Today was breezy and chilly but still unseasonably warm for the last day of October (Happy Halloween!).  We all took advantage of a nice day to get out in the gardens with a renewed focus on setting up the Holiday Light Show (HLS).  With only about three weeks to get everything finished up before our testing process, the timeline is tight considering the addition of over 50,000 new lights (mostly LEDs).  We still have some gardening to take care of and the gardens continue to be colorful as evidenced by the fall color shots included here.  Above is a red maple (Acer rubrum) at the Horticulture Center looking quite vivid right now!  We had a strong turnout of volunteers and our grounds staff had a very busy day which also included having our irrigation lines blown out and checked over by Evergreen Irrigation (Rockford, IL).

Larry O. worked with the Evergreen Irrigation guys most of the day but was able to work on some HLS tasks as well.  Cindy had some gardening tasks but spent the bulk of the day running lights for our 2,000 half gallon, milk jug luminaries.  She also hauled and placed more of these as our HLS route materializes more daily.  Larry H. helped run cords to many of our dangling icicle lights and put up lights in more locations.  Big John also decorated with lights, cleared containers and had a wide range of additional HLS tasks and duties.  Bobby K. helped bring in the two large fountains (see further below) and continues to prepare one of our giant obelisks (20′ tall) to be placed and secured on the U.S.S. Ginger (our raft).  Janice was in briefly to work on some tasks for our Fall Symposium which takes place this Saturday and Terry popped in to check on the gardens.  I ran cords most of the day and will need to do so solidly over the next three weeks so we’re ready to go.

fall color on Korean maple (Acer pseudosieboldianum) – woody tree

fall color on State Street® Miyabe maple (Acer miyabei ‘Morton’) – woody tree

witchhazel (Hamamelis virginiana) in bloom – woody tree

awesome close-up of monkshood (Aconitium carmichaelii) still in bloom – perennial

late bloom of spiderwort (Tradescantia sp.) – perennial

Kathy and Eva (above) didn’t have any gardening duties today!  They went around and put colorful tape on our hundreds of icicle lights and made sure they were untangled and anchored down as needed.  The piece of tape keeps us from getting tangled up in the lights but we also think it helps our nightly deer see them as well!  Alan and Bob cleared our sunken garden containers, rolled up hoses and started cutting back some roses.  Gene and Lloyd collected leaves and debris while both Dave E. and Shirley cleared more plants and collected debris as well.  Dick P. and Dick H. (along with Bobby K.) retrieved our two fountains for winter storage.  Dick H. also made many trips to the dump as our debris pile continues to grow daily.  Dr. Gredler was out mowing and Nancy N. was in for more painting.  Dave, Vern, Jim and Ron Y. had a wide range of carpentry projects.  Becky re-lettered some of our benches with black ink (very nice job).  Kay was in to clear debris and leaves from her area and both Bill O. and Dave K. helped with some vehicle repairs.  Maury ran errands and Peg worked on labels.  It was a very full (and productive) crew!

Alan (left) and Bob K.

Dr. Gredler had a nice surprise when the irrigation popped up during his mowing!

Our elite fountain retrieval team – Dick H., Dick P. and Bobby K. (left to right)

Shirley H.

Bill O. (left) and Dave K.

fall crocus (Crocus sativus) – saffron crocus – perennial

‘Moudry’ fountain grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides) – perennial

the undersides of Korean maple (Acer pseudosieboldianum) – woody tree

‘Phantom’ panicled hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata) – woody shrub

red oak (Quercus rubra) – woody tree

underside of a sugar maple (Acer saccharum) above and bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora) below

A wonderful person and volunteer passed away late last week.  We’ll miss Pat here at the gardens, particularly her spectacular smile.  Our condolences go out to her husband Pete, son Jesse and the rest of her family and friends.  Her obituary can be seen at http://www.albrechtfuneralhomes.com/obituaries/Patricia-Sue-Rademacher?obId=1188459#/obituaryInfo.  Included here are just some of the photos of Pat helping at the gardens as a volunteer.  Whether it was help with plant labels, plant sales, the Garden Expo, planting, Volunteer Committee obligations, working with Pete and Mark S. at the Parker Center, etc…., Pat always had a smile and will be missed by everyone.

There was nothing casual about today!  We had a cool, windy day but the temperature was fairly comfortable.  LP Tree Service came with two bucket trucks for the second day in a row and finished hanging lights for our HLS.  The guys are excellent and have done this for many years….I now have to run cords to everything but we’re glad more lights are up!  We also had a group of young volunteers from Oakhill Christian School that came to help with various gardening tasks.  This group has come every spring and fall for well over 10 years I’m sure!  We appreciate their help (see below)!  Nice shot above of ‘Honorine Jobert’ Japanese anemone (Anemone hybrida) still in bloom!

