It was nice to have the rain yesterday and the sun was welcome today but it sure made for humid conditions out in the gardens. It was sticky. With potential showers this weekend possibly affecting our Saturday workday, I kept up the momentum of laying out plants in the gardens. I think everyone helped plant today. The image above is a portion of our formal perennial beds in the Italian formal gardens that we're totally replanting this year with 25 varieties of tough perennials. I placed about 200 perennials out there that were quickly installed. I also placed plants in four other areas and almost everything made it in the ground today. Great teamwork and we'll follow that same plan tomorrow! Lots of visitors today and we're still getting lots of positive comments about our daisy art displays (see the cool zebra below). I'm looking forward to more art like this in the gardens and we already have some ideas for the future...
Marv and Terry worked on a multitude of projects today. My blog references this duo often as they work well together and while no one else can tolerate them, they seem to get along. :) They pruned more shrubs, removed a large tree branch, planted more pvc pillar planters and did a nice job planting an area with annuals this afternoon. Marianne weeded down in the wishing well garden (Nancy Yahr Memorial Garden) and cleared weeds from our front sign area. She then finished planting that space and another nearby. The rest of her day was bulb foliage removal and her neat cutting display "refreshing." Little Jerry worked on pruning in the Japanese garden and did a nice job thinning out some water plants that were getting aggressive in our streams. Big John did a multitude of tasks including removing bulb foliage, replacing gravel, mowing and planting thru the afternoon. He may be a rookie but sure fits in well around here. Larry mowed, planted, watered and bounced between our "brush fire projects." He'll be working on cleaning some of our water feature pumps tomorrow and met with a consultant today about some ideas for our koi pond. I ran plants around all day and had hoped to spray herbicide out there as the weeds are getting a foothold (seemingly over night). Unfortunately, the wind was very strong and the fear of "herbicidal drift" kept the sprayer out of my hands today. Maybe tomorrow...Nice shot below of our rose garden; a very popular spot for an outdoor wedding, featuring some very nice shrub roses and old-fashioned roses behind the pergola.
We had another great volunteer crew here today with Kay and Pat coming in this morning and planting a portion of the sunken ga
rden and a good chunk of the formal perennial area pictured above. Chris, Bob and August came and planted their portion of the sunken garden and across the way in that same garden, Mel and June did a nice job putting in a couple hundred plants and will be back tomorrow. Maybe we'll see Audrey back in this garden after she recovers from surgery as she did such a nice job maintaining her area for so long. We saw Art and Suzy out giving tours to kids and Dr. Gredler and Dick H. worked on constructing a new "elevated bed containment system" (or sidewalls) for our Gator, which will allow us to haul more material. We also saw Linda, Mike M., Dick W., Maury, Dr. Yahr, Lisa, Jumbo Jim and four RECAPPERS today. It was a nice day and we'll keep the momentum going tomorrow. I took some time to enjoy our shrub roses today and was smitten with the Snowdrift shrub rose (
Rosa 'BAIrift') seen to the left. Our rose collection includes many of the Easy Elegance series of shrub roses which have done quite well. We've pl
anted another 24 roses or so out there with 20 more waiting to go in the ground to refresh our collection. Our intent is to do very little maintenance (no spraying, no deadheading, minimal fertilizer, minimal winter protection, etc.) to evaluate these roses and really promote them to a gardening public that frequently doesn't have the time for fussy roses and wants the low maintenance alternative. I sure don't miss putting on the white suit and spraying our "needy roses" so many years ago. We used to tape off and blockade the rose garden when I was out there poisoning the environment and myself just to keep the roses looking clean. Glad we've gone this route to be sure!!! To the right is the vivid foliage of one of my favorite large shrubs, the Tiger Eyes sumac (
Rhus typhina 'Bailtiger') that really catches the eye and despite the running nature of this shrub (root sprouts everywhere), it is durable and certainly a focal point (nice reddish orange fall color too). The one I have at home is about 10' tall right now but we keep ours at work between 6' and 8' tall with heavy winter pruning. Below is a classic perennial combination of coral bells (
Heuchera 'Palace Purple') and lady's mantle (
Alchemilla mollis). Tough plants and a nice combo. I didn't coin this phrase but use it all the time..."New plants aren't always good and good plants aren't always new." These two garden stalwarts prove that point every time I see them. The bottom image of our marble lion near the observation platform sums up my feelings about the looming weather forecast (happy/sad with a touch of crazy). Yes we need the rain but ugh!, we can't afford to lose a day of planting with 35+ volunteers! (Saturday, 8am-noon, if you're interested....donuts are always involved).
rden and a good chunk of the formal perennial area pictured above. Chris, Bob and August came and planted their portion of the sunken garden and across the way in that same garden, Mel and June did a nice job putting in a couple hundred plants and will be back tomorrow. Maybe we'll see Audrey back in this garden after she recovers from surgery as she did such a nice job maintaining her area for so long. We saw Art and Suzy out giving tours to kids and Dr. Gredler and Dick H. worked on constructing a new "elevated bed containment system" (or sidewalls) for our Gator, which will allow us to haul more material. We also saw Linda, Mike M., Dick W., Maury, Dr. Yahr, Lisa, Jumbo Jim and four RECAPPERS today. It was a nice day and we'll keep the momentum going tomorrow. I took some time to enjoy our shrub roses today and was smitten with the Snowdrift shrub rose (Rosa 'BAIrift') seen to the left. Our rose collection includes many of the Easy Elegance series of shrub roses which have done quite well. We've pl
anted another 24 roses or so out there with 20 more waiting to go in the ground to refresh our collection. Our intent is to do very little maintenance (no spraying, no deadheading, minimal fertilizer, minimal winter protection, etc.) to evaluate these roses and really promote them to a gardening public that frequently doesn't have the time for fussy roses and wants the low maintenance alternative. I sure don't miss putting on the white suit and spraying our "needy roses" so many years ago. We used to tape off and blockade the rose garden when I was out there poisoning the environment and myself just to keep the roses looking clean. Glad we've gone this route to be sure!!! To the right is the vivid foliage of one of my favorite large shrubs, the Tiger Eyes sumac (Rhus typhina 'Bailtiger') that really catches the eye and despite the running nature of this shrub (root sprouts everywhere), it is durable and certainly a focal point (nice reddish orange fall color too). The one I have at home is about 10' tall right now but we keep ours at work between 6' and 8' tall with heavy winter pruning. Below is a classic perennial combination of coral bells (Heuchera 'Palace Purple') and lady's mantle (Alchemilla mollis). Tough plants and a nice combo. I didn't coin this phrase but use it all the time..."New plants aren't always good and good plants aren't always new." These two garden stalwarts prove that point every time I see them. The bottom image of our marble lion near the observation platform sums up my feelings about the looming weather forecast (happy/sad with a touch of crazy). Yes we need the rain but ugh!, we can't afford to lose a day of planting with 35+ volunteers! (Saturday, 8am-noon, if you're interested....donuts are always involved). 
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