I think we've been planting almost every day for the past month and continue to chip away at all the plants still left in our holding yard. I think we're about 65.3% planted out there. Today was no exception and we had some great volunteer help installing another 3,000 annuals or so, primarily in the sunken garden. We should take a big 
dent out of the yard plants this Saturday with our Volunteer Planting Work Day (8 am until 12 noon) with the remainder of our entrance garden being the target area. I'll actually start placing flats tomorrow so we're ready to roll right away in the morning. I really like the top photo which I took today while I was spraying weeds along the lower terrace wall of the North point garden. As I looked up at the structure, I thought that view was quite nice. The roses (Rosa) in the foreground are Pink Knockout ('Radcon'). Directly above is one of fifty of
our moss rose (Portulaca) varieties in the demonstration garden. This is the variety 'LoGro Red' and many others are also coming in to bloom. To the right is the nicely variegated garden phlox (Phlox paniculata) called 'Shockwave'. Pink flower clusters will come shortly and really "pop" in combination with this foliage. To the left is the golden, arching foliage of the 'Bowles' Golden' sedge (Carex elata). We use this grass relative as a "punctuation point" in partly shaded locations.We had some Grumpies today and a nice bunch of Grumpettes. Bob C. and Ron Y. went out 
on path clean-up duties. Dick H. made many trips to the dump today and helped out here and there and will be processing mor aluminum plant stakes for us shortly. Dave, Jim, Bob and Vern jumped right in to a new carpentry project that will ultimately result in us getting more significant storage space at the Horticulture Center. Directly below (left to right) are Mary, Karen, Suzy and Marilyn. Along with Terri (next photo down), Bev and Donna (new volunteer), the ladies planted a good portion of the sunken garden this morning. With more visitors coming to the gardens and many weddings on the horizon for that garden space, we were glad to add plenty more color. We should be able to finish planting most of that garden tomorrow. The ladies did a very nice job. Bill O. was in to help water and Mary W. spent more time tidying up the herb garden sections. Jumbo Jim had four RECAPPERS helping clean up the Japanese garden today and Stan came in for some pruning in the Japanese garden as well. We also saw Gordy, Mary Kay, Elsa and many others. The fern to the right is the 'Dre's Dagger' lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina) which is one of the "Victoriae" or "criss-cross" type ferns with those pinnae (fern leaflets) zigging and zagging. I really like this fern for texture.
on path clean-up duties. Dick H. made many trips to the dump today and helped out here and there and will be processing mor aluminum plant stakes for us shortly. Dave, Jim, Bob and Vern jumped right in to a new carpentry project that will ultimately result in us getting more significant storage space at the Horticulture Center. Directly below (left to right) are Mary, Karen, Suzy and Marilyn. Along with Terri (next photo down), Bev and Donna (new volunteer), the ladies planted a good portion of the sunken garden this morning. With more visitors coming to the gardens and many weddings on the horizon for that garden space, we were glad to add plenty more color. We should be able to finish planting most of that garden tomorrow. The ladies did a very nice job. Bill O. was in to help water and Mary W. spent more time tidying up the herb garden sections. Jumbo Jim had four RECAPPERS helping clean up the Japanese garden today and Stan came in for some pruning in the Japanese garden as well. We also saw Gordy, Mary Kay, Elsa and many others. The fern to the right is the 'Dre's Dagger' lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina) which is one of the "Victoriae" or "criss-cross" type ferns with those pinnae (fern leaflets) zigging and zagging. I really like this fern for texture.
The two photos above were from yesterday and show "Mr. Moss" (Dale S.) and his most recent creation directly above (located near the south entrance structure to the Japanese garden). I'm very excited about these improvements and Dale's work
at RBG will be appreciated by many in the years to come. The trick will be ensuring that the moss is happy and keeping the critters away from the newly planted patches. There is a particular robin that likes to work next to Dale and peck away at the moss as he places it! To the right is the showy bloom of the 'Bonanza Bolero' marigold (Tagetes patula) which is part of our extensive All-America Selections (AAS) Display Garden. This variety (a 1999 AAS Winner) is one of the over 100 varieties featured in this dedicated garden space.
Our grounds staff had a busy day which included watering duties for everyone. I ran more plants out to the sunken garden for our volunteers and placed plants in l
ocations for tomorrow. I had a meeting and timely desk work to complete but was able to get out and spray weeds in the alpine garden which really needed that attention. Larry worked on some more weedwhipping, ran irrigation, watered and did a great job rigging up a better fountain/filter system in our sunken garden pool. We've had a lot of challenges with our water features this year and Larry did a super duper job troubleshooting today. Big John also ran irrigation, watered many areas with sprinklers and by hand, helped install our new "root box"with Larry in the Nancy Yahr Memorial children's garden, fertilized roses and worked on many other projects. Janice continued her efforts in the Ornamental Edible & Compact Vegetable Collection and did a nice job incorporating many of our newly arrived plants in to this area. To the left is a shot featuring our new signs for the Grains of the World Collection in that same space. Janice created the verbage for these signs and we have eight grains that we are featuring at RBG and at the Rock County Farm. The intent of the collection is to educate the public on the history, use, nutritional value and beauty of these grains. This collection (and the signs) were sponsored by the Rock County 
Farm Bureau. Janice also did quite a bit of watering out in the gardens and finished up some veggie planting and watering at the Horticulture Center. Jenny did a nice job matching up more labels in the yard and organized many of our remaining plants. She and I have developed a good system for making sure our plants go out with labels which, while common sense, is not always as easy as it seems. Jenny also watered and finished the day with some old-fashioned weeding. Pat did a nice job shearing some shrubs this morning and continued removing weeds and woody seedlings from our east border prior to his painting stint in the gazebo. I think the gazebo is finished now and looks great for the wedding(s) this weekend. To the right is one of the 40 oak leaf garden art projects out in the gardens. We have all but one placed out in the gardens and Sue M. is developing a nice brochure/map to direct visitors to these unique art pieces. More planting tomorrow, plenty of watering and a big focus on getting ready for the work day this Saturday (did I mention 8 am until 12 noon?)...Directly below is the flagstone work done by Becker Brothers Masonry over the past four days. This area is the transition from the reception garden, under the Parker Pen archway and in to the sunken garden. The former stonework was crumbling and presented some very serious safety concerns (tripping). This looks awesome and was well constructed. 
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