Today was another nice day with blue skies, sunshine and temperatures in the mid 40 degrees F. It was a real skeleton crew today with various volunteers stopping in to help.
Pat (above) did a nice job (here all morning) starting to wrap our yews (
Taxus sp.) out in the gardens with burlap. This isn't a wind protection effort but a "deer nibbling prevention" effort. The yews above are the 'Hicksii' upright yews and two years ago they were decimated by our winter deer population. Pat and other Grumpies will hopefully finish wrapping the yews and other tasty evergreens next week as we also need to put the finishing touches on our temporary, protective deer fencing throughout the gardens. This time of year we also see other critter damage out in the gardens including some of our Holiday Lights Show (HLS) cords as seen to the right. This was probab
ly a squirrel but we are rarely able to determine the specific culprit. We will frequently have a couple issues of critter nibbling on our cords and lights which necessitates running new cords. We've also had birds peck and remove/destroy some of the "accessible" icicle lights as they catch some sun during the day and I think the sparkle attracts the birds. In the past, we've also had deer get tangled up in our dangling icicle lights and drag them down from the trees. We now tie a little bit of blue tape about 4' off ground level on all the icicles to make the strands a bit more visible and intimidating. The wind has already blown down about eight of ou
r icicle strands so we'd like to avoid any more losses! To the left is the fading orange to pink fall color of the three-flower maple (
Acer triflorum). I showed these leaves on the blog weeks ago when they were a brilliant orange. As they have dried and are starting to drop, I thought this last phase of pinkish orange was neat. These leaves even look a bit like poison ivy (
Toxicodendron radicans)! Other volunteers today included Janice who went out for our last shopping binge for some additional LED twinkle lights and spent some time adjusting the lights on our obelisks outside. Bill O. came in to tidy up out in the gardens this afternoon and we also saw Maury, Jean S. and some others. To the right is one of our yarrows (
Achillea, unknown variety) still showing color although I think it has been freeze dried! Yarrow blooms strongly in June but keeps on flowering well past frost with scattered blossoms. Below is my favorite, "lower-statured" golden juniper. This is the 'Saybrook Gold' Chinese juniper (
Juniperus chinensis) which does continue to widen but stays in the 2' tall range or so. We trim as needed and those trimming are nice in arrangements. The golden coloration is very consistent and this showy evergreen has always done well for us.
Above are our two HLS swan displays in the koi pond. These look great with the view from the other side. We put two "tank heaters" in opposite corners of the koi pond to
keep the ice from freezing solid across this smaller pond. We leave the fish in over winter and will ultimately have that pond cleaned in spring. The heaters will allow for some open water and air exchange for the fish. The fish aren't real active and we're done feeding them for the year. They'll hang out in a large school down below and wait it out. I started the day with various indoor projects then went out and plugged in the entire show so Janice could work on the obeli
sks. I like to leave the show on for 6 hour periods during testing to see if there are any problems. When the HLS rolls around, we'll have the lights on roughly from 4 pm until 8 pm. Barring any challenges from rain/sleet, we don't anticipate any power problems. Today, I also put out some additional lights and replaced some questionable cords. Additionally, I string out "back up" cords on open circuits just in case I need to divert power for any reason during the show. To the above right is a close-up of the recurved, silvery (back side of the needle) needled Korean fir (
Abies koreana 'Horstmann's Silberlocke'). This conifer looks g
reat from a distance and despite the slow growth rate and high price, this is a showy, small-scale conifer for the full sun garden. Our best specimen (of our three) is in the front of the Parker Education Center. Conifers are really contributing from now thru April! To the left is the continued blooms of the 'Ozawa' ornamental onion (
Allium thunbergii) in the alpine garden (photo from today). Today I also noted buds of this perennial that still hadn't opened up! Now that is one tough perennial as the frost has not slowed it down much (yet). I believe my November blogs always feature 'Ozawa' and rightfully so. To the lower right is the fall color of the little bluestem (
Schizachyrium scoparium 'The Blues'). I like the mahogany/pink overtones on the stems and there are many good varieties out there with nice fall color but even more improved blue summer coloration. I took many pictures today and my November and December pictures over the years have given me a better appreciation for the subtle colorations and interest out in the late season (or fourth season) of the gardens, both at RBG and home. Below is one of the evergreen hen & chicks (
Sempervivum sp.) and at the bottom, our large grouping (80 plants?) of 'Karl Foerster' feather reed grass (
Calamagrostis x
acutiflora) behind the seating wall in the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children's Garden. This garden and five others will have new garden area signs next spring as Sarah (our consultant) and I just finished the layouts. Yay. I may blog a bit over the next four days but will get back to business on Monday for sure. Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Today was another nice day with blue skies, sunshine and temperatures in the mid 40 degrees F. It was a real skeleton crew today with various volunteers stopping in to help.
