It was another perfect October day today with sunshine and a high temperature around 74 degrees F.  The gardens continue to look exceptional with most of our annuals still looking good and our late season perennials, ornamental grasses and early fall color completing the autumn scene. Nice shot above of ‘Dark Opal’ basil (Ocimum basilicum) in one of our raised planters.  This plant wont like the looming cold this month but is hanging in there for now!  We had a great volunteer turnout today and saw many guests out in the gardens.

Our grounds staff of Cindy, Larry O. and Larry H. kept busy with a wide range of tasks.  The gardens were still wet from rainfall on Tuesday night and with looming showers over the next two days, we hope the gardens stay wet.  Cindy focused on garden tidying and container watering.  Both Larrys mowed and Larry O. helped with watering and other projects while Larry H. (see further below) continues to make daily significant progress with Holiday Light Show (HLS) set-up duties.  I’m still trapped with desk work but will be slinging cords next week to start my six weeks of running extension cords for the HLS.

fall color begins on Tiger Eyes® golden sumac (Rhus typhina ‘Bailtiger’) – woody shrub

big patch of Megawatt™ Pink Bronze Leaf begonia (Begonia hybrida) – annual

blooms of ‘Autumn Bride’ coral bells (Heuchera villosa) – perennial

‘Premium Sun Crimson Gold’ coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) – annual

fruits of Korean mountain ash (Sorbus alnifolia) – woody tree

‘Sparkle White’ gaura (Gaura lindheimeri) – tender perennial

‘Indian Summer’ gloriosa daisy (Rudbeckia hirta) – annual

We had a nice volunteer turnout today.  Above is Ron Y. working on renovating an antique sleigh for our Holiday Light Show (HLS).  This will be a neat, new addition to the event!  Nearby were Jim, Dave, Vern (seen below lettering a new memorial bench) and Steve.  The guys continued working on their carpentry projects.  Ron P. is back at his HLS repairs!  Dick H. made some dump runs while Maury ran errands.  Lloyd went out to collect leaves while Alan and Bob K. worked on a couple different projects.  Kathy, Eva, Suzy and Vera tidied up in the woodland walk garden and were joined by Brian.  Dick P. continued installing bricks and both Rollie and Dr. Gredler did their mowing rounds.  We also saw Maryam, Hayley, Vicky O., Mary Kay, Lisa I. and many others today!

Vern the Southpaw in front with Ron P. in the back

Larry H. has been a HLS set-up machine with significant progress daily!

peek-a-boo plant (Spilanthes oleracea) – annual

‘Ginger Love’ fountain grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides) – perennial

lemon bergamot (Monarda citriodora) – annual

one of our annual beds (above)

double dolphin wall fountain with surrounding Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) – woody vine

‘Phoenix Red’ beardtongue (Penstemon hartwegii) – annual

the North point garden (above)

interesting fall spotting (every year!) on ‘Autumn Moon’ fullmoon maple (Acer shirasawanum) – woody tree

intensifying autumn colors on ‘Wetumpka Red’ Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) – woody tree

Ivory Halo® tatarian dogwood (Cornus alba ‘Bailhalo’) – woody shrub

‘Firecracker’ variegated fuchsia (Fuchsia triphylla) – annual

Nice shot above of ‘Alexander’s Great’ false forget-me-not (Brunnera macrophylla).  We finally had some rain over the evening.  It was fast and furious with some thunder but did bring us 4/10″ of much needed moisture!  The cooler temperatures today brought in some great volunteer help.  We still have quite a few visitors to the gardens as the color is still quite exceptional.  We’ll start removing some of our seasonals next week in advance of our Holiday Light Show (HLS) set-up needs.  We also need to process our larger tropicals for winter storage.

Our grounds crew kept busy today.  Larry H. focused primarily on HLS set-up and is moving in to some new territory after doing a smash up job installing LED lights in the Japanese garden.  Cindy was in this morning to help tidy a couple locations and is an expert at deadheading (removing spent blooms) to encourage more flowering.  We are trying to extend flower interest until hard frost!  Janice was in to work with our Chestnut House volunteers (see below).  Larry H. did some watering but also accomplished most of our “end of the season” weedwhipping rounds.  Bobby K. finished up some work on recently upgraded electrical panels and I spent most of the day getting my tardy 2018 plant orders together (yes! this early!).

