Ample Rainfall

We think we had almost 5″ of rain overnight and the gardens were a mess this morning as seen in some of these photos.  With so many gravel paths, heavy rainfall usually creates some washouts but we’ve never seen them this bad (directly below!)!  Most of our staff and volunteer efforts today revolved around tidying up the gardens.  There weren’t many large branches down but there were plenty of smaller twigs, leaves and plenty of mud!  Some hot, dry weather would help but it looks like more rain tomorrow and perhaps Saturday.  Well, at least we didn’t have to water today!

Our grounds staff of Cindy, Bobby K., Larry H., Larry O., Trevor and myself all had myriad duties and everyone was involved with tidying and some clean-up associated with the storms.  We put a hold on planting today due to the muddy beds but didn’t run out of jobs.

Volunteers like Ron R. above, had a busy day today.  Ron and Kathy P. started with some clean-up and Kathy then worked with Suzy and Marilyn on some weeding around the trial beds at the Horticulture Center.  Ron continued his clean-up efforts throughout the gardens.  Marv B. (directly below) worked on his moss areas and helped tidy some paths.  Bob K. did a whole bunch of weeding and cutting back bulb foliage in two locations.  Rollie and Dr. Gredler did their mowing rounds.  Jim H. brought three RECAPPERS to tidy up the Japanese garden.  Dick H. ran to the dump and helped with some other projects while Steve J., Ron Y., Jim and Vern worked on carpentry projects.  Peg worked on plant labels in the afternoon.  Ron P. was in to repair lights and we also saw Maury, Gary, Becky, Mark S., Bill F. and many others.

Marv B.

Bob K.

Suzy (left) and Marilyn

Summer Ruffle™ variegated Rose-of-Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus ‘Aarticus’) – woody shrub

variegated obedient plant (Physostegia virginiana ‘Variegata’) – perennial

Tiger Eyes® sumac (Rhus typhina ‘Bailtiger’) – woody shrub

‘Postman’s Pride’ stonecrop (Sedum hybrida) – perennial

‘All Gold’ Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) – perennial

‘Sun King’ golden Japanese spikenard (Aralia cordata) – perennial

Giant Exhibition™ ‘Magma Scarlet’ coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) – annual

‘Ghost’ hybrid painted fern (Athyrium hybrida) – perennial

Japanese aster (Kalimeris incisa) – perennial

one of our coneflower (Echinacea sp.) trial entries…..vivid color!