A Busy Day of Grumpies (And Grumpettes)

The shots above are from my garden this past weekend. This is an ornamental onion (Allium 'Purple Sensation') blooming almost four weeks early. These are in various stages of opening which is always neat to see when those umbels open up to form the sphere of florets. Granted, these are in a "hot spot" along the south face of my home, we have many in the gardens that while rarely seen for Mother's Day during a "normal spring," may be of interest very shortly. Oh well. As a side note, 'Purple Sensation' is a great variety (we have 20,000 at RBG) and affordable as a fall-planted bulb. LOTS of volunteers here today (Bill, Gary and Dr. Gredler in the loader above). At our morning break, I saw Pam, Julie, Janice, Bill, Big John, Ron B., Ron W., Bob T., Charlie, Bob C., Bob A., Vern, Dave T., Jim, Del, Rollie, Dr. Gredler, Maury, Mary, Shirley, Geesje, Larry, Dick H., Urban, Pat, Roger, Gary, Marianne, Marv, Terry and Little Jerry. It was a full house (nice to see) and we all complimented Janice on her appearance on the front page of the Janesville Gazette (she's usually just in the police blotter). Most of the guys worked on collecting leaf mulch, composting and mulching with shredded bark. Del and Rollie helped Janice finish her daylily project from Saturday and weeded the horticulture center beds with Urban. To the right is Rollie showing Urban the benefit on leaning on two shovels instead of just one for balance... Big John and Dick H. finished up the 'Dialogue' sculpture. To the left is Big John with his new shin guards (his third week anniversary gift) and very warranted due to his clumsiness (and recent shin injuries). Plenty of activity out there and a great crew today.

The grounds crew kept busy with Larry mowing, moving plants, etc. and Little Jerry working in the Japanese Garden. Marianne continues to do a nice job keeping the front of the building looking good, did some weeding in the terrace garden and put together another nice cutting display. After her daylily project was done, Janice worked in the fern/moss garden, laminated signs, etc. Marv and Terry spent most of the day edging the iris beds (see below) and really tidied them up well with a precise sharp edge. I ran around with flags to mark planting locations for the next couple of days, sprayed some herbicide and will be getting things in order for when I am off attending a course at the Chicago Botanic Garden next week (Healthcare Garden Design).
Rarely without my camera, I caught some additional neat shots out in the gardens today. Directly below is the emerging foliage of the golden fullmoon maple (Acer shirasawanum 'Autumn Moon') that emerges 'orangey' but will be a nice bright yellow shortly (with faint orange highlights along the leaf margins). This small specimen is in the Japanese garden and has done well over the past four years or so. Below this shot is the fresh, bright foliage of the golden linden (Tilia europaea 'Wratislaviensis') that keeps its yellow coloration nicely thru the summer. This specimen is still a baby but its impact will continue to grow along with the eventual increase in size. We'll probably relocate it eventually. The bottom photo is similar to one I took last year and is a nice shot near the observation platform, thru a redbud (Cercis candensis) to the arched bridge in the distance.