angel’s trumpet (Brugmansia sp.) blooming with strong fragrance today – tropical

‘Purple Ball’ basil (Ocimum basilicum) – annual

Easy Elegance® Kashmir rose (Rosa ‘BAImir’) – woody shrub

‘Rubenza’ cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus) – annual

Cannova® Bronze Orange canna (Canna x generalis) – tropical

‘Coffee Cups’ elephant ear (Colocasia esculenta) – tropical

Our Chestnut House volunteers (seen above) did a fantastic job today picking and collecting vegetables. This talented team were some of MANY volunteers that we had on this fine sunny day.  It was perfect working weather with sunshine and temperatures in the lower 70 degrees F.  Cathy, Eva and Marleen worked on continued tidying efforts in multiple garden areas including some spaces that will host weddings this Saturday.  Today was a Story & Stroll program so we saw lots of children and parents/grandparents enjoying this autumn day at the gardens.  Firefighter Cathy was here to rake the paths and the quartet of Kristin, Stan, Greg P. and Cheryl P. converged on the Japanese garden for tidying.  Dick P. picked up memorial bricks and started installing them today while Dr. Gredler did some touch up mowing.  Maury ran errands for us and was here for a meeeting.  Gena, Myrt, Mary and Nancy collected leaves and debris from the woodland walk garden this afternoon.  We also saw Bill O., Hal R., Becky, Norm, Matt and many others today.

‘Starlight Blue’ sapphire flower (Browallia americana) – annual

‘Arendsii’ monkshood (Aconitum carmichaelii) – perennial

‘Everillo’ golden sedge (Carex oshimensis) – perennial

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

Indian shot canna (Canna indica) – tropical

‘Red China’ eggplant (Solanum melongena) – annual

‘Tabasco’ hot peppers (Capsicum frutescens) – annual

leathery capsules of yellow buckeye (Aesculus octandra) – woody tree

neat Shasta daisy (Leucanthemum x superbum) in our trials (un-named) – perennial

this neat, three-tiered planter made by our Grumpies has another batch of veggies taking root!

Nice shot above of the golden Japanese orixa (Orixa japonica ‘Aurea’) which is a tough shrub that most folks aren’t aware of yet!  The glossy,  bright gold foliage in spring fades to a chartreuse in summer then transitions back to a soft gold in fall.  We’ve planted about 10 more of these at the gardens in the last year or so due to their toughness and durability (particularly in shade and in heavy root competition from trees.  Today was overcast for most of the day and the temperature was comfortable.  The gardens continue to look quite colorful although we are starting to remove some annuals that are failing.  The bulk of our summer color, however, continues to persist.

Our grounds crew today of Cindy, Larry H., Big John, Janice, Terry and Bobby K. all had a wide range of tasks.  We continue to run irrigation and set up sprinklers as we haven’t seen rain in many weeks.  We do have a promising chance of precipitation tonight but we never count on it.  Everyone had some degree of watering today and tasks ranged from general gardening to Holiday Light Show (HLS) set-up.  Our volunteers included Kathy, Eva, Marleen, Kay, Bill, Maury, Vern, Mary Kay and some others.  It was another nice October day to be out in the gardens.

‘White Christmas’ caladium (Caladium) – tropical

the Hummingbird Haven theme in the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children’s Garden is still looking great!

‘Wallowa Mountains’ mossy sandwort (Arenaria sp.) – perennial

‘Black Pearl’ ornamental hot pepper (Capsicum annuum) – annual

these little “Gothic pockets” of color on the terrace are still looking good!

‘Lemon Lace’ vine (Fallopia aubertii) – woody vine

awesome grouping of popcorn cassia (Cassia didymobotrya) – tropical

‘Sky Rocket’ fountain grass (Pennisetum x advena) – annual

‘Born’s Gracious’ skeleton-leaf silver maple (Acer saccharinum) – woody tree

‘Prairie Sun’ gloriosa daisy (Rudbeckia hirta) – annual

fruiting structures of Japanese spikenard (Aralia cordata) – perennial

‘Miyazaki’ toadlily (Tricyrtis hirta) still looking great – perennial

bloody dock (Rumex sanguineus ssp. sanguineus) – perennial

‘Dallas Red’ lantana (Lantana camara) – annual

Bobby K. is doing a nice job upgrading this electrical panel…probably should have turned it off first….

‘Ping Pong Lavender’ globe amaranth (Gomphrena globosa) – annual

awesome haul from the Chestnut House volunteers and Janice last week (photo from Janice)

The weather was quite nice today with temperatures back near 80 degrees F.  The last couple of days have been comfortably cool but a little more sun and heat this week should extend our seasonal displays which are still hanging in there for the most part.  We hope the chance of rain happens this Wednesday and Thursday as we have been without significant rain for almost six weeks now.  Above is ‘Ripple Effect’ plantain lily (Hosta sp.) with some nice, undulating foliage.  This time of year will become frantic once overnight frost temperatures start arriving.  We have tropical plants to dig out and store as well as the quick conversion to lots of Holiday Light Show (HLS) set-up which continues daily.

Our grounds crew of Cindy, Big John, Terry, Larry O., Larry H., Bobby K. and myself all had myriad jobs to accomplish.  Larry H., John and Terry continue with efforts for the HLS set-up.  They all had watering duties as well as did Cindy and Larry O.  Cindy worked on some gardening tasks as well. Bobby K. continues to work on some projects at the gardens including some power-related improvements that are necessary for the HLS.  I caught up on some tasks and treated our formal garden turf for grubs as the skunks/raccoons? are tearing up the turf looking for a grub snack!

