Today, as the first Wednesday of August, was one of our "free days." These free days, along with a free week in both May a
nd September, were selected to help encourage more visitors to the garden, particularly those that aren't able to afford standard admission fees or a membership. Today was like those free day opportunities prior in that there were hundreds of visitors throughout the gardens (see two p
hotos above). I have to say that, aside from some minor issues, the gardens look spectactular right now and the light drizzle from 10 am until noon or so didn't seem to thwart those interested in seeing the gardens. Mike M. came up with the idea of staging garden docents around the gardens on these days to help answer questions, guide visitors and in general, make for a better visitor experience, particularly for those new to the gardens. I saw Chuck, Art and Mary out with visitors and you couldn't ask for three better RBG representatives. I had my camera with me all day so couldn't resist more "foliage interest shots" with ornamental hot peppers (
Capsicum annuum) seen to the left and right. To the left is 'Sparkler' which I've featured below and to the right is 'Purple Flash'. 'Purple Flash' is also part of our American Garden Award program and is one of the four plants that can be voted upon by visitors yet this month (
www.americangardenaward.com/). I love the variable foliage and the contribution of the ornamental fruits will certainly increase over this month. Two more blooms can be seen below. Directly below is 'Maya' gloriosia daisy (
Rudbeckia hirta)l that is a beautiful, dwarf double and further below is the fanciful 'Tinkerbell' flowering tobacco (
Nicotiana hybrida) which has subtle lime green, dangling trumpets with pink throats. Both of these are Fleuroselect (Europe) winners.
We had a solid retinue of grounds staff and volunteers today. Larry spent most of the day weed whipping and running irrigation as needed. He also filled in for Dr. Gredler (vacation) and ran to the dump and out for supplies. Big John continued to dig and remove some overgrown perennials and planted some daylilies as well. He moved on to fertilizing two garden spaces and all the containers (a two hour job to get to all of them). Marianne worked on weeding, tidying up, watering and other projects. Little Jerry was here to work in the Japanese Garden. Marv and Terry teamed up for planting, edging installation and did a nice job leveling a small brick path that had become a tripping nuisance due to nearby roots from a honeylocust (
Gleditsia triacanthos f.
inermis 'Sunburst'). See Marv's palpable enthusiasm below...
Bill came in to do some mowing and has done a superb job filling in for Dr. Gredler. Bill also collected debris later on and is one of our most meticulous volunteers. Kay and Margaret worked together weeding t
wo large areas and did a bang-up job as usual. They are a great team and would also fall in to that meticulous category with their attention to detail and total transformation of an area. Jumbo Jim brought down four RECAPPERS and they worked on placing limestone
rocks along the border between the rose garden and alpine garden. We've always had a problem with this transition as we've felt that some sort of physical separation would help. The fellas did a fine job and will finish this project up in short order. Suzy was here working with three teenagers (community service) and they worked on weeding and did well in the heat (although both Suzy and one of the boys got stung by ground hornets! ugh!). We also saw Dr. Yahr, Maury, Karen, Julie, Kay F., and George. To the left is 'Peter Pan' dwarf goldenrod (
Solidago hybrida 'Peter Pan') and to the right is a perennial black-eyed Susan (
Rudbeckia speciosa 'Viette's Little Suzy') that is compact at 18" and very floriferous; here combined with Tiger Eyes sumac (
Rhus typhina 'Bailtiger'). Directly below, our laser engraver is poised to become active in two weeks. It will be nice to start the conversion of all of our labels to a more professional format and this device also has potential to engrave items for our gift shop, special events, etc. The bottom photo was sent to me from Kathy who saw this VertiGarden planting of New Guinea impatiens at the Ball Seed Field Days last week. See
www.vertigarden.co.uk/ for more information on this interesting planting approach that has lots of applicability in narrow spaces or along longer vertical expanses that can use the "greenery". Interesting...
Today, as the first Wednesday of August, was one of our "free days." These free days, along with a free week in both May a
nd September, were selected to help encourage more visitors to the garden, particularly those that aren't able to afford standard admission fees or a membership. Today was like those free day opportunities prior in that there were hundreds of visitors throughout the gardens (see two p
hotos above). I have to say that, aside from some minor issues, the gardens look spectactular right now and the light drizzle from 10 am until noon or so didn't seem to thwart those interested in seeing the gardens. Mike M. came up with the idea of staging garden docents around the gardens on these days to help answer questions, guide visitors and in general, make for a better visitor experience, particularly for those new to the gardens. I saw Chuck, Art and Mary out with visitors and you couldn't ask for three better RBG representatives. I had my camera with me all day so couldn't resist more "foliage interest shots" with ornamental hot peppers (Capsicum annuum) seen to the left and right. To the left is 'Sparkler' which I've featured below and to the right is 'Purple Flash'. 'Purple Flash' is also part of our American Garden Award program and is one of the four plants that can be voted upon by visitors yet this month (www.americangardenaward.com/). I love the variable foliage and the contribution of the ornamental fruits will certainly increase over this month. Two more blooms can be seen below. Directly below is 'Maya' gloriosia daisy (Rudbeckia hirta)l that is a beautiful, dwarf double and further below is the fanciful 'Tinkerbell' flowering tobacco (Nicotiana hybrida) which has subtle lime green, dangling trumpets with pink throats. Both of these are Fleuroselect (Europe) winners. 
wo large areas and did a bang-up job as usual. They are a great team and would also fall in to that meticulous category with their attention to detail and total transformation of an area. Jumbo Jim brought down four RECAPPERS and they worked on placing limestone 
rocks along the border between the rose garden and alpine garden. We've always had a problem with this transition as we've felt that some sort of physical separation would help. The fellas did a fine job and will finish this project up in short order. Suzy was here working with three teenagers (community service) and they worked on weeding and did well in the heat (although both Suzy and one of the boys got stung by ground hornets! ugh!). We also saw Dr. Yahr, Maury, Karen, Julie, Kay F., and George. To the left is 'Peter Pan' dwarf goldenrod (Solidago hybrida 'Peter Pan') and to the right is a perennial black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia speciosa 'Viette's Little Suzy') that is compact at 18" and very floriferous; here combined with Tiger Eyes sumac (Rhus typhina 'Bailtiger'). Directly below, our laser engraver is poised to become active in two weeks. It will be nice to start the conversion of all of our labels to a more professional format and this device also has potential to engrave items for our gift shop, special events, etc. The bottom photo was sent to me from Kathy who saw this VertiGarden planting of New Guinea impatiens at the Ball Seed Field Days last week. See www.vertigarden.co.uk/ for more information on this interesting planting approach that has lots of applicability in narrow spaces or along longer vertical expanses that can use the "greenery". Interesting... 
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