day.  We also saw Gary, Kris K., our new education intern, Dick H. and many others.  The plants further below all have identification under the image.  The bottom shot, from yesterday, shows the pond when all the "cotton" drifts down from our female cottonwoods (Populus deltoides).

Siberian iris (Iris siberica), unknown variety

bowman's root (Gillenia trioliata)

Chardonnay Pearls slender deutzia (Deutzia gracilis 'Duncan')

'Briant Rubidor' golden weigela (Weigela florida)

Volunteer Potluck Tonight!

The Volunteer Potluck this evening went well with over 80 people in attendance (seen above).  It was a nice turnout with quite a spread of food and desserts.  Lori, Mary and I all made comments and I did a little slide show later in the evening to talk about some of the RBG past, present and future.  It was nice to see so many veteran volunteers and many new ones as well.  Lori, Janice and the Volunteer Committee did a nice job getting this event set-up and thanks to Jumbo Jim and the two RECAPPERS for helping clean up and get the room ready for tomorrow.  It's cloudy as I type this evening and I hope we get some rain overnight as our water system to the gardens is still "down for the count" and Mother Nature could really help us out.  There is a chance of rain over the next three days as well although I hope to have some clear weather in the morning to get some work done including a large planting project for 25 zealous 7th graders...  Directly below is the 'Shaker's Prayer' Siberian iris (Iris siberica) near the North point garden.  Now those are exquisite blooms!!!  The second photo down shows a cluster of the Star of Persia ornamental onion (Allium christophii) which is just starting to peak by the thousands around the gardens right now.  The third photo down shows the dark maroon foliage of the 'Dark Towers' perennial beartongue (Penstemon digitalis).  This variety will bloom with light pink, trumpet-shaped flowers in a week or two but the foliage is certainly a "color contributor" from May until frost.  

The weather was again nice today with some overcast skies and temperatures hovering around 70 degrees F.  While this is fairly cool for early June, it's been nice working weather and helps reduce my stress knowing that our watering system is currently crippled (hopefully only until tomorrow).  We had a great volunteer turnout today.  Above are Cookie and Resa (blue) planting the remainder of the North point garden which is their assigned garden.  They did great job planting and watering everything in nicely.  They even had time to do some planting in the reception garden that was left over from yesterday.  Kay was in to tidy up her large portion of the shade garden.  She's clearing bulb foliage, debris and masses of drifting cottonwood (Populus deltoides) seeds.  The "cotton" was sure thick today with a light breeze.  She'll plant perennials in her space later in the week.  Directly below is Rose repainting the door at the Horticulture Center.  In the distance are Urban, Vern and Dr. Gredler.  Dr. Gredler and Bill O. did some major mowing and Vern was in to size up some looming carpentry projects.  Cora (second photo down) planted over 25 of our containers today both in the English cottage garden and sunken garden.  In this photo, she's up on the porch planting eight "planter boxes" positioned along the railing.  She did a great job and will be back for one more round to finish the remainder of our 60+ outdoor containers.  Pat C. had another busy day of matching labels and taking inventory of rose labels that we need to have produced.  Hal and Doris (third photo down) planted the majority of their corner planter and used a wide range of orange-blooming annuals to match our overall color scheme.  They've done a great job in this same space for many years.  Ron K. (fourth photo down) was in to tidy up the woodland walk garden which is his assigned garden.  He also planted another 30 or so new perennials along the section adjacent to the pond edge.  Stan came in for more pruning in the Japanese garden and we also saw Mary W., Dale, Kris K., Larry H. and many others.

