Above are both Nancy (top photo) and Mary (directly above) who spent a huge amount of volunteer time this morning helping to tag and organize our plant sale. They were helped by Debbie, Stacy, Jenny, Vern and Dick H. We have another tagging group coming in tomorrow that will finish the pricing and we should be ready to go for our sale. It was a crazy day of deliveries with three large truck bringing shrubs, roses and thousands of perennials. We were fortunate that the trucks were staggered with their arrival and we had plenty of help to unload everything in an efficient manner. Marianne was again the glue that kept everything together and she runs a tight and efficient ship for every plant sale.
Not too long ago I showed the fruiting structure above (an aggregate of follicles) from our umbrella magnolia (
Magnolia tripetala). It was pink a couple weeks ago but caught my eye from 50 yards today now that this fruiting structure and turned a bright red! Neat-o. Actually, the entire grounds staff was here today and most broke away from their respective projects to help unload the plant delivery trucks when they arrived. Larry kept the irrigation going, set-up sprinklers and helped with various projects. Little Jerry was here pruning and collecting debris while Big John was in to dig out plants, water and work on some shearing. He's also doing double duty helping maintain the visitors center. Terry helped water mums this morning and moved on to watering, weeding and shearing. Marv moved around sprinklers all day but spent significant time creating a new bed in the terrace garden that will be finished off with edging this Friday. Marianne helped almost exclusively with the plant sale and our progress was truly amazing. Janice helped with myriad projects including watering, weeding, sweeping, unloading and working with a new group of volunteers. I bounced between projects and worked on those that were the most timely (plant sale related). We also had Robert, the plant records technician, from Olbrich Botanical Gardens come in all morning and work with Jenny and Gary on fine tuning our laser engraver templates and production plan. He was very helpful and we appreciate his valuable time greatly. The work on "the point" is going well and Nature's Touch is doing a nice job placing rock walls to stabilize our shoreline and define our newest garden space (see below).
This time of year is a nice reflection on the commitment of our volunteers as they pour in to help set-up and manage th
e plant sale. Our volunteers realize how vital this fundraiser is for the gardens and manage to dedicate many hours to this event and many others. With over 160 volunteer slots to fill for this event, we are pleased to have such ardent supporters. With Nancy, Mary, Debbie and Jenny tagging plants today, we're well prepared to be set up for this sale tomorrow. Vern and Dick H. helped unload and water the thousands of plants that have been experiencing serious winds over the past couple of days. Jan was in to clean-up the Scottish garden and Bill was here to help shear our huge Chinese juniper (
Juniperus chinensis 'Fairview') hedges
around the reception garden. Dr. Gredler was here all day mowing and digging out crabgrass and replacing it with good turf from Marv's project. We also saw Deb, Ken, Marilyn, Maury, Mike, Dave and a great new group of young volunteers that will be working with Janice weekly. Nice shot to the left of the 'Strawberry Fields' globe amaranth (
Gomphrena haageana) that is mass planted throughout our maroon and red theme and is in our Gomphrena collection as well. You can see how it gets its name and it is certainly my favorite variety of the bunch. To the right is our currently "most asked about perennial". This is one of the bush clematis' (
Clematis heracleifolia var.
davidiana) although I don't remember the variety. This plant does not vine but creates a sprawling mass about 3' tall and 8' wide. It is covered with bloom clusters right now and gets lots of praise. The Latin seems variable for this clematis but do keep an eye out for the "bush types" if you have the space and patience for later blooms. Below is a recent shot of our terrace garden border, still hanging in there and representin' the maroon/red color theme.
e plant sale. Our volunteers realize how vital this fundraiser is for the gardens and manage to dedicate many hours to this event and many others. With over 160 volunteer slots to fill for this event, we are pleased to have such ardent supporters. With Nancy, Mary, Debbie and Jenny tagging plants today, we're well prepared to be set up for this sale tomorrow. Vern and Dick H. helped unload and water the thousands of plants that have been experiencing serious winds over the past couple of days. Jan was in to clean-up the Scottish garden and Bill was here to help shear our huge Chinese juniper (Juniperus chinensis 'Fairview') hedges
around the reception garden. Dr. Gredler was here all day mowing and digging out crabgrass and replacing it with good turf from Marv's project. We also saw Deb, Ken, Marilyn, Maury, Mike, Dave and a great new group of young volunteers that will be working with Janice weekly. Nice shot to the left of the 'Strawberry Fields' globe amaranth (Gomphrena haageana) that is mass planted throughout our maroon and red theme and is in our Gomphrena collection as well. You can see how it gets its name and it is certainly my favorite variety of the bunch. To the right is our currently "most asked about perennial". This is one of the bush clematis' (Clematis heracleifolia var. davidiana) although I don't remember the variety. This plant does not vine but creates a sprawling mass about 3' tall and 8' wide. It is covered with bloom clusters right now and gets lots of praise. The Latin seems variable for this clematis but do keep an eye out for the "bush types" if you have the space and patience for later blooms. Below is a recent shot of our terrace garden border, still hanging in there and representin' the maroon/red color theme. 
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