English Cottage Garden Renovation

This is the first time I've started my blog with such a "bland" picture which shows a barren corner of the English cottage garden. I think this is a beautiful picture as the plants that were removed had become overgrown, infiltrated with weeds and essentially had become an unsightly jungle. The past two days have involved serious removal work in that garden by Big John, Pat, Dr. Gredler, Del, Marv and Terry as they have "saved" our good stuff (removed and potted) and have cut a swath of destruction thru the remainder of this popular garden space. We have talked about re-planting this garden from scratch for the past five years and have finally started the arduous task. We said, "Maybe next year..." too many times! Marv and Terry have been amending the soil and I'll take care of weed control for the next couple of weeks before we replant this entire garden. The plants are ready and waiting. Directly above is a shot of some visitors out in the gardens. There were plenty of visitors out in the gardens as it was our "free day" (the first Wednesday of the month) and we also had the Story & Stroll program this morning which brings in plenty of parents and kids (attendance of 65 today!). It's nice to see the gardens with so many visitors and the compliments regarding the appearance of the gardens were inspiring. However, I wish we had this type of visitation every day! To the left are just some of the many lilies (Lilium sp.) blooming out in the gardens and to the right are Dr. Gredler and John working in the English cottage garden. Below is one of our annual blanket flowers (Gaillardia pulchella 'Sundance Bicolor') that has such interesting blooms including some that are almost rounded with that vivid red/yellow combination. Further below is the 'Blue Arrow' plantain lily (Hosta) in our gazebo garden. We have a nice collection although we'll never have the space to amass a "gigantic collection." I think we currently have 400 varieties and I could see getting up to 1,000 or so in the next couple of years. It was another hot and humid day although everyone kept hydrated and did a nice job. I spent the day working on details for a potential new garden and am getting ready for being on vacation next week. I was able to get out in the gardens for another round of herbicide but there were so many people, I kept to areas "off the beaten path." Big John continued work on saving/removing plants from the English cottage garden and was joined by Dr. Gredler, Del, Marv and Terry. John also hauled over a planter for the Story & Stroll program, watered and did some other tasks. Pat planted more 'Blue Spruce' stonecrop (Sedum reflexum 'Blue Spruce') in the alpine garden to create our "stream effect" and did quite a bit of watering as well as more bulb foliage clearing. Marianne worked primarily on weeding and watering and did a nice job both in the Smelly Garden and along the lower larch wall which was a weedy mess. She did have some good helpers though too! Marv and Terry kept irrigation and sprinklers going which is always a trick with so many visitors out in the gardens. The fellas helped with the English cottage project, fertilized and watered all the containers too. To the left is one of our caladiums out in the gardens and we like to plant a wide variety of these for their interesting leaf patterns and color in the shade. To the above right is a neat marigold (Tagetes) in our marigold collection called 'Inca II Primrose' and directly below is 'Inca II Orange'. These blooms are almost 3" in diameter! The marigold collection is just starting to look quite nice with most varieties blooming strongly.

Kay was here to weed two of our front beds which was a major task. She must have had formal ballet training with her ability to balance and work thru beds with plants that are only inches apart. Bev D. and Art were here to help Marianne weed and Karen M. was in the Japanese garden tidying up. Lisa I. (our daylily girl) was in to photograph and inventory the daylily (Hemerocallis) collection which she has restored to its original value as a collection. Dr. Gredler was in to mow and help in the English cottage garden and Del was in to help as well. Little Jerry came in to mow the arboretum which was much appreciated. Maury and Dick P. tried to repair our broken east gate (to no avail) and we also saw Stephanie, Joan, Corky and many others. We're back at it tomorrow with no rain in the near future. UGH! The bottom bloom close-up is of a nasturtium (Tropaeolum) bloom (edible by the way). This is on the variety 'Alaska Mixed' which has nice marbled foliage too!