Hoping For Rain...Soon!

As usual after a vacation, I spent a good portion of the day catching up. The gardens looked great but are in need of a good soaking rain. With chances of rain over the next four days, I hope we get something significant as we've been pampered thus far with reliable rainfall and aren't real excited about the hose/sprinkler "shuffle". Nice shot above of Dahlberg daisy (Dyssodia tenuiloba) that is a tough annual for full sun and poor soils. This plant is "self cleaning" and keeps producing solid masses of daisies until frost (12" tall). The wispy foliage is fragrant too.

Marv and Terry worked on shearing today as well as watering and mulching. The guys do a great job shearing our boxwoods and yews in the formal gardens twice per year (again in early September) and also shear many other specimens around the gardens. Marianne watered, tidied and did some "filler planting" as well. I think everyone watered today as Larry spent most of the day on containers and dry areas in various gardens spaces. We find "irrigation shadows" in many irrigated gardens where the irrigation heads are blocked by plants or other objects, creating a dry shadow that needs attention. We are constantly trying to cut back plants and re-locate heads to maximize the effect of our irrigation. We'll see Little Jerry, Big John and Janice tomorrow for grounds. Nice shot to the left of compass plant (Silphium laciniatum) with showy yellow blooms. A prairie native, this perennial can get quite tall and got its name from pioneers that believed the leaves pointed in a north/south orientation. This is mostly true but not always reliable. What a showy plant though. To the right is another native, the buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) with telltale spherical flowers. Buttonbushes can take lots of moisture and this specimen has been submerged (shallow depth) for over five years and looks great (10' tall). Note the bee working over the flower. And since we're talking about natives, I took the shot below (today) of rattlesnake master (Eryngiuim yuccifolium) with the start of the globular, thistle-like blooms that will age to an amber color later in the summer. I love the "architecture" of this plant in general.

We had a nice volunteer turnout today and expect to see more trickling in thru the week as they get back from various trips and vacations. The Grumpies were here and Big John and Del started right in with gravel skimming and replacement in some of our path areas. This is an arduous task but really helps the gardens look nice and lessens weed issues in our older gravel paths. After moving some plants in the yard, Pat, Ron B. and Gary moved on to skimming/replacing gravel as well. Vern, Bob A., Jim and Dave T. continued to mass produce obelisks and still have plenty on their "to do" list. We also had two Marys here; one weeded while the other planted. We also saw Bev, Dick H., Kay, Dr. Yahr and of course, Dr. Gredler was here mowing, etc. To the left is a double white purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea 'Milkshake') that looks nice but doesn't overwhelm me to be honest. My favorite purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) continues to be 'Pica Bella' seen to the right. Very vivid and intricate. Lots of things coming up this week including our big iris division. We still have some plants in the yard but will get most planted over the next two weeks. Below is the 'Brightside' shasta daisy (Chrysanthemum maximum) which offers a clean white and is easy to grow (beware the seedlings though!). At the bottom is some of the more pink foliage of the 'Haight Ashubury' tropical hibiscus (Hibiscus acetosella). Leaves on this variety can be maroon, pink or usually a random pattern in between those extremes.