Closure & Refocusing

Above is a clump of tuber oat grass (Arrhenatherum bulbosum 'Variegatum') perking up in our woodland walk area. As a "cool season" grass, this showy little clump looks great in spring and in fall. Summers can be tough on this grass and if not given adequate moisture, it might go dormant. I love the strong variegation and this grass tops out at 18" tall or so. The spring-like weather has encouraged a new flush of growth. We like to use groupings of this grass in partly shaded areas to offer texture and "illumination". Today was our closure for the Halloween Walk, which ran very smoothly and a big "hats off" to Spotlight on Kids (Becky in particular) who runs a nice program and is such an important organization for our local youth. Our refocusing involves really sinking our teeth in to the Holiday Lights Show preparations. While many of us have been working on this event already, we'll all shift the majority of our time towards this event as we have about a month to put it up and the weather could be a friend or just as easily, a foe. Despite having removed over 75% of our annuals, we're still seeing some nice color here as a heavy frost has yet to occur. To the left is the colorful 'Magenta Sunset' Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris) that looks quite vivid in the cooler temperatures and autumn light. I'll always be sold on Swiss chard as an ornamental although I'm still neutral on this plant in my diet. To the right is the 'Mesa Yellow' blanket flower (Gaillardia x grandiflora) still blooming strong in our All-America Selections garden. This short-lived perennial, is easily grown from seed and this variety is the first commercial yellow from seed. 'Mesa Yellow' is also an award winner from All-America Selections and Fleuroselect. Also hanging in there in the same garden space are most of the pinks (Dianthus sp.) including 'Melody Pink' (Dianthus hybrida) below that is simply exquisite in terms of bloom color and architecture. It was another crazy Monday with plenty of staff and volunteers. Marv and Terry worked the entire day on the Holiday Lights Show and do by far the most set-up work for the event. Marianne was a trooper and tested/repaired lights all day to keep up with the demand for various colors. Our policy is to test everything in advance before it goes outside so we can avoid corrective measures after the lights are up. This annual project is monotonous but both Marianne and Janice do a darn nice job. Janice was here to help Marianne and also decorated obelisks. Larry worked primarily on taking down Halloween Walk remnants and will shift to dealing with shutting down our water features later in the week. Little Jerry was out pruning woody plants, cutting back hostas and tidying up in Hosta Hollow and Fern & Moss Garden. I spent most of my time finishing my presentation for Wednesday (Sensory Plants). We have had superior fall colors this year with the extended autumn. To the left is Boston ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata) clamoring up our archway between the sunken and reception gardens. Despite the vigor of this vine, I do enjoy the fall color and appreciate the contribution of this vine when it is controlled and encouraged (not left to its own devices!). To the right (and below) is the amber fall color of the bald cypress (Taxodium distichum). This deciduous conifer goes from yellow needles to this burnt orange and is quite beautiful this time of year. We are expecting 50+ mph winds tomorrow which will take lots of leaves/needles off of trees but we've certainly enjoyed fall thus far around RBG. Don't bother trying to rake tomorrow if you are in this neck of the woods.
Robin and Mary went out to clear off the terrace garden annuals and did a nice job. Robin is going to school at Blackhawk Technical College and her hours over the past two weeks are part of an internship. She's been a great worker and we hope to see her beyond her internship commitment! The Grumpies did another nice job taking down Halloween Walk pumpkins, tents, etc. and also hauled our terrace furniture to winter storage, hauled back debris and dug out our culvert planters for a new coat of paint (and location) for next year. Some of the guys worked on carpentry jobs while others worked on electrical needs. We saw Ron W., Ron B., Bill, Urban, Maury, Dick P., Dick H., Pat, Bob C., Bob A., Dave T., Jim, Tom, Del, Dr. Gredler, Rollie and Big John. Needless to say, much was accomplished and we look forward to a very busy next couple of weeks! Marv radioed me earlier today that there were some turkeys out on our north path. See below. There were seven dark and two white turkeys. Our little 20 acres has seen lots of wildlife over the years but hopefully the hungry winter deer will be less abundant.