Chicago Botanic Garden

Today concluded the three day NAJGA (North American Japanese Garden Association) conference at the Chicago Botanic Garden (CBG). The pictures included in this blog are from today and are just some of the 800+ that I took over the weekend. Yesterday included presentations while today started with the tour of the Japanese garden at CBG which is quite impressive. Benjamin C., the head gardener for that garden, led us around and did a nice job facilitating the weekend. Karen M. and I made some great connections and I think there will be future value in being involved with this fledgling organization. Karen and I travelled together both Friday and today and both agreed that it was definitely worth attending this conference. Back to business tomorrow and I have a talk on Healing Gardens in Sheboygan tomorrow evening.

Friday Fieldtrip

While I was at work for a couple hours this morning, I travelled with Karen M. (RBG volunteer in our Japanese garden) to Rockford for the bulk of the day to participate in two tours that were the start of our North American Japanese Garden Association (NAJGA) conference. The conference will continue both Saturday and Sunday at the Chicago Botanic Garden and I'll commute daily. Today we had lunch at Anderson Japanese Garden (AJC) and had a nice tour. The picture above and the five directly below this text were taken at this wonderful garden. Directly below (in green) is Tim Gruner, Head of Grounds at the garden, giving us an orientation before we had an hour or so to tour the garden. Tim has been to RBG in the past and has given us some advice regarding our Japanese garden. He is a "rock star" in regards to this gardening style with a national reputation and interestingly enough, one of his gardeners (Skip) is the son of Little Jerry, our past Japanese garden staff person and current volunteer. I hadn't been to AJC in about six years and I quickly became reacquainted with the reason why this garden is consistently ranked one of the best Japanese gardens in the country every year. Karen and I, along with some others that drove independently, met the bus coming from Chicago Botanic with the remainder of the tour participants for today. There were about 38 of us total although I'm sure we'll see more tomorrow in Chicago. After enjoying AJC, we headed to the East side of Rockford and toured the Serenity Healing Garden that is part of the Rosecrance Griffin Williamson campus. The garden was designed by the same Japanese landscape architect that designed AJC and the Japanese influence was apparent (see two pictures below). Rosecrance is a substance abuse center, primarily for teens, and their staff was very hospitable and the garden was awesome. The staff there mentioned how valuable the garden is to their recovery programs and they even stated that the garden was one of the most cost effective decisions they made considering its value for all users and their rehabilitation.

Below are two shots from the Rosecrance campus. Wow, those boulders are sure big near that waterfall. Karen and I arrived at the campus before the bus did and had a nice chat with the head of grounds and the program manager for Rosecrance. I mentioned our interest in developing a wellness garden in the future at RBG and she (program manager) was all excited to offer help, curriculum ideas, etc. As much as I enjoy seeing the gardens (and Chicago Botanic Garden should look cool too!), the connections are so important at these conferences. I met the head gardener at the Portland Japanese Garden and people from Philadelphia, Long Beach (CA), Minneapolis, Seattle, Birmingham Botanic Garden (AL) and many more.After leaving RBG at 11 am, I can't attest to what happened later but the gardens were left in good hands with Marianne, Marv, Terry, Bill O. and Dr. Gredler running the show. Kelli and I met with a donor and her friends this morning and I was able to do a quick tour of the gardens. The gang worked on watering, tidying, cutting back shrubs, rose inventory (thanks Marianne) and many other fall activities and "pre-weekend" preparations. While outdoor weddings are slowing down (only two this weekend), we still keep everything tidy. A tour from St. Louis went thru this morning and work continues along the back road where new rock and timber edging is being installed to help define our beds. What I have been told is the biggest High School cross country meet in the country will be occuring tomorrow right across from the Horticulture Center. Imagine 80+ school buses, 500 cars and 5,000 people cramming in a couple of acres as the runners are routed thru the adjoining golf course. We set up our defense of perimeter signs stating NO PUBLIC RESTROOMS after observing (annually) that the ratio of 20 porta-potties doesn't quite accomodate that size crowd. Glad I'll be away but sorry for Larry! More posting later this weekend with shots from Chicago Botanic Garden. Directly below are the blooms of the seven-sons-flower (Heptacodium miconioides) which is actually a small, late blooming tree. I've featured this before and when I take a picture of these flowers in three weeks, the calyces will turn pink and look just as showy. At the bottom is a close-up of a liverwort (with moss peaking out here and there). Liverworts are the most primitive "true plant" alive today with a 475 million year history. There are over 8,500 species worldwide and the "liver-shaped" lobes of this plant were originally believed to be useful to treat liver ailments. The plant takes up water over its entire surface and similar to mosses, have no true roots but rhizoids to help them adhere to surfaces. You'll note plenty of liverworts out in nature although this close-up was taken in a nursery container that has the perfect conditions for growth and can be quite problematic in retail garden settings.