The grounds staff kept busy from start to finish today.  Larry had push mowing duties, installed some mailbox/signs (to hold information) and did plenty of watering the old-fashioned way with watering cans.  Big John collected pansies (Viola x wittrockiana) from our spring containers (in advance of Cora planting the summer scheme today)., push mowed, planted the rest of the new roses, composted, rototilled and watered.  Janice cleared a large area of bulb foliage, did a nice job on the cutting display, watered and spent time preparing for the Volunteer Potluck this evening.  Cheryl did a tidy job cutting back daffodil (Narcissus) foliage along the front slope in advance of us preparing it for planting this Saturday (volunteer planting workday from 8 am until 12 noon!, next two Saturdays!).  She then shifted to removing bulb foliage and weeds from the west section of the shade garden which needs some new plants shortly (maybe tomorrow).  I ran plants out for Cookie, Resa and Cora and staged plants for our volunteer planters tomorrow.  Directly below is the viper's bugloss (Echium vulgare) in the English cottage garden.  This biennial is great for bees and has a nice shade of blue flower spikes (smaller trumpet shaped flowers) in to early summer.  This native of Europe has been a hit in this garden for many years.  Unfortunately, the last three photos are of unknown varieties of a rhododendron and two tree peonies (Paeonia suffruticosa) respectively.  The beauty is amazing though!  

Snow In June!?

Although it was quite chilly this morning, we didn't truly have snow.  However, it sure looked like it around the gardens as seen above.  These are seeds from the female Eastern cottonwoods (Populus deltoides) around the gardens that are starting to release what looks like a bumper crop.  The buried plants above are the 'Lanai Candy Cane' verbenas (Verbena) which are one of the four selections featured in our American Garden Award (www.americangardenaward.com/) display near the arboretum.  It looked like snow flurries around the gardens with these seeds floating, drifting and accumulating everywhere.  Our pond is already hosting an "island" of these seeds that drift down to the shallow end near the gazebo garden and unfortunately, this mass begins to have a less than fresh odor.  Yuck.  Rain and/or wind will help dissipate these seeds throughout the gardens but we anticipate seeing a lot of seedlings throughout the gardens in the next week or two.  The size, shade and impact that our 50+ mature cottonwoods contribute to the gardens makes this annual "seed set" an unfortunate side effect that we'll deal with in the coming weeks.  The two photos below show a true "snow-in-summer" perennial (Cerastium tomentosum) featured in large drifts in the "highlands" section of the Scottish garden.  This silver effect is quite striking and amazing in the moonlit garden as well.  It is a great rock garden plant but does spread moderately to create a substantial mat in short order.

Above is the 'Blue Ice' hybrid bluestar (Amsonia hybrida) at peak with these beautiful, star-shaped flowers in broad clusters.  We have a couple dozen clumps of this perennial around the gardens and it has performed well for us with this showy spring display and usually a good yellow fall foliage color.  I was able to take some quick snapshots today between duties which included staging plants in four areas this morning.  Directly below is the valerian (Valeriana officinalis) in bloom.   Also called perennial garden heliotrope, this 30" plant prefers full sun and offers a very sweet fragrance.  Research this plant for many historical medical and functional uses.  The drawback to this plant is rampant reseeding and while it's easy to remove or replant rogue seedlings, you have to vigilant or this plant will really move around the garden.  The next photo down shows the small, orchid-like blooms of the golden-leaved, Dreamcatcher beautybush (Kolkwitzia amabilis 'Maradco') which is a large, arching shrub with the dual contribution of bright yellow foliage and spring blooms.  The third photo down highlights one of the hot new million bells (Calibrachoa) this year.  This is the variety 'Lemon Slice' and we have it in the sunken garden right now.  What a neat flower (closely related to petunias...).

