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.