A Damp Morning

As evidenced above, I'm not tired of capturing the fall color of the oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) which continues to get better out in the gardens almost daily.  I was just happy I was able to get outside and take some photos (and run some cords) after a drizzly morning.  We all arrived during rain this morning and had a cozy morning of productive indoor activities at the Horticulture Center.  While I hate to even lose a half day of running cords for the Holiday Lights Show (HLS), we didn't run shy of indoor projects and I cleared out a good chunk of my desk work during the dismal start to the day.  The rain abated by 11 am and the grounds staff all shifted outside after a great morning with some volunteers.  The afternoon was chilly but tolerable with some occasional sunshine poking out here and there.  Below are some other shots from today.

three-flower maple (Acer triflorum) fall color close-up - woody tree

starting fall color for the Crimson Spire oak (Quercus robur x alba 'Crimschmidt') which should get increasingly more red on this upright selection

We did have some volunteer action this morning which included Patrea (above in orange hat) and Eva (right) processing luminaries (half gallon milk jugs).  The ladies also helped work on organizing and storing our labels for use next year.  Dr. Gredler (directly below) filled the new luminaries with gravel so they are ready to go out tomorrow.  Maury dropped off some needed supplies this morning and Pat was in for some lights repairs and other duties.  Janice worked with the Chestnut House volunteers on many projects like organizing lights and tidying up the Horticulture Center.  We also saw Mary D., Vern, Mark S. and a couple others today.  

Our grounds crew was small but effective.  Cindy (half day) and Cheryl worked on a wide range of indoor tasks during the rainy morning.  They processed labels, prepared lights for the new luminaries and tidied up various portions of the Horticulture Center.  Cheryl went out in the gardens before lunch and all afternoon to continue her tidying efforts in the fern & moss garden which is coming along very well.  Big John and Terry worked on assembling and preparing some of our animated LED displays inside this morning and later secured them out in the garden.  The guys have almost finished putting up our displays and will shift to some other HLS and gardening duties later in the week and next week.  I caught up on desk work and slung cords all afternoon.  Below are some recent images from the gardens.

fall color of swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor) - woody tree

awesome fall color of the Judd viburnum (Viburnum x juddii) - woody shrub

yellowing fall color of willowleaf bluestar (Amsonia hubrichtii) - perennial

'October Skies' aromatic aster (Aster oblongifolius) - perennial

bronze fall color of the shingle oak (Quercus imbricaria) - woody tree

start of fall color on 'Royal Purple' smokebush (Cotinus coggygria) - large woody shrub

'Circus' coral bells (Heuchera villosa) - perennial

interesting start to fall color on the 'Briant Rubidor' golden weigela (Weigela florida) which I'll keep an eye on over the coming weeks - woody shrub

One Step At A Time

We had more great progress out in the gardens today and thankfully the rain held off until later in the afternoon.  Note my play on words with the blog title and the image above (taken in the Japanese garden).  It's nice to see such great teamwork with so many activities going on out in the gardens; many of them challenging as they are in the same areas.  We're still on track to have the Holiday Lights Show (HLS) up and ready in the next two weeks and garden clean-up will continue until the snow flies.  Our network of cords, lights and displays has become challenging but again, everyone is working very well together and I'm amazed daily at how much work is accomplished.  Below is a nice shot of the arched bridge in the distance and some other images from today.

'Born's Gracious' "skeleton-leaf" silver maple (Acer saccharinum) - woody tree

We had great gardening volunteers today like Kay (above) and Eva (below) tidying up multiple areas.  Kay focused on leaf and debris clean-up around the annual beds east of the building and worked well with Pat doing his last mowing in that area as well.  Kay had many cartloads of debris returned to the compost pile.  Eva spent most of her time in the azalea/rhododendron garden which hadn't been tidied up yet this fall.  She did a nice job in an area with some of our toughest slopes to access. Those blue pipes behind her in the image below will be a nice part of the HLS...  Ron K. (second photo down) accumulated a pile of leaves from the woodland walk garden the size of a small Volkswagon which Bill O. later picked up.  Bill also collected leaves from many areas this afternoon.  The third photo down shows Vicki and Steve, who along with Carol and Jim (fourth photo down) did a great job running lights to about 75% of our milk jug luminaries.  This is an art and science and all four did well.  The fifth photo down shows these four volunteers starting out in the shade garden.  Maury ran errands for us and we also saw Bob T. and many others today.

The grounds crew had a wide range of tasks today.  Larry winterized some of our water features, helped run cords and assisted with other HLS tasks.  Big John put up more displays, hauled donated HLS trees to their future locations, pounded lots of stakes in advance of securing displays and worked on some other tasks as well.  Janice continued decorating the Japanese garden with our new LED lights and helped with some other projects.  Cindy spent most of her day gardening in multiple locations and did help with shifting around some luminaries for the volunteers.  She came back with plenty of cartloads of debris too.  Pat worked on HLS tasks both inside and out, push mowed and also collected leaves and debris in various areas.  Cheryl spent the bulk of her time tidying in the fern & moss garden which greatly benefited from her attention.  I helped organize our morning volunteers and continued to run cords in multiple locations.  We had a very productive day and this is a nice pace for finishing out the month.  Most of the grounds staff will finish their 2013 season in the coming weeks.  Below are more photos from today.

