We had some decent rain today and as I type, it's not over yet. As of 12 noon, we had the 1.5" as seen above in the rain gauge. Some of the rain was quite intense although most was a nice drizzle. We'll inevitably have a lot of garden clean-up tomorrow although I believe there is the chance for more rain throughout the week. Our grounds staff and volunteers were able to get out in the gardens until 9 am or so but then it was effectively a "rain out" which flushed everyone inside. There were a wide range of tasks to accomplish including Fall Plant Sale preparations, carpentry projects, tool cleaning and bulbs! The sign below is actually for our Fall Plant Sale (see www.rotarybotanicalgardens.org for more information). However, we also had other bulbs (second photo down) to start testing today. Big John, Terry, Pat and Cindy all started outside with gardening but shifted to indoor work including hauling and stacking lights (third photo) down for testing and repair. We normally don't get in to the "holiday spirit" this early but it's good honest work on a rainy day for sure.
Our Grumpies and Grumpettes started with gardening tasks like weeding, mulching and tidying paths but came inside after the typhoon started. Above is Gary S. working on labels for some new daylilies (Hemerocallis) that will be planted in the Potter Daylily Collection soon. Below are the "Ron Triplets". From left to right are Ron B., Ron P. and Ron R. (not pictured are Ron W. and Ron Y.). Gary B. was also helping the guys repair these tubs and the boys worked on myriad other indoor projects. Maury ran multiple errands for us and Dr. Gredler was able to do some brief mowing before the downpour. Dick H. ran to the dump and out for gas. The second photo down shows Kathy (left) and Eva transitioning to tool cleaning after some brief weeding. The third photo down shows (left to right) Dave T., Bob K., Vern and Jim working on some new chairs. The guys also have some new and exciting carpentry projects to take care of very shortly. We also saw Rollie, Urban and many others. Our Horticulture Therapy Committee (Kris, Elaine and myself) met later in the afternoon. Further below are a few recent images from our damp garden.
'Pink Mass' shrub rose (Rosa) looking sharp
'Kumson' variegated forsythia (Forsythia viridissima var. koreana) - shrub
'Pink Chaos' coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) - annual
Above is the annual ruby crystal grass (Melinus nerviglumis 'Pink Crystals') at the Allen Centennial Gardens (UW-Madison) this summer. I'm giving a talk on ornamental grasses this Wednesday evening (6:30 pm - 8:30 pm) at Olbrich Botanical Gardens if you're interested! Fun topic and I'll go up early to get some garden photography under my belt too.
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