It looked like it wanted to rain all day and I'm glad we weren't fooled and did plenty of watering before the afternoon turned hot, sunny and windy. There is still a chance of rain tonight but I wont hold my breath. Nice shot above of queen-of-the-prairie (
Filipendula rubra 'Venusta Magnifica') starting to bloom with wonderful pink flower clusters. This native perennial prefers damp, full sun locations and tops out at almost 5' tall. The threat of rain with cool breezes and a dark sky this morning prompted some quick activity out in the gardens as we thought our time might be cut short. Janice and Terry mowed right away as did Dr. Gredler and Little Jerry (who later pruned too). Marianne, Marv, Terry and I hauled out plants for the planting work day tomorrow which looks favorable as rains should come later in the day tomorrow. It's going to be a hot one though! I placed around 10,000 annuals out in our entrance garden and we'll hit the ground running in the morning. Marv and Terry also removed juniper stumps, rototilled and prepared more beds for planting (next week) and cleaned up garden areas for the weddings. We had three weddings scheduled for tonight which is remarkable for a Friday. Five outdoor weddings in the gardens tomorrow! Marianne did lots of weeding today, fertilized some annual beds, assembled the cutting display and watered. Janice did a nice job watering in the plants we installed yesterday (glad we didn't let it go) and worked on various projects. Overall it was a very productive day. I took the rose picture below in our yard as it caught my eye immediately. This is
Rosa 'Morden Sunrise' and is a shrub rose developed at the Morden Research Station in Canada (part of the Parkland series). It is described as having a "kaleidoscope of color" with peach, coral, yellow and cream all represented on a semi-double, slightly fragrant bloom. Looks awesome to me and we'll get this in the ground very soon. Nice shot further below of Marv with the rototiller which has recently become an extension of his body as he has done most of our substantial rototilling.
To the right is the opened up pink globeflower (
Centaurea pulchra major) that I referenced in its closed form this past Tuesday. Looks neat and there were an
ts all over the bloom checking it out. Today wouldn't be complete without the contribution of many great volunteers. Kay was in and took a respite from planting to tackle one of our weedy areas in the shade garden. She is very thorough and did a great job as always. When she puts on the bandana, we know that some serious work is being done. Dr. Gredler was here mowing, running to the dump, etc. and we saw Dr. Yahr and Maury as well. Magda and Sara were out weeding, tidying and planting in their garden space. Dave and Mary were also planting in their garden area. The progress out in the gardens is amazing and I can't wait to see all the annuals filling in over the coming month or so. It should be quite colorful. Jenny and Dave came in today as volunteers and spent a couple hours sorting thru labels and matching them up to our annuals. Jenny follows the labels from my winter lists, her typing, creation, preparation and finally her installation of the labels six months after she first saw the name of the plant. Providing accurate interpretation is a huge challenge as in the past, it has been difficult to keep up with labeling our plants as they go in the ground. We've streamlined the pro
cess and feel it is going smoother each year (although we keep planting more and more). The new laser engraver will allow us to ultimately convert all labeling to a standard format but the plan of attack is to start with all the woody plants (this fall and winter), then perennials (next year), then finally annuals in two years or so. Nice shot to the left of another shrub rose (
Rosa 'Radral'). This is 'Carefree Celebration' rose and is from the breeder of the original Knockout roses, Bill Radler. I've met and spoken with Bill a few tim
es and he is an amazing breeder and very generous with his time and contagious enthusiasm. To the right is 'Morden Blush', another tough Canadian shrub rose that has a subtle, pinkish white, double bloom and is very floriferous. Introduced in 1988, this is another of the Parkland series of roses that we're interesting in trying here and promoting as a low-maintenance option. I'm hoping that we'll have 50+ varieties of low-maintenance shrub roses in the next year or so and will eventually display those that do the best in our setting. Our rose collection has struggled in the past but we're committed to upgrading the collection and we have Becky N., one of our Master Gardeners and a professional horticulturist, working on our roses. Nice shot below of the flossflower (
Ageratum 'Patina Delft') that looks almost "otherworldly" in a close-up. At the bottom are some lilies (
Lilium, unknown variety) that are looking good along the sunny edge of the woodland walk garden. Well, I hope my next blog tomorrow night mentions finishing the entrance garden planting with 40 volunteers followed by a nice soaking rain right after we put the trowels away....or at least after all the weddings!
