Today we made three trips to area nurseries (two destinations) to pick up our summer annuals. It was nice to see the yard fill with all our our goodies for the gardens but we had to negotiat
e the unloading in the yard as it was our Spring Plant Sale Clearance today. Not surprisingly, we had to get customers away from RBG stuff all day. With everything 15% off today, I was surprised we didn't have more traffic at the sale but it was certainly worth having. Janice was in briefly to help get it going and Marianne stuck around to help facilitate the sale all day (with the exception of her field trip out in the gardens to refresh the cutting display). The top picture is a hybrid magnolia (Magnolia sieboldii x Magnolia tripetala) which we purchased years ago. What a neat flower and while I thought this one would be marginally hardy, it's toughed it out now for about 
seven years in the garden (just overlooking the zig-zag bridge). To the right is a showy bloom cluster of the hybrid locust (Robinia x slavinii 'Hillieri') in the hosta hollow garden. To the left are some "stacked" pvc planters (spray painted silver) that Marv and Terry installed today (Larry set up the supports). The guys filled these with soil and the open portions will be planted shortly. This shows a nice vertical way to grow plants and I think our visitors will be quite curious as to what the heck it is as they see it from a distance. These were donated by the owners of http://www.theurbangrow.com/. We have our vegetabl
es and ornamental edibles pulled aside to plant this space once the ornamental onions (Allium sp.) go dormant. However, we may plant these pvc planters and other containers soon to give them a good start.We had a good Grumpy morning. Our only Grumpette was Donna who did a great job weeding berms in the area that will soon become our All American Selections (AAS) Garden. Rollie (seen to the right) worked with Ron W. and Ron Y. (directly above) in the rose garden. The guys mulched all four of the rose beds with cocoa bean hulls. They did a nice job and the scent of chocolate was quite noticeable in that area and in the vicinity of these Grumpies. Urban and Bill S. cut/collected tulip foliage/stems in the children's garden and watered some new trees. Bob C. and Ron B. did a nice job tidying up the "air edging" in two areas. Dick P, Dick H. and Dick C. worked on getting the 'Dancing Waters' fountain up and running. When they brought it in last fall, we thought there might be some issues but they had it hauled out and spouting early this morning with little difficulty. Del, Dick K., Gary and Dick C. worked on spreading woodchip mulch over one of the main parking lot islands. Dave, Jim, Vern and Bob worked on various carpentry projects. We also saw Deb and Bev at the Horticulture Center as they are trying to get our oak leaf project organized and properly displayed out in the gardens. Directly below is one of our new families at the gardens. All of that white fluff (seeds) in the water is from the female cottonwoods (Populus deltoides). The second photo down shows Janice (standing) and Rose (sitting) potting our vertical wall planter yesterday during a slow period of the plant sale. 
The grounds staff did a great job today and as valuable as they are, I wish we had more help out in the gardens (just about every day). Larry went on two plant runs today, the first of which, he to
ok Pat along with him. Pat later shifted to painting. Larry also pumped down the sunken garden pool as we need to take a look at the pump (not running). Larry and I also alternated running irrigation here and there as it's starting to look a litte dry. Again, Janice was in briefly to help out at the sale and Marianne kept an eye on things all day. Marv and Terry went over to Palmer Park and prepped the sign area for their Visitors Center which we typically plant for them in return for some advertising support. The guys did a nice job and came back for some other projects including edging along our outer fence line, some repairs and a much-needed gas run. Big John started the day with mulching but shifted to more painting duties on the
arched bridge. To the right are the double blooms of the horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum 'Baumannii'). This specimen is on the east end of the shade garden and seems to look better each year. To the left are the vivid blue flowers of the 'Caspian Blue' false indigo (Baptisia australis) near the children's garden. The false indigos around the gardens universally look great this year and are getting to be significant plants.
The grounds staff did a great job today and as valuable as they are, I wish we had more help out in the gardens (just about every day). Larry went on two plant runs today, the first of which, he to
ok Pat along with him. Pat later shifted to painting. Larry also pumped down the sunken garden pool as we need to take a look at the pump (not running). Larry and I also alternated running irrigation here and there as it's starting to look a litte dry. Again, Janice was in briefly to help out at the sale and Marianne kept an eye on things all day. Marv and Terry went over to Palmer Park and prepped the sign area for their Visitors Center which we typically plant for them in return for some advertising support. The guys did a nice job and came back for some other projects including edging along our outer fence line, some repairs and a much-needed gas run. Big John started the day with mulching but shifted to more painting duties on the
arched bridge. To the right are the double blooms of the horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum 'Baumannii'). This specimen is on the east end of the shade garden and seems to look better each year. To the left are the vivid blue flowers of the 'Caspian Blue' false indigo (Baptisia australis) near the children's garden. The false indigos around the gardens universally look great this year and are getting to be significant plants.
A special thanks to all our plant sale volunteers that helped out in the sale with customer service, check outs and watering. Mary W., Virginia, Sylvia, Elaine, Pat and many others were very helpful. I was able to spray some more Round-up in tough spots and had a meeting this afternoon. We'll be back at our plant runs tomorrow and despite our nice truck & trailer arrangements, we can only bring so many plants back on each trip. To the right are the blooms of ornamental kale (Brassica oleracea) which typically wont overwinter (= rarely seeing the blooms) but had no trouble with our mild winter this year. I'm not sure which variety this is (maybe 'Redbor'?) and the picture was taken in town (near Basics Cooperative) and not at the gardens. I thought the lemon yellow blooms looke great above the dark foliage. Directly below is the globeflower (Trollius europaeus) in full bloom in the Scottish Garden as are the 'Mt. Everest' ornamental onions (Allium sp.) seen at the bottom blooming in front of the Parker Education Center'. 
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