Divine™ ‘Lavender Improved’ New Guinea impatiens (Impatiens hawkeri) – annual

‘Trudy’ toadlily (Tricyrtis hirta) – perennial

‘Evening Scent’ angel’s trumpet (Datura meteloides) – annual (nice lighting!)

annual bed above

Rockin’™ Playin’ the Blues® salvia (Salvia hybrida) – annual

‘Ivory’ African marigold (Tagetes erecta) – annual

Forest Rouge™ black-haw viburnum (Viburnum prunifolium ‘McKrouge’) – woody shrub

I had to leave early Thursday and missed Friday last week and wasn’t able to give a shout out to all of our great volunteers that have been helping out.  Today was no exception with having a great volunteer turnout.  Above are Garrett (left, supervising) and Dennis working on the north path project which is coming along quite well.  Kathy and Eva were out planting and tidying.  Alan, Ron R. and Bob K. were out collecting leaves while Dr. Gredler and Rollie mowed.  Ron Y., Steve, Dave and Jim continued work on building new obelisks (for sale in the Cottage Garden Gallery!).  Marv B. worked on his moss areas and we had office help from Peg (labels) and Mary Kay (library updates).  Maury ran errands for us and Dick H. made some dump runs as well.  We also saw Hayley, Maryam and many others today.  It was a very productive day.

Marsha M. (poised and ready for hummingbirds….)

‘Ozawa’ ornamental onion (Allium thunbergii) – perennial

Vermillionaire® firecracker plant (Cuphea hybrida) – annual

donkeytail spurge (Euphorbia myrsinites) – perennial

Denver Daisy™ gloriosa daisy (Rudbeckia hirta) – annual

bee on ‘Torch’ Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia) – annual

monarch on zinnia

Jolt™ Pink pinks (Dianthus hybrida) – annual

‘Raydon’s Favorite’ aromatic aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolius) – perennial

Nice shot directly above of golden fragrant mint bush (Leucosceptrum japonicum ‘Gold Angel’) blooming today with lots of pollinators visiting!  It was a beautiful day with a cool start which we all enjoyed after the recent heat wave.  With a high of 70 degrees F today, it was perfect working weather and we took advantage of it to be sure.  It was nice to see so many visitors enjoying the cooler weather as well.  Our grounds staff consisted of Larry H., Larry O. and Bobby K.  Both Larrys had plenty of watering and Larry H. continued Holiday Light Show (HLS) set-up efforts.  Larry O. was a sprinkler master as we have some irrigation that isn’t currently working so are setting up lots of sprinklers which is an art form.  Our last good rain was over four weeks ago now.  Bobby K. had various projects and also helped with some watering duties.

‘Pearl Frost’ Japanese orixa (Orixa japonica) – woody shrub

‘Honorine Jobert’ Japanese anemone (Anemone hybrida) – perennial

blackberry lily (Belamcanda chinensis) – perennial

‘Little Henry’ sweet coneflower (Rudbeckia subtomentosa) – perennial

‘Tangerine Gem’ signet marigold (Tagetes tenuifolia) – annual

Mesa™ ‘Red’ blanket flower (Gaillardia x grandiflora) – perennial

With the return of cooler weather, we had a strong turnout of volunteers today!  The last seven days of 90 degree F weather has been challenging to say the least. Marleen (above) was in to tidy her area today and always does a superb job.  Dennis continued his efforts on the north path project which is coming along quite nicely.  Alan M. was in to collect leaves for most of the morning and both Kathy and Eva did much of the same.  Greg P., Cheryl P., Kristin and Stan all tidied up in the Japanese garden.  Gena, Myrt, Nancy and Patti were all in to help collect leaves from the woodland glen garden.  The Chestnut House volunteers were on hand and very productive at the Horticulture Center. Peg was in to work on labels and she and I tackled two areas in need of revised and updated labeling (woodland walk and sunken garden).  Dr. Gredler was in for some mowing as well.  We also saw Maury, Gary, Marsha M., Karen B. and many others.

Alan M. (black belt in raking)

Kathy (left) and Eva

nice view from the North point patio (another perspective of that same space directly below)

‘Lime Green’ flowering tobacco (Nicotiana alata) – annual

early fall color on ‘Aconitifolium’ fullmoon maple (Acer japonicum) – woody tree

cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) – annual

balloon plant (Gomphocarpus physocarpus ‘Oscar’) – annual

‘Jasmine’ flowering tobacco (Nicotiana alata) – annual (uber fragrant at dusk)

the Giant Aquarium is still looking great and sharing the story Commotion in the Ocean by Giles Andreae

nice foliage combination with popcorn cassia (Cassia didymobotrya) in the foreground (not hardy)