APGA Day 1

Day 1 of my mini-adventure out to the APGA (American Public Garden Association) Conference in Hamilton, Ontario is complete.  After stopping by the gardens this morning to make sure the Volunteer Work Day was in order, I hit the road and headed right to the Chicago Botanic Garden (Glencoe, IL) which is one of my favorite gardens.  Janice, Big John, Larry and Bill O. had everything in order and it looked like we had a nice turnout of volunteers with the planting projects complete by 10 am!  Rain last night and today was sure welcome as well.

I rarely make it to the Chicago Botanic Garden (CBG) in June and was glad I wandered for a couple of hours (and 566 photos later!).  While their annuals hadn’t quite filled out, there was lots to see.  They have a huge Brazil theme this year that can be seen throughout the gardens.  I drove through some heavy rain on the way there and despite carrying my umbrella, the weather was beautiful at the gardens with a nice breeze.  I will say that Saturdays are busy for sure!  I grew up in the Chicago area and don’t miss the traffic (which isn’t much milder on weekends!).  By the way, I used my RBG Membership card when entering CBG and the “reciprocity benefit” which allowed me to save $25 on parking today!  The reciprocity benefit extends to MANY other gardens around North America.  Just another reason to get that RBG membership.

I nabbed a couple neat plant photos included below and will hopefully have seen two more gardens in Canada by the time I blog tomorrow night.

love the silver blue of Bismarckia nobilis

blue corydalis (Corydalis elata) – perennial (tender!)

Rosa gallica ‘Versicolor’ (a real old variety)

Canary Island foxglove (Isoplexis isabelliana) – tropical

Scotch thistle (Onopordum acanthium) – biennial (above and below)

‘Guardian Blue’ delphinium (Delphinium sp.) – perennial

white lace flower (Orlaya grandiflora) – annual

straw foxglove (Digitalis lutea) – perennial

nice mass plantings near Evening Island…and they were renting canoes today!

‘Sunny Morning’ Martagon lily (Lilium martagon) – perennial

Sapphire Indigo™ clematis (Clematis hybrida ‘Cleminov 51’) – perennial

awesome shade garden shot – the grass is ‘All Gold’ golden Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) – perennial

mass planting of ‘Big Daddy’ hostas (Hosta sp.) – perennial

colorful plantings abounded! – all annuals

‘Miss Muffet’ caladium (Caladium) – tropical

Jerusalem sage (Phlomis fruticosa) – wouldn’t make it here…barely in Chicago as a perennial

a trio of nice ‘Sun King’ Japanese spikenards (Aralia cordata) – perennial

‘Coal Miner’ elephant ears (Colocasia esculenta) – tropical

blue trumpet vine (Thunbergia grandiflora) – tropical

picture perfect ‘Queen Lime’ zinnia (Zinnia elegans) – annual

Flower Carpet® Amber groundcover rose (Rosa hybrida ‘NOA97400A’) – woody shrub