Plenty of Color

It was another hot day (84 degrees F) with plenty of sunshine. I was able to get out in the gardens briefly and captured the pictures you see in this blog. Unfortunately, I don't know what variety the double peony (Paeonia) above is or the nice coral ones further down. These peonies (donated years ago) are in a bed along Palmer Drive and are really quite impressive (even at 30 mph). We had a busy day around the gardens as well as over in our yard at the Horticulture Center. This transitional time is challenging as we end the plant sale and bring in more loads of our own plants. The plants are the matched with labels and staged to go out to their final destinations. We average two or three plant runs daily now for the next three weeks. Big John and I did our first run to Jenka Blossoms (Lima Center, WI) this morning for many of our tropicals (which looked awesome). Larry and Bill O. went back to get the last of our order this afternoon. We continue to pack our plants in the yard and keeping up with the watering is certainly a priority. To the left is the enormous bloom (just opening) of the umbrella magnolia (Magnolia tripetala) which is also know for large, tropical leaves. This specimen, in our shade garden, is eye-catching in bloom and as a bold, textural element. To the right is the start of the wispy white blooms of a hybrid goatsbeard (Aruncus hybrida 'Misty Lace') in the woodland walk garden. I like this variety for the white flower sprays that really "shine" in the partly shaded garden (needs moisture!). To the left is the showy foliage of the golden English oak (Quercus robur 'Concordia') in the Scottish garden. This vivid gold does fade to a chartreuse in summer but is still quite nice. This variety doesn't look nitrogen deficient or sickly like some other "golden" trees and shrubs do later in our hot summers.

Larry helped take down some plant sale elements as did Pat and Janice. Larry also did some mowing, watering, ran irrigation and worked on some other projects. Janice planted more of her "Grains of the World" collection and really helped consolidate the yard and made more room for our incoming plants. Jenny spent the day in the yard matching our plant labels to the newly arrived plants. This is perfect timing and Jenny is awesome at doing this (she makes the signs too). We can then take the signs out with the plants and install them at the time of planting instead of being retroactive and trying to remember where everything is located. This may seem common sense but isn't always as easy to do as it might seem... Pat mowed, watered, yanked stakes and painted today while John moved on to more painting on the arched bridge (looking good) after our morning plant run. To the right is the fragrant, perennial valerian (Valeriana officinalis) in the Scottish garden. The flower clusters are slightly pink as they open to a pure white. This plant smells awesome (sweet like vanilla) and has a long history of herbal uses. However, it drops lots of seed and will spread rapidly in open, unmulched soils. Be wary of this spreading as we constantly have to "cull the herd" and try to maintain manageable groupings. To the left is another unknown peony (Paeonia) but the one that really catches my eye. These flowers are almost 12" in diameter.

Our volunteer involvement today was appreciated. Dr. Gredler was out mowing much of the day and Bill came in to work with Larry and accomplish some tidying out in the gardens. Marianne came in to finalize the clearance sale details and finances. Mary H. and her daughter were in to plant annuals in their assigned garden plot. Mary W. came in later to help water and we also saw Elsa, Gary, Gordy, Deb, Kris, Jumbo Jim and many others. Lynn was in to plant the English cottage garden with a wide range of perennials, annuals and vegetables. Kay did a nice job weeding in the shade garden and along the larch wall bed (which will be orange-themed this year...offensively orange!). I appreciate all our volunteer involvement but hope we can recruit more weeding and planting help over the coming weeks. To the right is the 'Purple Smoke' hybrid false indigo (Baptisia hybrida) which really has a nice shade of flower as seen in the image. I've mentioned in a previous blog but will state again that the false indigos this year are really quite impressive. Directly below is the Star of Persia ornamental onion (Allium christophii) just starting to open. Those metallic florets will continue to open and form a 9"-12" diameter sphere (umbel) that is very impressive (18"total height for the plant). I'll post a photo of the flower at peak in a week or so. Look closely at the bottom photo and see all the white fuzzy groupings.....these are cottonwood (Populus deltoides) seeds still poised to come floating down over the gardens. UGH!