A Nice Pink Saturation

The pink theme seen above and below continues to look nice with just the right amount of maroon. There are some plants starting to look tired and I blame the lack of heat to be honest. The evenings are becoming quite cool and we really never warmed up as much as I had hoped. Regardless, I feel the pink theme presented itself well this summer! It was another nice sunny day around 80 degrees F which brought lots of visitors to the gardens today. We saw some significant traffic this week in general and hope to see that replicated every day here. Our grounds staff and volunteers kept busy today as we continue to target weeds, accomplish general gardening tasks and do lots of watering.

'Haight Ashbury' hibiscus (Hibiscus acetosella) - not hardy!

We had a very productive crew of volunteers today although that happens almost every day around here! Above is Kay who spent her time tidying in and around the fern & moss garden. She continues to have a great eye for detail and is already starting to collect the earliest of cottonwood (Populus deltoides) leaves as they flutter down! UGH. Below is Eva who worked with Patrea and Kathy (second photo down, Patrea to the left). These three ladies tidied up three areas that needed weeding help, deadheading duties and general tidying. This trio did a great job as usual. Dr. Gredler came in for his mowing rounds and Urban was in this afternoon for more pruning efforts near the arched bridge. The third photo down shows (from left to right), Gena, Mary and Myrt. The ladies drew the short straw and worked on weeding our three greenhouses which will all be used for the looming Fall Plant Sale (September 6th and 7th, 9 am - 4 pm daily, pre-sale on September 5th for Friends Members at 10% off!, same hours). More details regarding the Fall Plant Sale will be on our website soon although I still need plenty of volunteer assistance (call or email!). The fourth photo down shows Don and Pearl who continue to maintain a beautiful garden space on the east end of the shade garden. The next two photos down show Jordan and Victoria respectively. These volunteers, with help from Dawn, were checking on their raised bed planters. Mary W. was also in for serious weeding in the herb garden and we also saw Dr. Yahr, Marsha M. and many others today.

The grounds staff had a productive day which included plenty of watering. Big John ran irrigation throughout the day and had sprinklers set up in multiple locations. He also worked on fertilization, tidying the Cosmos Collection, shearing boxwoods (Buxus), watering containers and collecting debris. Pat (half day) worked on weeding and tidying in multiple areas and helped stake and secure plants in the Jungle Garden which continues to fill in very nicely. Cindy (half day) did some nice gardening in the terrace garden, watered/fertilized in the "Pollinator's Paradise" (looking pretty nice right now!) and watered the yard. Cheryl did a nice job weeding and tidying up the front sign bed and later moved on to the reception garden for similar tasks. Terry (seen below), sheared boxwood (Buxus) hedges, set up sprinklers, did other shearing projects and helped water containers as well. I was able to get out with some herbicide this morning (two loads), had a meeting and continue to plug thru deskwork! I was able to capture some nice plant photos seen further below though!