Cloudy, Cool and Productive

We all arrived at work today with some light mist/drizzle coming down. That ended early but the rest of the day, while overcast and grey, was perfect gardening weather. Thursdays always see a good population of volunteers out in the gardens and today was no exception. The top picture is a portion of our prairie restoration which starts looking very colorful this time of year with asters (Aster sp.), goldenrod (Solidago sp.) and all the native grasses. It's nice to see the Youth Education volunteers will be utilizing this space again for their late season programs. The image directly above is of the 'Morden Blush' shrub rose (developed in Canada) which is very hardy and has no difficulty looking good late in the season. Our rose garden is still looking good and should show color until a hard frost arrives (hopefully not too soon!). To the right is one of our containers out in the North Point garden. The centerpiece of purple fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum') is surrounded by 'Diamond Frost' spurge (Euphorbia graminea) that looks like baby's breath throughout the entire summer. The sprig of pink is from a 'Dragon Wing Pink' begonia (Begonia hybrida) which has been engulfed but is still offering some color.

We had a nice Grumpy and Grumpette turnout today. To the left is Larry H. who worked with Dennis and Pat (seen directly below) to dismantle all of our plant sale tables. We stack and store these and only use them for our spring and fall plant sales. The guys, along with Ron W., also took down the last of our plant sale tents and helped put some odds and ends from the sale away. Ron also ran back some serious recycling. Bob C., later joined by many of the aforementioned gentlemen, shifted to collecting leaves and debris from our paths. This is now a daily task! Dr. Yahr planted some small trees while Dr. Gredler mowed and aerated the entire arboretum. Dick H. worked on equipment repair most of the morning and ran some loads to the dump. Dave, Jim and Bob A. finished refurbishing (new wood) our large hand cart (see to the right) and are preparing for other projects next week. It's so nice to have such a quick "carpentry turnaround" as I mentioned the cart on Monday to the guys and it's now good as new. Our Grumpettes of Suzy, Karen, Glenna and Mary R. worked with Janice tidying up the sunken garden. In the afternoon, Gena, Myrt and Mary worked on the reception garden. Janice had her Thursday afternoon volunteer group come in and they did a top notch job of raking/collecting leaves off some of the primary paths. Hal and Doris were here to check out there area and we also saw Joan, Maggie, Kelli, Julie, Bill O., Harold and many others too. Further below are some of our mammoth hostas in the Hosta Hollow garden.

I'm sure all my past, late September blogs, feature the plant above. This is the bushclover (Lespedeza thunbergii 'Gibraltar') which blooms strongly from now until the second week in October. This legume (fixes nitrogen) dies to ground level each year and springs up in June with quick growth and has this nice arching form. It's not truly a shrub which would have woody growth overwinter above ground. It is a sub-shrub that regenerates the bulk of its woody growth each year. Olbrich has many of these blooming as well and a neat white variety called 'Avalanche'. What other shrubs are at peak bloom right now? None. To the right is the interesting, cutleaf, maroon with pink edged foliage of the 'Sizzle Scissors' copperleaf (Acalypha wilkesiana) which is quite unique (and definitely not hardy). To the left are the fragrant flower spires of the dark-leaved fairy candles (Cimicifuga simplex 'Black Negligee'). This perennial has maroonish foliage which looks nice with lighter neighbors (white or yellow) and the blooms extend the interest in to October.