It looked like it wanted to rain all day and I'm glad we weren't fooled and did plenty of watering before the afternoon turned hot, sunny and windy. There is still a chance of rain tonight but I wont hold my breath. Nice shot above of queen-of-the-prairie (Filipendula rubra 'Venusta Magnifica') starting to bloom with wonderful pink flower clusters. This native perennial prefers damp, full sun locations and tops out at almost 5' tall. The threat of rain with cool breezes and a dark sky this morning prompted some quick activity out in the gardens as we thought our time might be cut short. Janice and Terry mowed right away as did Dr. Gredler and Little Jerry (who later pruned too). Marianne, Marv, Terry and I hauled out plants for the planting work day tomorrow which looks favorable as rains should come later in the day tomorrow. It's going to be a hot one though! I placed around 10,000 annuals out in our entrance garden and we'll hit the ground running in the morning. Marv and Terry also removed juniper stumps, rototilled and prepared more beds for planting (next week) and cleaned up garden areas for the weddings. We had three weddings scheduled for tonight which is remarkable for a Friday. Five outdoor weddings in the gardens tomorrow! Marianne did lots of weeding today, fertilized some annual beds, assembled the cutting display and watered. Janice did a nice job watering in the plants we installed yesterday (glad we didn't let it go) and worked on various projects. Overall it was a very productive day. I took the rose picture below in our yard as it caught my eye immediately. This is Rosa 'Morden Sunrise' and is a shrub rose developed at the Morden Research Station in Canada (part of the Parkland series). It is described as having a "kaleidoscope of color" with peach, coral, yellow and cream all represented on a semi-double, slightly fragrant bloom. Looks awesome to me and we'll get this in the ground very soon. Nice shot further below of Marv with the rototiller which has recently become an extension of his body as he has done most of our substantial rototilling. 
ts all over the bloom checking it out. Today wouldn't be complete without the contribution of many great volunteers. Kay was in and took a respite from planting to tackle one of our weedy areas in the shade garden. She is very thorough and did a great job as always. When she puts on the bandana, we know that some serious work is being done. Dr. Gredler was here mowing, running to the dump, etc. and we saw Dr. Yahr and Maury as well. Magda and Sara were out weeding, tidying and planting in their garden space. Dave and Mary were also planting in their garden area. The progress out in the gardens is amazing and I can't wait to see all the annuals filling in over the coming month or so. It should be quite colorful. Jenny and Dave came in today as volunteers and spent a couple hours sorting thru labels and matching them up to our annuals. Jenny follows the labels from my winter lists, her typing, creation, preparation and finally her installation of the labels six months after she first saw the name of the plant. Providing accurate interpretation is a huge challenge as in the past, it has been difficult to keep up with labeling our plants as they go in the ground. We've streamlined the pro
cess and feel it is going smoother each year (although we keep planting more and more). The new laser engraver will allow us to ultimately convert all labeling to a standard format but the plan of attack is to start with all the woody plants (this fall and winter), then perennials (next year), then finally annuals in two years or so. Nice shot to the left of another shrub rose (Rosa 'Radral'). This is 'Carefree Celebration' rose and is from the breeder of the original Knockout roses, Bill Radler. I've met and spoken with Bill a few tim
es and he is an amazing breeder and very generous with his time and contagious enthusiasm. To the right is 'Morden Blush', another tough Canadian shrub rose that has a subtle, pinkish white, double bloom and is very floriferous. Introduced in 1988, this is another of the Parkland series of roses that we're interesting in trying here and promoting as a low-maintenance option. I'm hoping that we'll have 50+ varieties of low-maintenance shrub roses in the next year or so and will eventually display those that do the best in our setting. Our rose collection has struggled in the past but we're committed to upgrading the collection and we have Becky N., one of our Master Gardeners and a professional horticulturist, working on our roses. Nice shot below of the flossflower (Ageratum 'Patina Delft') that looks almost "otherworldly" in a close-up. At the bottom are some lilies (Lilium, unknown variety) that are looking good along the sunny edge of the woodland walk garden. Well, I hope my next blog tomorrow night mentions finishing the entrance garden planting with 40 volunteers followed by a nice soaking rain right after we put the trowels away....or at least after all the weddings! 
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