Thursday Progress (Significant)

Above is an image of a neat ornamental grass from the West Indies called basket grass. This is the variegated form of basket grass (Oplismenus hirtellus 'Variegatus') that is wonderful in containers, doesn't need a lot of light and trails nicely in window boxes and hanging baskets in particular. It is certainly an interesting looking grass and the hints of white, cream and pink are quite showy. We have this grass throughout the gardens; both in soil, pots and hanging baskets. The shot above is at my house and I think I'll continue to promote the use of this durable ornamental grass. Below is another image from my garden with lungwort (Pulmonaria sp.) and coral bells (Heuchera 'Silver Scrolls'?) mixing well with simply foliage.
We had a great volunteer turnout today which included our Thursday Grumpies. Winifred and Susie weeded in the reception garden and Sara worked in her area clearing out more weeds. Janice fertilized, mulched and kept an eye on the ladies while Larry diced up some dying magnolias and helped with various Grumpy projects. Little Jerry worked in the Japanese garden with Jumbo Jim and three RECAPPERS. They got a lot of work done in a short period of time. I was able to spray more herbicide and pulled more plants for installation tomorrow. The Grumpies worked on painting, carpentry repair, air edging and the excavation of a future bench pad. Chuck H. was here again to apply more herbicide to our rampant Canadian goldenrod population in the prairie and we look forward to seeing the results of this "culling of the herd". Overall, a cool day but good working weather and as always, I'm pleased with the continued level of maintenance and improvement of the gardens. Below is a shot of the emerging flowers of the native American elderberry (Sambucus canadensis). These flowers will eventually become those small purple berries that are used for jams, jellies and wine. As you travel the smaller highways and byways, you may note these growing in ditches and low spots. All of those 6-10' tall shrubs covered in bright white flower clusters are what you see below. There are lots of neat ornamental elderberries but those are mostly of European heritage.