Above is a shot I took this morning of the pond liner installed in the new, lower pool of the Japanese garden water feature. The weather has created so many sto
ps and starts for our contractors and they were happy to finally get this placed this morning. It took nine guys but it looks good and now progress should be more
significant on the stream and waterfall. We hope to see this done yet this month as this garden will be featured as part of the Japanese-themed Dinner Dance at RBG on July 16th this year. The blooms directly above are the late spring, pink flower clusters on the Chinese neillia (Neillia sinensis) which is a durable shrub (rose family) in the 5' to 6' range. Our three specimens are in an area that receives no irrigation and they are doing well in average soil. To the right are Gena, Mary and a new volunteer (Myrt) planting dark-leaved basil in our maroon/red wall planting. To the left are the blooms of the red buckeye (Aesculus pavia) which are not only attractive to us but humminbirds as well. We have two small specimen
s in the gardens and everyone is asking for their identification. To the right are some containers that Janice and Marianne planted about three weeks ago. These contain a hodge podge of common herbs, peppers, tomatoes, etc. These will be channeled to the needy in the hopes that they'll not only get food from these but also get hooked on growing their own food, even in a container that size.Today was another crazy busy day with Grumpies, volunteers and garden tasks galore. John, Janice and Jenny all headed to the shoreline to finish the last of the planting that started on Tuesday. With the help of some Grumpies, it was completed quickly and Larry later watered it in well. I ran for a load of plants (180 flats or 8,000+ plants) early and it looks like we have another 3 or 4 total trips left next week to get the remainder of our items. Jenny spent most of the day organizing our plants in the yard and matching labels to the "priority plants" that will hopefully be planted this Saturday. Big John moved on to rototilling the thirteen beds in the arboretum which we'll hopefully plant this Saturday as well. He also weeded and watered. Larry, aside from copious amounts of watering, also repaired some irrigation. Janice helped coordinate some volunteers and did lots of weeding in the fern & moss garden which was in dire need of some attention. Directly below is one of our gigantic hosta varietes, 'Osprey' that is starting to engulf some of its neighbors. This specimen is 40" tall right now and almost 72" wide. Further below is the artistic dew drops on lady's mantle (Alchemilla mollis) that I never get tired of observing.
The Grumpies jumped right in to some substantial projects very quickly. Aside from helping plant the shoreline early, th
e guys did lots of composting. Del and Bob C. composted the long border in the Children's garden while Ron and Joe started on the front slope of the entrance garden. Bob T. was air edging but shifted over to help haul com
post with others after break. Dick H. was also involved with this and thankfully did some repairs on our truck and trailer tires after I returned from my pick up this morning. Vern, Bob A., Jim and Dave worked on various carpentry projects and Dennis was out sweeping up paths. Dr. Gredler was in to mow and work on turf repair while we also saw Hal and Doris clearing bulb foliage out of their sign area that will be planted by them this Saturday. They also found time to compost this space too. Some of our veteran "Grumpettes" showed up today too and we had Suzy, Marilyn, Margaret and Glenna in to plant and help Janice weed in the fern & moss garden and hosta hollow garden. As mentioned above, Gena, Mary and Myrt planted in the afternoon. Urban and Rose were in to paint again and we also saw Maury, Bill, Mary, Gary, Ariel, Kelli, Kris, Julie C., and many others. To the left is one of our colorful wintercreepers (Euonymous fortunei 'Emerald N' Gold') and to the right is a nicely placed butterfly out in the gardens. Come see the other 33! Directly below are two Turkestan ornamental onions (Allium karataviense 'Ivory Queen') and the straight species (Allium karataviense) that is light pink. Although only 15" tall, these fall planted bulbs do also produce some nice, wide blue foliage of interest. 
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