It was a busy day with 25+ volunteers.  I didn't get many shots of volunteers in action with the exception of Noon Rotary Club members above that were planting after their afternoon meeting (Mary and I presented at the meeting as well).  This team included Gary S., Hal R., Ron, Millie, Heather and Marcy W.  The crew planted the remainder of the terrace garden border and moved on to the reception garden too.  They did a great job.  This morning though was a flurry of volunteers.  Bev W. planted substantially in the sunken garden while Ron W. cleaned up paths.  Larry H. and Bob C. went around the gardens cutting back many of our ornamental onion (Allium) stalks and foliage as they are finishing their bloom cycle.  Lloyd and Gene did a nice job mulching while Ron Y., Vern and Jim D. continued some carpentry projects.  We also had Sue C., Jim S. and Carol S. in to help weed and clear bulb foliage as well.  They hung out with Jenny this morning and they targeted many areas.  Gary S. was involved with this group early and earned a full day of pay by staying from 8 am until 3 pm!  Rollie, Maury, Dick P. and Dick H. worked on various projects including assessing a horrible leak we have with our "intake system" that supplies water to the gardens.  We had to shut down all the water to the gardens for imminent repairs later this week.  A little rain would now be very timely.  Pat C. spent most of the day matching up labels and keeping up with her surplus label inventory (very handy!).  Stan was in for some work and we also saw Bev I. with her grandkids, Dr. Yahr, Dr. Gredler (mowing), Bill O., Polly, Denise, Rose, Urban and many, many others.  I'm sure I'm forgetting someone but the memory is not what it used to be!

We had a small grounds staff today with Larry, Terry, Big John, Jenny and myself.  Larry checked all the water features (a daily duty), push mowed, watered and helped with a wide range of projects that popped up throughout the day.  Big John composted, rototilled, planted roses (see above) with Terry, watered and had a productive plant run to one of our suppliers this morning.  We only have a couple loads left to pick up in the next week or two.  Terry collected pansies (Viola wittrockiana) from some of our containers in anticipation of our summer compositions going in tomorrow.  He also composted, rototilled, planted roses (see above) with Big John and watered.  This rose planting project includes over 60 new roses representing 12 varieties.  We had serious rose losses over the winter with only about 25% making it through unscathed.  Jenny worked immediately with Sue, Jim and Carol with bulb foliage removal and weeding.  They went through at least four areas and did a great job.  Jenny then watered the entire yard and started matching her pre-made labels to the plants that John brought back this morning.  I spent time getting plants out to various locations and spent the afternoon with the Noon Rotary Club with my joint presentation (with Mary F.P.) and the planting work day.  It was a busy but productive day with perfect weather (sunny and 70 degrees F).  Directly below is a cluster of 'Globemaster' ornamental onions (Allium).  While some ornamental onions (Allium) have finished already, this variety is just starting to peak.  The next photo down shows the fragrant flower clusters (very light pink) of the arching, fragrant abelia (Abelia mosanensis) which is a shrub that gets about 5' tall (and wide) for us.  The sweet fragrance from this shrub is detectable from quite a distance and this selection also has awesome orange fall color in October.  The last two selections (photos), both at peak today, are identified under their image.  Back to planting and weeding tomorrow.

false indigo (Baptisia x variicolor 'Twilite Prairieblues')

perennial pinks (Dianthus 'Firewitch')

Four of Six Another Success

On Saturday, our fourth of six sequential volunteer work days went very well.  With a cooler morning and overcast skies, we had 30 volunteers trickle in over the morning and we planted close to 6,000 plants in three areas.  Jayce (above) was one of our new helpers and at 15 months old, might be our youngest volunteer on record, just edging out Lily who started at 18 months old (now 5?).  Our target areas included the reception garden, gazebo garden and a berm planted entirely with impatiens closer to the Parker Education center.  Janice, Big John and Larry again helped coordinate volunteers, plants, supplies, debris collection and shifting around as needed.  Bill O. was in for some garbage patrol and mowing.  A big thanks though to our planters which included Amy, Aaron, Jayce, Roy W., Mary W., Bob K., Gary, Kay, Sue C., Amy and her daughter Meghan (sixth photo down), Mike P., Jalina, Leslie B., Eva, Ron W., Bev W., Hal, Doris, Mary W., Tina B., Jody, Sigley, Keith, Jodi, Deb G. and her grandson, Mary #3 and Maggie.  We hope for similar turnouts for our next two work days which will also include planting large areas.