Pat (above) did a nice job (here all morning) starting to wrap our yews (Taxus sp.) out in the gardens with burlap. This isn't a wind protection effort but a "deer nibbling prevention" effort. The yews above are the 'Hicksii' upright yews and two years ago they were decimated by our winter deer population. Pat and other Grumpies will hopefully finish wrapping the yews and other tasty evergreens next week as we also need to put the finishing touches on our temporary, protective deer fencing throughout the gardens. This time of year we also see other critter damage out in the gardens including some of our Holiday Lights Show (HLS) cords as seen to the right. This was probab
ly a squirrel but we are rarely able to determine the specific culprit. We will frequently have a couple issues of critter nibbling on our cords and lights which necessitates running new cords. We've also had birds peck and remove/destroy some of the "accessible" icicle lights as they catch some sun during the day and I think the sparkle attracts the birds. In the past, we've also had deer get tangled up in our dangling icicle lights and drag them down from the trees. We now tie a little bit of blue tape about 4' off ground level on all the icicles to make the strands a bit more visible and intimidating. The wind has already blown down about eight of ou
r icicle strands so we'd like to avoid any more losses! To the left is the fading orange to pink fall color of the three-flower maple (Acer triflorum). I showed these leaves on the blog weeks ago when they were a brilliant orange. As they have dried and are starting to drop, I thought this last phase of pinkish orange was neat. These leaves even look a bit like poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans)! Other volunteers today included Janice who went out for our last shopping binge for some additional LED twinkle lights and spent some time adjusting the lights on our obelisks outside. Bill O. came in to tidy up out in the gardens this afternoon and we also saw Maury, Jean S. and some others. To the right is one of our yarrows (Achillea, unknown variety) still showing color although I think it has been freeze dried! Yarrow blooms strongly in June but keeps on flowering well past frost with scattered blossoms. Below is my favorite, "lower-statured" golden juniper. This is the 'Saybrook Gold' Chinese juniper (Juniperus chinensis) which does continue to widen but stays in the 2' tall range or so. We trim as needed and those trimming are nice in arrangements. The golden coloration is very consistent and this showy evergreen has always done well for us. 
keep the ice from freezing solid across this smaller pond. We leave the fish in over winter and will ultimately have that pond cleaned in spring. The heaters will allow for some open water and air exchange for the fish. The fish aren't real active and we're done feeding them for the year. They'll hang out in a large school down below and wait it out. I started the day with various indoor projects then went out and plugged in the entire show so Janice could work on the obeli
sks. I like to leave the show on for 6 hour periods during testing to see if there are any problems. When the HLS rolls around, we'll have the lights on roughly from 4 pm until 8 pm. Barring any challenges from rain/sleet, we don't anticipate any power problems. Today, I also put out some additional lights and replaced some questionable cords. Additionally, I string out "back up" cords on open circuits just in case I need to divert power for any reason during the show. To the above right is a close-up of the recurved, silvery (back side of the needle) needled Korean fir (Abies koreana 'Horstmann's Silberlocke'). This conifer looks g
reat from a distance and despite the slow growth rate and high price, this is a showy, small-scale conifer for the full sun garden. Our best specimen (of our three) is in the front of the Parker Education Center. Conifers are really contributing from now thru April! To the left is the continued blooms of the 'Ozawa' ornamental onion (Allium thunbergii) in the alpine garden (photo from today). Today I also noted buds of this perennial that still hadn't opened up! Now that is one tough perennial as the frost has not slowed it down much (yet). I believe my November blogs always feature 'Ozawa' and rightfully so. To the lower right is the fall color of the little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium 'The Blues'). I like the mahogany/pink overtones on the stems and there are many good varieties out there with nice fall color but even more improved blue summer coloration. I took many pictures today and my November and December pictures over the years have given me a better appreciation for the subtle colorations and interest out in the late season (or fourth season) of the gardens, both at RBG and home. Below is one of the evergreen hen & chicks (Sempervivum sp.) and at the bottom, our large grouping (80 plants?) of 'Karl Foerster' feather reed grass (Calamagrostis x acutiflora) behind the seating wall in the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children's Garden. This garden and five others will have new garden area signs next spring as Sarah (our consultant) and I just finished the layouts. Yay. I may blog a bit over the next four days but will get back to business on Monday for sure. Happy Thanksgiving to all. 
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