Nice shot above of the annual black-eyed Susan vine (
Thunbergia alata 'Susie White Eyed') flower (1" diameter blooms). This moderately vigorous vine comes in yellow and orange as well but the wh
ite looks good to me too. Staff and volunteers alike spent a good portion of the morning dismantling the plant sale which involves untagging plants and moving items around. We moved some of our leftover mums, asters, pansies and kale to th
e Parker Education Center as they'll sell them out of the gift shop during business hours. We'll bring over the remainder of the bulbs later in the week as well. Many of our leftovers will go back to vendors but we've also received some very nice donations recently. Some have been used to the right as part of a narrow border that Marv created along our terrace garden hedge. We'll "shoehorn" in a good 70 or so perennials, toss in some bulbs and it should look pretty good even next year. The plant to the left is the golden ornamental shamrock (
Oxalis vulcanicola 'Molten Lava') that really shines in part shade with chartreuse/gold foliage and a smattering of those neat little golden blooms. It looks great along the edge of a partly-shaded container too. We use many of the maroon leaved oxalis' as well in similar sites. Nice shot below of the purple fountain grass (
Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum') arching over bronze fennel (
Foeniculum vulgare 'Smokey') in our front display bed. I hadn't thought about the yellow flowers of the fennel in our maroon/red scheme but it doesn't look bad and we'll just say we planned for that subtle hint!
Marianne coordinated the plant sale work this morning and had the help of Mary Q., Shirley and our new volunteer, Karen. The ladies pulled the colored pricing labels from the remaining perennials and shrubs and all later moved on to some gardening before rain showers shortened their mornin
g. Marianne and I commented on how it will be nice to have some closure to this event as it runs for many days (our longest, sequential days special event) and while we wish we had sold more plants, we did fairly well at this fundraiser. Marianne has past retail experience so I coun
t on her advice for modifying the sale in the future. We'll sit down and really talk about how to manage both of our sales next year and what has worked and not worked for us in the past. Marv and Terry worked on tree removal, bed preparation, tearing out plants, weeding and moss planting. Larry helped with many different projects and helped coordinate our Grumpies. Little Jerry was out working on pruning in the fern & moss garden. To the left are just the start of the fragrant white blooms of the sweet Autumn clematis (
Clematis terniflora) that graces some of our pergola columns, many of our fences and select other locations. It is very fragrant and a welcome splash of white so late in the season. To the right is the variegated fuchsia (
Fuchsia triphylla 'Firecracker') that is really eye-catching with both foliage and blossom. I imagine the hummingbirds appreciate these as much as our human visitors. Another nice shot below of the bush violet (
Browallia sp.) that is really looking good right now (full sun or part shade) as blue flowers are hard to come by this time of year aside from asters. We plant hundreds of
Browallia each year and I've always felt they are worth the space despite only 1" diameter blooms.
We had a solid volunteer turnout today with many Grumpies. Rollie and Bill (see bottom photo) hauled many loads of mums and other plants up to the front of the building for our informal "plant sale continuati
on" while Ron W. and Dick P. ran our borrowed wagons (thank you very much) back to The Flower Factory. Del and Ron B. took down the temporary parking lot and everyone shifted to taking down tents and helping out in the yard. We also had Big John and Dick H. helping. The guy
s also finished work on the venting system for our new laser engraver and it is considerably more quiet than when they first installed the system (I don't need the earplugs anymore). Vern, Bob A., Dave and Jim all worked on benches and other carpentry projects throughout the morning. Maury (seen to the left), Urban and Gary (seen to the right) continued to paint the fence around our Japanese garden and plodded along until the rains caught up to them as well. Laura was over at the horticulture center working on cataloging volunteer hours and we also saw Dave, Geesje, Karen M., Bill O. and others. Our new volunteer coordinator, Lori, has hit the ground running and we look forward to her ideas and contributions. What a great team we have in place!
Nice shot above of the annual black-eyed Susan vine (Thunbergia alata 'Susie White Eyed') flower (1" diameter blooms). This moderately vigorous vine comes in yellow and orange as well but the wh
ite looks good to me too. Staff and volunteers alike spent a good portion of the morning dismantling the plant sale which involves untagging plants and moving items around. We moved some of our leftover mums, asters, pansies and kale to th
e Parker Education Center as they'll sell them out of the gift shop during business hours. We'll bring over the remainder of the bulbs later in the week as well. Many of our leftovers will go back to vendors but we've also received some very nice donations recently. Some have been used to the right as part of a narrow border that Marv created along our terrace garden hedge. We'll "shoehorn" in a good 70 or so perennials, toss in some bulbs and it should look pretty good even next year. The plant to the left is the golden ornamental shamrock (Oxalis vulcanicola 'Molten Lava') that really shines in part shade with chartreuse/gold foliage and a smattering of those neat little golden blooms. It looks great along the edge of a partly-shaded container too. We use many of the maroon leaved oxalis' as well in similar sites. Nice shot below of the purple fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum') arching over bronze fennel (Foeniculum vulgare 'Smokey') in our front display bed. I hadn't thought about the yellow flowers of the fennel in our maroon/red scheme but it doesn't look bad and we'll just say we planned for that subtle hint! 
g. Marianne and I commented on how it will be nice to have some closure to this event as it runs for many days (our longest, sequential days special event) and while we wish we had sold more plants, we did fairly well at this fundraiser. Marianne has past retail experience so I coun
t on her advice for modifying the sale in the future. We'll sit down and really talk about how to manage both of our sales next year and what has worked and not worked for us in the past. Marv and Terry worked on tree removal, bed preparation, tearing out plants, weeding and moss planting. Larry helped with many different projects and helped coordinate our Grumpies. Little Jerry was out working on pruning in the fern & moss garden. To the left are just the start of the fragrant white blooms of the sweet Autumn clematis (Clematis terniflora) that graces some of our pergola columns, many of our fences and select other locations. It is very fragrant and a welcome splash of white so late in the season. To the right is the variegated fuchsia (Fuchsia triphylla 'Firecracker') that is really eye-catching with both foliage and blossom. I imagine the hummingbirds appreciate these as much as our human visitors. Another nice shot below of the bush violet (Browallia sp.) that is really looking good right now (full sun or part shade) as blue flowers are hard to come by this time of year aside from asters. We plant hundreds of Browallia each year and I've always felt they are worth the space despite only 1" diameter blooms. 
on" while Ron W. and Dick P. ran our borrowed wagons (thank you very much) back to The Flower Factory. Del and Ron B. took down the temporary parking lot and everyone shifted to taking down tents and helping out in the yard. We also had Big John and Dick H. helping. The guy
s also finished work on the venting system for our new laser engraver and it is considerably more quiet than when they first installed the system (I don't need the earplugs anymore). Vern, Bob A., Dave and Jim all worked on benches and other carpentry projects throughout the morning. Maury (seen to the left), Urban and Gary (seen to the right) continued to paint the fence around our Japanese garden and plodded along until the rains caught up to them as well. Laura was over at the horticulture center working on cataloging volunteer hours and we also saw Dave, Geesje, Karen M., Bill O. and others. Our new volunteer coordinator, Lori, has hit the ground running and we look forward to her ideas and contributions. What a great team we have in place!
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