Perfect Workin' Weather

Don't those Adirondack chairs in the top photo look enticing? The eight chairs that were placed along the pond edge of the North Point garden have been used very frequently and offer a great view across the pond. I've viewed them from across the pond too and those colors certainly "pop"! The sound of the nearby "Dancing Waters" fountain adds to the setting as well. The picture directly above was taken last night at the Rain Garden talk. We had 23 attendees enjoy the talk by Chrissy Regester of UW-Walworth County Extension. She did a great job and I think inspired many, including me, to look in to creating a rain garden. Our next talk in this lecture series is on Ornamental Grasses by Nancy Nedveck from the Flower Factory. This talk will be on Wednesday, September 28th from 6 pm - 8 pm (free for RBG members, $5 for all others). This lecture series has gone very well with a total of 495 attendees for the first eight lectures (averaging 62 attendees per lecture!). To the right is a close-up of the very ornamental, variegated corn (Zea mays var. japonica) although this photo was not taken at RBG. To the left is a view thru the formal perennial garden with rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium) in the foreground and Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia) further back in the bed. In the distance is the entrance to the Japanese garden that goes right by the new waterfall which looks (and sounds!) great.

We had a solid turnout of volunteers today. Shirley, Mary, Glenna and Suzy spent time weeding in the Scottish garden and color rooms garden. Dennis and Bob C. worked on replacing path gravel and moved on to some sweeping which also included help from Dennis' granddaughter, Savannah. Dick H. worked on repairing one of our small tractors while Dave T., Jim and Bob A. sized up some "near future" carpentry projects out in the gardens, particularly near the construction zone along the Japanese garden. Vern was in as well. Hal and Doris touched up their garden space this morning. Dr. Yahr helped with some projects while Dr. Gredler mowed and spent some significant time regraveling the yard over at the Horticulture Center prior to our looming fall plant sale (Sept. 10th & 11th with presale for RBG Members on the 9th). Maury was in later to pick up some plants for me and Chuck S. processed our recycling. In the afternoon, Mary, Gena, Myrt and Bonnie spent time weeding in the fern & moss garden as well as the Japanese garden. Rose was out working in the squash and we also saw Victoria (see her directly below), Jordan and some others. Bob and Bev came in later to touch up some of the butterfly art projects. To the right is another shot of that front slope garden with that yellow vine (Fallopia aubertii 'Lemon Lace') working its way up those blue pyramids. The sprays of blue lyme grass (Elymus arenarius 'Dune Blue') offer color and texture as well. Directly above is one of my better images of our front slope area still looking pretty good. We had a productive day out in the gardens although there were only three grounds people here (including me!). Big John ran irrigation all day, hand watered, mulched and worked on other projects as well. Janice helped get our morning volunteers going and worked on watering containers and some other general watering duties. I sprayed two batches of herbicide out in the gardens and targeted some of our weedier paths and garden areas. I also gave a tour for Ed Lyon and his staff from Allen Centennial Gardens located on the UW-Madison campus. Ed is currently Director at that garden and is former Executive Director here at RBG. He and his four staff (student interns) seemed to enjoy the visit and it was a beautiful day to stroll thru the gardens. We had oodles of visitors today and it was nice to see people enjoying the gardens. We also noted that there seems to be a bumper crop of butterflies, particularly swallowtails, this year. To the right is another shot of a previously featured annual in our blue/yellow theme. This is the 'Matsumoto Blue' Chinese aster (Callistephus chinensis) and the dozen or so clumps that we planted are looking nice and that dark blue/purple really is engaging. To the upper left is a neat petunia called 'Cadenza Rose Red'. Late in the afternoon yesterday, we had four ladies from Ball Seed Company (including old friend Susan S., their trials manager) come to visit for a tour of the gardens. This petunia variety was in the trialing section and is one of their products. The ladies seemed to enjoy the gardens and took plenty of photos. To the right is the colorful bloom of one of our panicled hydrangeas. This is the Pinky Winky hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata 'DVPpinky') that is known for a nice gradation of pink over the course of late summer. This bloom is almost 12" tall and the stems are quite sturdy. We planted this specimen a couple years ago and I just noticed it blooming this week. Look at the picture directly below. Let me say that this object is almost 12" wide and tall. Rock? Bowling ball? This is a giant puffball mushroom that Marv found yesterday and it's the biggest we've seen in the gardens. Normally the critters will nibble on these but this one is still intact and quite impressive at "soccer ball size". The bottom photo is the 'Cranberry Crush' hibiscus (Hibiscus 'Cranberry Crush') which is compact at 48" tall and quite striking. This specimen is down in the sunken garden.