It was by far the busiest day at the gardens that I've seen in my twelve years there. To start with, we had a workday and were happy to have 18 volunteers out there helping plant this morning with ominous clouds overhead. Thankfully, the rains held off until 2:30 pm but then let loose. The above photo shows some youth volunteers and two chaperones. I was concerned at first about finishing the reception garden planting but we had not trouble getting thru it and actually were able to plant more annuals in the sunken garden as well. Aside from our younger volunteers, we had Janice, Big John, Del, Marti, Luis, Kay, Sue, Ron, Bev, Gary, Cindy, Maggie and Mary. They all did a great job and that's another large quantity of annuals in the ground and watered in very well by Mother Nature.
Marianne set-up snacks and handouts for the two incoming iris groups and we welcomed the first two buses at 8:45 am and the i
ris folks seemed to enjoy the gardens. The second batch of buses came at 1 pm. We walked them thru the Parker Education Center which was, at that time, a chaotic flurry of peony society folks setting up their cut
flower displays. It was "mass congestion" but everyone was quite good natured (as most plant people are anyway). It was crazy. With two impending weddings (one in the pouring rain this afternoon), we opened the gates to accomodate all the comings and goings. Larry was a huge help today and we had Bill here tidying up wedding sites, collecting garbage, etc. Dr. Gredler was here too and we saw Vern and Maury as well. Nice shot to the left of Janice. Note how here eyes are saying, "I have an idea what you can do with your camera...". To the right is Del helping with planting. Look at those calf muscles for an old guy! Below are Gary, Cindy and Maggie. Our volunteers are a happy lot and more appreciated then they'll ever know.
After our workday, I changed outfits and went over to do a presentation for the American Peony Society. I spoke on "Companion Plants for Peonies" and it seemed well received. Of course the audience was from
around the country (and some Europeans) so the plant material I mentioned was not relevant for everyone! There were many question about the trees with white flower plumes out in the gardens. Visitors were observing our Japanese tree lilacs (
Syringa reticulata 'Ivory Silk'). One visitor mentioned a yell
ow bloomer and I was excited to find the 'Beijing Gold' tree lilac (
Syringa pekinensis) blooming in our color rooms garden (see to the left). To the right is one of our bellflowers (
Campanula sp.) in the sunken garden. I'm not sure which species this is as the tag seemed incorrect to me. Pretty though. Kudos to Polly for running a great event for The American Peony Society national conference. There were lots of preparations and accomodations to be made and the event seemed to run very smoothly. The cut flower portion of this event was unbeleviable (see below). I was amazed. The public was invited to enjoy these blossoms and many took advantage of this spectacular display.
It was elbow room only for a good portion of the afternoon as everyone enjoyed the variety of blossom
s. A week ago I was worried about how fast the peonies were peaking and finishing out in the gardens and wondered how expansive the display would be for the event. I was not disappointed. I was amazed by the special arrangements (left
and right). These were so artistic and the entire cut flower display will be open for the public to enjoy tomorrow (Sunday) as well. For the local visitors, this may be a one of a kind opportunity to see such a vast assortment of peonies and I'm sure it inspired many to obtain, plant and enjoy more peonies in their own gardens. The bottom image is of the "overall" winner although I forgot to write down the variety name! It as beautiful and I had to throw some elbows to get close enough for the picture. The judges for this event take it VERY seriously. At the bottom is the end of poor Larry's day! I don't mind the rain but it came down fast. We're good for watering for tomorrow I believe.
It was by far the busiest day at the gardens that I've seen in my twelve years there. To start with, we had a workday and were happy to have 18 volunteers out there helping plant this morning with ominous clouds overhead. Thankfully, the rains held off until 2:30 pm but then let loose. The above photo shows some youth volunteers and two chaperones. I was concerned at first about finishing the reception garden planting but we had not trouble getting thru it and actually were able to plant more annuals in the sunken garden as well. Aside from our younger volunteers, we had Janice, Big John, Del, Marti, Luis, Kay, Sue, Ron, Bev, Gary, Cindy, Maggie and Mary. They all did a great job and that's another large quantity of annuals in the ground and watered in very well by Mother Nature.
Marianne set-up snacks and handouts for the two incoming iris groups and we welcomed the first two buses at 8:45 am and the i
ris folks seemed to enjoy the gardens. The second batch of buses came at 1 pm. We walked them thru the Parker Education Center which was, at that time, a chaotic flurry of peony society folks setting up their cut
flower displays. It was "mass congestion" but everyone was quite good natured (as most plant people are anyway). It was crazy. With two impending weddings (one in the pouring rain this afternoon), we opened the gates to accomodate all the comings and goings. Larry was a huge help today and we had Bill here tidying up wedding sites, collecting garbage, etc. Dr. Gredler was here too and we saw Vern and Maury as well. Nice shot to the left of Janice. Note how here eyes are saying, "I have an idea what you can do with your camera...". To the right is Del helping with planting. Look at those calf muscles for an old guy! Below are Gary, Cindy and Maggie. Our volunteers are a happy lot and more appreciated then they'll ever know.
around the country (and some Europeans) so the plant material I mentioned was not relevant for everyone! There were many question about the trees with white flower plumes out in the gardens. Visitors were observing our Japanese tree lilacs (Syringa reticulata 'Ivory Silk'). One visitor mentioned a yell
ow bloomer and I was excited to find the 'Beijing Gold' tree lilac (Syringa pekinensis) blooming in our color rooms garden (see to the left). To the right is one of our bellflowers (Campanula sp.) in the sunken garden. I'm not sure which species this is as the tag seemed incorrect to me. Pretty though. Kudos to Polly for running a great event for The American Peony Society national conference. There were lots of preparations and accomodations to be made and the event seemed to run very smoothly. The cut flower portion of this event was unbeleviable (see below). I was amazed. The public was invited to enjoy these blossoms and many took advantage of this spectacular display.
s. A week ago I was worried about how fast the peonies were peaking and finishing out in the gardens and wondered how expansive the display would be for the event. I was not disappointed. I was amazed by the special arrangements (left
and right). These were so artistic and the entire cut flower display will be open for the public to enjoy tomorrow (Sunday) as well. For the local visitors, this may be a one of a kind opportunity to see such a vast assortment of peonies and I'm sure it inspired many to obtain, plant and enjoy more peonies in their own gardens. The bottom image is of the "overall" winner although I forgot to write down the variety name! It as beautiful and I had to throw some elbows to get close enough for the picture. The judges for this event take it VERY seriously. At the bottom is the end of poor Larry's day! I don't mind the rain but it came down fast. We're good for watering for tomorrow I believe.
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