superior fall color on our bald cypresses (Taxodium distichum) like the one above - deciduous conifer

another shot of the 'Milan' coral bells (Heuchera) - perennial

more orange color transition on the three-flower maple (Acer triflorum) today - woody tree

cool fall color of the variegated zelkova (Zelkova serrata 'Goshiki') - woody tree

fall color of one of our serviceberries (Amelanchier sp.) - woody tree

red maple (Acer rubrum) fall color - woody tree

50 Trees For The Garden

There was a lot of activity at the gardens today although I missed a good portion of it due to a morning expedition for trees and some afternoon appointments.  The first three photos show our trip to Sunset Acres Tree Farm in Stoughton, WI.  They kindly donated 50 evergreens for the Holiday Lights Show (HLS) which will be immediately set-up, decorated and utilized in the show.  Above (left to right) are Denny, Larry, Dwight (of Sunset Acres Tree Farm) and Dick H.  We enjoyed talking with Dwight and appreciate his support of the gardens with this donation of various evergreens for the show.  See www.sunsetacrestreefarm.com/ for more information on this HLS event sponsor.  Larry, Denny and Dick had a good system in place and it didn't take long to get everything cut, loaded, secured and hauled back.  All of us were veterans of these tree expeditions and had little trouble getting everything back to the gardens.

I was a bit disconnected from our morning volunteers but know that we had Maury, Dick P., Gene, Jim D., Bob C., Pat M., Ron P., Ron W., Gary S., Lloyd, Ron Y., Del, Howie, Dave T., Vern and Jim helping at the gardens.  Dr. Gredler was also in for his mowing rounds. Many of the guys helped haul furniture and benches to winter storage while others shifted to leaf collection and removing some of our last annuals.  Other guys helped finish processing our half gallon milk jug luminaries.  The carpenters all had work and Maury ran some errands for us including returning the rental screen from our very successful Fall Symposium this past Saturday.  Eva collected debris from around the gardens as well.  Stan arrived in the afternoon and put more protective netting on the yews (Taxus) in the Japanese garden as there is already consistent evidence of deer!

The grounds staff had a busy day.  Big John and Terry continued hauling out more displays including obelisks and other HLS elements.  They also pounded stakes in preparation for the incoming trees.  The guys have most of the HLS displays up and by the end of the week, we should have all the major elements up and in place.  I'll continue to run cords as time allows over the next two weeks as well.  After our return from tree cutting, Larry worked on other HLS projects including running cords and organizing more of our HLS outlets and power connections.  Cindy did some major garden clean-up and also continued hauling out luminaries along the HLS route.  This should be a very productive week both out in the gardens and in regards to HLS preparations.  Below are some additional photos taken recently out in the gardens.

'Fire Alarm' coral bells (Heuchera) amongst the leaves - perennial

fall color of 'Debonair' pond cypress (Taxodium ascendens) - deciduous conifer

fruits of the Korean mountain-ash (Sorbus alnifolia) - woody tree

start of fall color (will get more orange) for the three-flower maple (Acer triflorum) - woody tree

fall color of Bowman's root (Gillenia trifoliata) - perennial

cool Japanese lantern shot 

Oodles of HLS Progress

Today was overcast and somewhat chilly all day.  We had some sprinkles in mid-afternoon but the bulk of our day was perfect for getting out in the gardens which still have some great fall color as seen in the photos above and directly below.  Above is the south entrance to the Japanese garden which is already decorated with lights. The expanded Holiday Lights Show (HLS) route through the Japanese garden (lower path) will add a nice new dimension to this event.  The shot below shows the 'Bloodgood' Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) with a more intense, purple-red fall color and in the distance is the yellow/orange fall color of the three-flower maple (Acer triflorum).  That garden continues to be the most colorful this late in the season.  

Thankfully we had some of our best garden volunteers today with Eva (above) and Kay (below) continuing their onslaught of the shade garden with perennial cutting and leaf collection.  The ladies were working around a  lot of our HLS lights and displays and continue to do a fine job.  Ron K. continues to collect leaves in the woodland walk garden as they accumulate.  He left us a good sized pile!  We'll still have a solid three weeks of garden work this month to catch up with late leaf drop and areas that need another round of tidying.  Vern was in to finish up his bench lettering project and helped process luminaries with Pat M..  Vicki and Steve came in for a couple of hours and finished up the large candy canes seen further below.  Dr. Gredler did his mowing rounds and shredded fallen leaves as he went along.  Dick H. was in to help Pat with the luminaries as well and also finished cutting our aluminum supply for plant labels.  We also saw Chuck S., Mary W. and many others.

'Sugar & Spice' foamflower (Tiarella) - perennial

The grounds staff worked almost entirely on HLS tasks today.  Above are Big John (left) and Terry who hauled out many displays (like big candy canes...see further below) and took a big dent out of the remaining displays to be secured out along the HLS route.  They also put up lights and did other decorating.  Cindy (directly below) was the "luminary girl" today and placed hundreds of these along the route.  We'll follow up with the lights next week for each of these jugs. Cindy also did some garden clean-up along the HLS route too.  Janice had various projects related to the fall symposium tomorrow and spent most of her day decorating in the Japanese garden with thousands more LED lights being utilized.  Pat was here for a half day and repaired some lights and continued his progress on the luminary processing project.  He's done the majority of these half gallon milk jug luminaries and we're on track to finish these and have them in place next week.  I spent the entire day running cords and probably have about 46% of the show done....More progress next week!  Further below are additional shots from today.

Note the cool reflection in the water (sunken garden)

fall color of a serviceberry (Amelanchier lamarckii) - woody tree

'Skyracer' tall purple moor grass (Molinia caerulea subsp. arundinacea) - perennial

fall color of the black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa) - woody shrub

fall color of 'Popcorn' doublefile viburnum (Viburnum plicatum var. tomentosum) - woody shrub