The Thursday grounds staff kept busy today. Larry worked on push mowing, pruning, running for supplies and helping with various tasks. Larry has been working on some irrigation issues out in the gardens that we'll need further expertise to finalize and repair. Big John also push mowed and moved on to watering (containers too), digging out tree seedlings, etc. All the grounds staff had lots of projects to bounce between. Janice accomodated our Grumpettes this morning, made signs, gardened, watered and worked with her afternoon volunteers. I continued catching up on desk work but was able to get out in the gardens to see how things were looking. Recent compliments have made us feel that our later season color is working well and the gardens still are quite engaging despite the later calendar. I'll be attending the North American Japanese Garden Association (NAJGA) regional meeting this weekend at the Chicago Botanic Garden with Karen M. (a RBG volunteer) and am looking forward to that experience. To the right is one of the few goldenrod species that doesn't mind a bit of shade. This is the elm-leaved goldenrod (Solidago ulmifolia) in the English cottage garden and we also have this species scattered throughout the shade garden. The arching sprays of yellow do catch the eye although this plant can be a bit floppy in shadier conditions. Directly below is a bloom close-up of the perennial sunflower (Helianthus hybrida) called 'Lemon Queen'. The blooms are about 3" in diameter and if this plant is happy, it can get 6-8' tall and will form a nice clump 4-5' or so in full sun. We'll keep an eye on it in case it gets too aggressive as many of the perennial sunflowers can become. At the bottom is the flower of the cupid's dart (Catanache caerulea 'Amor Blue') which is a short-lived perennial that blooms from June until October and prefers lighter soils (no clay!). Early Greeks and Romans would make love potions out of this flower (2" diameter), hence the common name. The Latin name has a rough translation to "strong incentive".....

At Olbrich Last Night

Last night I did my presentation on Late-Blooming Perennials at Olbrich Botanical Gardens (Madison, WI) for a crowd of about 30 attendees. Interestingly, two of the attendees (Deb and Charlotte) are RBG volunteers. The talk went well although my LCD projector blacked out and I'm afraid that there may be some damage to the unit (power surge?). They had a back up projector so the presentation continued, relatively uninterrupted. I was at Olbrich early and was able to walk the entire garden for the first time since early June. The garden looked great and I took over 200 pictures, some of which I've included below. The image at the top shows both Rose and Urban painting our east gate which was in need of the attention. Some of us actually liked the brownish primer color even more than the grey/blue paint that they were applying but regardless, it should look as good as new and thanks to Rose and Urban for their patience as we went in and out of that gate as they were painting. Directly above is a close-up of the blooms of the wand flower or gaura (Gaura linheimeri 'Siskiyou Pink') still blooming strong in the English cottage garden. This plant blooms for over three months out in the gardens and although a bit touchy on overwintering hardiness, will bloom until the first hard frost.

It was an absolutely beautiful day and the grounds staff all did some top notch gardening today. To the left is Marianne who did a nice job tidying up the entrance garden and a good portion of the formal gardens. It's nice to just send her to an area knowing she'll do whatever needs to be done. She brought back plenty of loads of debris and installed another 50 or so new perennials in the English cottage garden (lots of delphiniums and some yarrow). To the right are Marv and Terry adjusting some stone edging. The guys also pruned back some woody plants, watered and worked on some edging. Big John dug out some woody tree seedlings, watered, planted shrubs and installed about 70 new perennials in the woodland walk garden. We had some nice donations from our plant sale vendors and still have quite a bit to plant over the next couple of weeks. I worked on sorting/sifting thru our remaining plants in the yard and we had two trucks stop by to pick up remaining plant sale items that will go back to our supportive vendors. We also had some shrubs and a hybrid elm (Ulmus) delivered. I am also working on finishing our bulb order for this fall (a bit late) and am almost done with a presentation on Healing Gardens that I'll present in Sheboygan next week and in Janesville in early November.

Dr. Gredler was in to mow and is collecting leaves out in the gardens as well. Kay was in to scour the Smelly Garden and North American garden for weeds and annuals that are ready for the compost heap. We also saw Dr. Yahr, Barb, Bill and Dick H. was in to run a couple loads of debris to the dump. The gardens continue to look colorful and it looks like next week will be quite warm. I'm targeting that week for another round of herbicide to get some of our later weeds and we'll continue our fall clean-up activities around the gardens. Next Wednesday night is the Ornamental Grasses talk by Nancy Nedveck of the Flower Factory at RBG (6 pm - 8 pm, free for RBG members, $5 for others). Check out www.rotarybotanicalgardens.org for information on our "fast-filling" fall symposium called Plant Appreciation. Below is an urn in the English cottage garden with leatherleaf sedge (Carex buchananii) as a centerpiece and the golden filler is the 'Molten Lava' ornamental shamrock (Oxalis vulcanicola) which looks great in part shade and is in many other locations around the gardens. Beneath this picture are some images from Olbrich Botanical Gardens which is another "must see" botanical garden only 50 minutes drive from Janesville.

