A Friday For Me

Nice shot above of another ornamental, annual shamrock (Oxalis vulcanicola 'Zinfandel') that can tolerate full sun or part shade. I love the dark foliage with persistent yellow blooms thru the summer. We wouldn't be without our various oxalis' out in the gardens. Note the bright blue obelisks in our formal Italian garden behind this urn. Many tasks were completed today and judging by Larry's expression below, draining and cleaning the sunken pool was not on the "fun list".
We had great planting assistance from Gina, Shirley, Cathy and Janet today. They worked with Marianne planting the last of our entrance garden. I'm amazed at the wonderful turnouts of volunteers each day to plant. This has been a very quick 4 weeks of planting although we'll be poking in annuals in smaller spots, gaps, etc. but are on track to finish by the 4th of July with freebies being utilized as needed. Marv worked on rototilling the last of our larger areas left to plant and did some fertilization of our annual beds. Terry watered, fertilized, planted, potted up pond plants and bounced around as needed. Little Jerry continued to prune near our visitors center and Jumbo Jim brought down three RECAPPERS to help tidy up the Japanese garden. Sue and Kelley weeded and planted their portion of the shade garden and Dr. Gredler worked on turf issues. Note the bold, tropical foliage below of the golden groundsel (Ligularia dentata 'Othello') that will send up golden yellow daisies in a couple weeks. I love the large foliage. The white bloom is from a neighboring goatsbeard (Aruncus dioicus). The United Way recognized their Helping Hand award-winning volunteers yesterday that included Dr. Gredler as volunteer of the year (see below) and Maury and Kay Frey for their combined efforts (see Maury with his daughter below from yesterday). All of our volunteers are wonderful and it's nice to see some of them recognized in this fashion. NO BLOG UNTIL MONDAY. I'm off for a couple of days of camping and mental recuperation (maybe).