No Dry Spots

After another deluge last night of 6/10th of an inch of rain, the gardens are sufficiently wet everywhere I would say! We were commenting today that this July has seen the least amount of irrigation and sprinklers and we're pleased to focus on other tasks aside from watering! The photo above shows a tent in the sunken garden which will be the setting for our Rhythm and Blooms event Wednesday night (5 pm - 8 pm, $10) featuring the Arbor Ensemble Orchestra. Come enjoy this event and there will be both food and beverage sales as well. We're tidying up the sunken garden for an enjoyable evening. After a good rain, a day like this is prime for serious gardening and both staff and volunteers dove right in to a wide range of tasks.

variegated giant reed (Arundo donax 'Versicolor') is the centerpiece of this container

this dwarf Japanese snow pine (Pinus parviflora 'Tani Mano Uki') looks great with this "frosting"

'Scarlet' kale (Brassica oleracea) above is a true "ornamental edible" - annual

'Blazin' Rose' bloodleaf (Iresine hybrida) is offering some great color in shade - annual

weeping katsuratree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum 'Pendula') is a nice focal point - woody tree

the golden foliage of 'Frisia' black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) illuminates this space - woody tree

All of our coneflowers (Echinacea) are starting to bloom but the standard purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) is always amazing (see above). We have about 40 or so varieties and hybrids including many of the new colors and forms but you can't go wrong with the straight species! The volunteers today were a great help (despite my lack of volunteer photos!). Kathy and Eva did a nice job finishing weeding in the reception garden and have shifted down to the sunken garden in order to tidy up for the Wednesday evening musical event. Cookie and Resa tidied up in the North point garden and in adjacent areas as well. That space is looking dynamite right now. Kay was in to check over her portion of the shade garden and moved on to some other weeding duties in other locations. Dr. Gredler came in for some mowing and both Maury and Dick P. had some projects as well. We also had our Garden Development & Maintenance Committee meeting which included Maury, Iza, Dick P., Big John, Hal R., Christine R. and Larry H. We saw many others as well.

The grounds staff had a busy day too with a strong focus on traditional gardening. Nolan and Trevor put on the hip waders right away to clean out our "water movers" at the far end of the pond. This is a weekly task and the guys did a great job with this and moved on to mowing, mulching and path work. Cindy continues to do an excellent job tidying in the Smelly Garden theme of the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children's Garden. She also planted elephant ears and had some other side projects as well. Cheryl focused her attention on weeding in the fern & moss garden and Japanese garden. Janice had some projects in and around the Horticulture Center, did the cutting display, spread slug treatments around the hostas and had some other tidying duties as well. Big John did more gravel work, pruned, fertilized and had myriad other projects as well. I had a wide range of duties and am shifting my focus to labeling and plant records over the coming weeks! More photos below...