A Sultry Summer Day

Today was fairly hot but still nothing like last week. There was plenty of sunshine and I noted quite a few visitors including a small group brought in by Dennis and Gena, two of our volunteers. There was also a small tour that we hope enjoyed flower beds like that directly above with plenty of impatiens. The top picture is one of our daylilies (Hemerocallis) in the gardens. This is the variety 'Chicago Fire'. The variety of flower color out in the garden is amazing and we've had many favorable comments today. The flower to the right is the annual cup flower (Nierembergia hippomanica 'Purple Robe') that is an All-America Selections (AAS) winner. I like this annual but it doesn't "go the distance" until frost but is good thru August at least. To the left is Magda working in her berm near the front entrance garden. Her past career as a florist has made her an amazing asset at the gardens and we appreciate her help and always the help of dedicated volunteers. Mary H. was in to work in her area and brought her daughter to help out as well. Kay was in to work in some major weeding in the entrance garden and along the Palmer Drive slope that was inundated with all manner of weeds. I think she'll be back for a repeat performance tomorrow even though we hit her with irrigation today. Bev was out in the gardens checking over our butterfly art projects and Little Jerry came in to mow the arboretum and some other select areas. Dr. Gredler was also in to mow and Bill O. came in to help plant in the English cottage garden. We saw Chuck S. giving the tour out in the gardens and also saw Ariel, Maury and others as well. To the right is a combination of 'Freckles' coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) and 'TigerEye Gold' gloriosa daisy (Rudbeckia). As seen below, work continues on the second level of the waterfall and the progress looks good. The three lower spillways are flowing well and the guys are stacking the back layer of rock for a wide "sheet flow" coming down to the first level. This is not a rebuild of the original waterfall but a bigger and better system with more impact and appeal. We always discourage inappropriate public displays of affection (PDAs) out in the garden but it's hard to keep these garden visitors out (second picture down). The beetles, though not as numerous yet as last year (knock on wood), are evident in many locations. We had our normal Tuesday work crew and with Big John back from vacation, we hit the ground running early today. Pat worked on mowing, weeding, major planting (in the Smelly Garden and English cottage garden) and some watering. Pat spent a good portion of time planting annuals and perennials in our re-vamped English cottage garden and we'll probably get him back there tomorrow to finish. Larry ran irrigation all day and did what we call a "comprehensive weedwhip" where he goes around EVERY bed, border, edging, etc. and really tidies up well. Larry also helped plant later in the day. Big John started with pushmowing and shifted over to planting shrubs and perennials around the lower pool of the new water feature in the Japanese garden. John later fertilized our containers and did some other watering. Janice was in to do the cutting display, tidy up some vegetable/edible collections, etc. She kept busy and did a great job with that cutting display. To the right is one of my favorite gloriosia daisies (Rudbeckia hirta) appropriately called 'Cherry Brandy'. We have this variety in the reception garden and elsewhere. With all the recent heat, our tropicals are really growing well including all of our elephant ears (Colocasia sp. and Alocasia sp.). To the left is the almost black leaf of 'Diamond Head' elephant ear (Colocasia esculenta). After seeing this variety at the New York Botanic Garden and Central Park Conservatory Gardens last year, I really wanted this variety and it's starting to get some nice size finally. Another nice variety of Colocasia esculenta is 'Mojito' which can be seen to the right. The irregular spotting and sploching is quite showy as these mature. Our Wisconsin summers seem to be ideal for tropicals like these to really get some size as long as they are provided with good soil, plenty of water and occasional fertilizer. The elephant ears would also be happy on the shallow shelf of a larger pond or waterfeature. Directly below is another cool, new blanket flower (Gaillardia hybrida 'Punch Bowl') that has such nice pink overtones and should be a perennial for a couple of years. Blanket flowers aren't notoriously long-lived but are nice components in any sunny garden. At the bottom is our entrance garden slope looking pretty sharp with the yellow/blue combination.