Looming Work Day

We had another nice sunny day out in the gardens but it did get quite warm (84 degrees F) in the afternoon. The top photo shows the 'Bartzella' intersectional hybrid peony (Paeonia) that was donated to us by Roger Anderson, a peony breeder from Fort Atkinson, WI that introduced this selection (and many more). Much of my time was centered around getting ready for the volunteer work day tomorrow (8 am until 12 noon). I've found that laying out plants in advance has many advantages for being able to keep ahead of our volunteer crew. Directly above is just some of the area we hope to plant tomorrow. We've always been very proactive with preparing projects for volunteers as we want to keep everyone busy and minimize any idle time! Over the next five Saturdays, we'll plant our largest display areas which include the All American Selections, reception garden, entrance gardens slope, smelly garden and our trial displays. I hope we get some consistent rainfall over the coming weeks as we're just rediscovering the challenges of keeping up with the watering with a small crew.

To the above right are Marleen (left) and Magda in their garden section near the 'Dialogue' sculpture. Magda has taken great care of this space since I've been around and Marleen, a good friend of Magda's, has been volunteering recently and we appreciate her involvement as well. Other volunteers today included Sue and Kelley who both did a great job clearing bulb foliage and weeds out of their section of the shade garden. They'll be back next Friday to start planting this large, partly shaded garden. Ron K. spent the entire morning tidying up the woodland walk garden. He and I walked around and noted some additional target weeds as well as the open space that we hope to fill with new perennials some time next week. Dr. Gredler accomplished his Friday mowing and we also saw Dr. Yahr, Bradford, Maury, Del and many others. Rose and Urban came in to do some nice re-staining of the decking boards on the porch above the English cottage garden. To the left is the always beautiful roof iris (Iris tectorum). To the right is the 'Globemaster' ornamental onion (Allium sp.) repeated in clumps along a long shrub border near our east gate. Directly below are the deep pink blooms of the golden-leaf weigela (Weigela florida 'Briant's Rubidor') which has bright golden foliage throughout the growing season as well. The next photo down shows "Mr. Moss" (Dale S.) today who, along with Marv and Terry, again hauled in rocks, soil and moss to continue to improve our moss islands. The grounds staff kept busy today. We had some excitement this morning when Marv and Terry noticed an anchored bass boat out in the water not far from our 'Dancing Waters' fountain. The fisherman seemed to be lying down and wasn't responding to our yells. We were just worried so I made a call to the police. Within 2 minutes, we had a police car, ambulance, three fire trucks, a truck with a boat, divers, etc. There were nine emergency vehicles there and all the sirens roused the fisherman from his nap. He was totally fine and a bit surprised to say the least. However, always "better safe than sorry". Big John worked on pushmowing and later moved to more painting on the arched bride. It sure looks good and I think he finished that structure. The gazebo is next on the list for some re-painting attention. Janice helped me haul plants for tomorrow and did some planting of her own. She also did a nice job cleaning out some areas of bulb foliage and weeds prior to us preparing these for planting in the near future. She also did some serious watering which became a concern today with the hot afternoon. To the right are the airy flower plumes of goatsbeard (Aruncus dioicus) in the sunken garden. They typically look like a white astilbe on sterioids! To the left are the Mediterranean bells (Nectaroscordum siculum) which are close onion (Allium) relatives. These are planted in fall as bulbs and can be touchy with our colder winters. However, it sure is beautiful, particularly with the blue obelisk in the background (reception garden).

Marv and Terry were extremely helpful for Dale this morning and then moved on to other projects like hauling soil, watering trees, rototilling beds, running the blower (Terry), etc. The guys did a nice job and have mastered the art of multi-tasking. Marianne was in briefly although I never saw her. She freshened up her cutting display and set up for our Compost Sale tomorrow (8 am until 12 noon). To the right is one of our beautiful Siberian irises (Iris siberica) in full bloom. I'm not entirely sure of the variety but would guess 'Caesar's Brother' which is quite common and very dark blue like this one. Directly below are the three suspended, culvert pipe planters with plantings installed by Janice yesterday. It will be interesting to watch these fill out over the next couple of months. That silver coloration is quite blinding from certain angles and should catch the eye of every visitor. At the bottom are the neat blooms of the beautybush (Kolkwitzia amabilis) which is in full bloom right now. These large shrubs have an informal, arching shape and are quite impressive in bloom. However, they are equally unimpressive (in my mind) when out of bloom but are tough as nails. Regardless, the close-up photo of the flowers really shows some neat detail.