Warm Sunshine

Today, though chilly in the morning, warmed up to about 77 degrees F with plenty of sunshine. It was a great day to be outside as evidenced by Magda in the top picture. She has a very nice border that looks great thru the summer but really hits stride in the fall with plenty of late blooming perennials, annuals and grasses. Magda is a volunteer that is considered an "assigned gardener" as she has her own garden space to maintain. She is one of about thirty or so volunteers that do take care of their own area. Magda, a retired floral shop owner and talented floral artist, has a great eye for combinations and we're fortunate to have her skill. The picture directly above is the leaf of the annual hibiscus (Hibiscus acetosella 'Maple Sugar') which offers some deep maroon coloration and a bold texture.

We had some recent, generous donations that will allow us to purchase spring bulbs for planting yet this fall. To the right are the bulbs that are left over from our fall sale. The good news is that they are still for sale and were transferred (by Big John) to the gift shop at the Parker Education Center and will be on sale for the next 6 weeks or so. We plant bulbs well in to November and my talk on Bulbs (October 26, 6 pm - 8 pm) should cover the wide range of options available for our climate. Many visitors still remember our Tulip Time display from 2000 and 2001 where we displayed over 500 varieties of tulips in clusters of 50 bulbs per variety. That was an awesome display although quite costly. To the left is the start of some fall color on the fullmoon maple (Acer japonicum 'Aconitifolium') in the fern & moss garden. We have three specimens of this maple and they always look dynamite for fall coloration. Many maples (Acer sp.) around town are starting to show color, particularly the red maples (Acer rubrum) and Freeman maples (Acer x freemanii) which are the cross between red maples and silver maples (Acer saccharinium). Aside from Magda out in the gardens, Dr. Gredler was here to mow and Tony F. was out in the gardens as well. Joanne A. was in her garden area weeding and we had a couple visitors as well. It's amazing how many people stop by after the plant sale to see if we're still selling plants (from the Horticulture Center) and what sort of a deal they can get! Nice shot to the right of a lantern in the Japanese garden with the new waterfall in the distance.

Directly above are more Autumn crocuses (Colchicum autumnale) coming up in the Japanese garden amongst the American ginger (Asarum canadense) plants. These bulbs are really starting to attract attention, particularly when that pink combines with the orange of marigolds (Tagetes) as seen to the right! That is definitely colorful and a warm combination for late in the year.

The grounds staff kept busy today with all sorts of projects going on throughout the day. Larry continued repairs on damaged irrigation in the Japanese garden and later moved on to watering and some tree pruning. Big John worked on hauling bulbs over to the gift shop, collecting leaves, rototilling and organizing the remainder of the plants that we still need to install (this is always a daunting task!). Janice worked on more tidying up in the sunken garden, reception garden, ornamental edible area and other select spots. She also watered the yard and continued her work putting out our new labels. I had multiple meetings and finished preparations for my talk tonight (Late-Blooming Perennials) at Olbrich Botanical Gardens (Madison, WI). I hope to get up there earlier and take some time enjoying (and photographing) the garden as I haven't visited since June. Time sure flies but I rarely miss the opportunity to visit other gardens for ideas and inspiration. To the left is one of our many Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum) varieties in the fern & moss garden. This is 'Samurai Sword' and while I don't notice much coloration difference from other painted ferns, this variety has sure been tough and vigorous. To the right is the southern entrance structure for the Japanese garden that includes a nice circular opening for a view to the pond.

We're actively and avidly promoting our Fall Symposium called Plant Appreciation that will occur on Saturday, November 5th. Our speakers include Roy Klehm (Song Sparrow and Beaver Creek Nursery), Jim Nau (Ball Seed Co.), Richard Hawke (Chicago Botanic Garden) and Dr. Laura Jull (UW-Horticulture Dept.). See www.rotarybotanicalgardens for more information and/or to download and print the registration form. I'm sure this symposium will be sold out just like our spring event. Directly below is the underside of the giant castor bean (Ricinus communis 'Zanzibariensis') leaf. This leaf is almost 4' across and our specimens this year are well over 12' tall. Very tropical look!