Janice was a huge help with the Oakhill Christian School volunteers this morning and continues to put in quite a bit of time preparing for the Fall Symposium on November 5th.  Cindy had some watering duties but spent most of her day on HLS tasks including continuing to lay out and prepare our half gallon, milk jug luminaries.  Larry H. helped Bobby K. put lights on a giant obelisk and had some other duties (as did Bobby K.).  I had some meetings, helped with the volunteers and continue to juggle a couple different priorities; not the least of which is my personal involvement in running extension cords!

glowing fall color on American smokebush (Cotinus obovatus) – large woody shrub

interesting fall color pattern on oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) – woody shrub

fall color on Golden Peep™ forsythia (Forsythia x intermedia ‘Courdic’) – woody shrub

above are just some of the lights LP Tree Service hung both today and yesterday

Above are the volunteers from Oakhill Christian School this morning.  The crew did an awesome job in three different areas with raking and debris collection.  This group has historically come every spring and fall and does a superb job.  Some of their activities can also be seen below.  Eva helped with this group and hauled back many loads of debris.  She then went on to help Kathy straighten and mark our new “icicle lights” that were hung by LP Tree Service.  We put a bit of florescent tape on each strand to make them visible and hopefully keep deer from blindly running in to them and getting tangled up (this has happened before!).  Don and Pearl removed annuals from their garden space and ran many loads back to the compost pile.  Kay was in to tidy her area (plenty of leaves) and Kristin touched up the upper Japanese garden.  Cheryl D. was in the Japanese garden as well and brought back many loads of debris.  Bill O. did his mowing rounds and Ron P. was in most of the day to repair lights.  It was a busy day at the gardens and a lot was accomplished!

Cheryl D. (above)

Pearl and Don

Kathy P.

Kristin (above)

Kay (with witchhazel)

Paul (above) from LP Tree Service seen helping attach lights for us on the building!

Rob Ferrett from Wisconsin Public Radio stopped by for a visit and tour today

intensifying fall color on Boston ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata) – woody vine

tatting fern (Athyrium filix-femina ‘Frizelliae’) – perennial

‘Green Envy’ purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) still flaunting some blooms – perennial

‘October Skies’ aromatic aster (Aster oblongifolius) – perennial

‘Royal Flush’ monkshood (Aconitum carmichaelii) is still going strong! – perennial (poisonous!)

Well, I forgot to finish my Thursday blog at home last night so here it is!  It has been crazy at work with preparations for the Holiday Light Show (HLS) and ending the gardening season.  I read in the newspaper yesterday that we may end up with one of the latest frost dates on record!  Regardless of impending frost, we continue to clear annuals, cut back perennials and enjoy fall color on the ‘Aconitifolium’ fullmoon maple (Acer japonicum) seen above.  We have four of these beautiful trees and all are at various stages of “fall color awesomeness”.

Big John, Cindy, Larry H., Larry O., Bobby K. and I were all involved with various HLS duties yesterday as well as some other odds and ends.  Most of the grounds staff will shift exclusively to HLS preparations as our November window is tight for getting the show up, tested, tweaked and ready to rock and roll.  We’ll get there I’m sure and our wonderful volunteers continue to help with a wide range of tasks including fall clean-up duties.

‘Hoshi yadori’ variegated painted maple (Acer pictum ssp. mono) – woody tree

Little Lime® panicled hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata ‘Jane’) – woody shrub

fall color on royal fern (Osmunda regalis var. spectabilis) – perennial

fall color on Amur maple (Acer ginnala) – woody tree

The photo above is from our Volunteer Appreciation Dinner last night at the gardens.  I believe we had over 130 in attendance which is an excellent crowd.  Maryam, Polly, Chris and the volunteer committee did a nice job preparing for this event.  Gary Smith (below) started the night by introducing our new Executive Director, Rebecca Kronberg, who will start on Monday.  The event went well and we ended the evening by recognizing Gary and his FOURTH term as interim Executive Director and his continued commitment to the gardens.

We had a huge number of volunteers today.  A wide range of gardening tasks, carpentry and HLS-related activities were occurring in earnest!  Volunteers included Marilyn, Liz, Barb, Shirley H., Kathy, Eva, Dave E., Steve J., Dick H., Alan, Bob K., Gene, Vern, Dave, Ron Y., Jim, Steve S., Vicki, Dr. Gredler, Nancy N. and many more.  There were a lot of folks here today as evidenced by a full parking lot at the Horticulture Center.  Above are Steve J. (foreground) and Gene collecting leaves.  The paths were covered with leaves and twigs after the wind and rain throughout yesterday.  It was a very productive day all around!

Bob K. (left) and Alan with ‘Black Stockings’ elephant grass (Pennisetum hybrida) – annual (not hardy)

busy gazebo garden!

John (left) and Bobby K. working on one of our giant obelisks to be used in the HLS

Steve and Vicki decorating trees

LP Tree Service was on site all day to put up lights for the HLS – thanks guys!

LP Tree Service was on site all day to put up lights for the HLS – thanks guys!

meadow rue (Thalictrum sp.) gets some nice fall color too! – perennial

‘Tamukeyama’ cutleaf Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) – woody tree

fall color of ‘P.J.M.’ rhododendron (Rhododendron hybrida) is quite nice – woody shrub

With today being a blistery and blustery deluge with dark skies, I thought some “blog color” would be in order.  All of these photos of monarchs were taken by Ken Tapp, a local photographer, who shares much of what he captures out in the gardens.  We have such great “volunteer” photographers like Ken, Marcia, Ken, Santos, Barb and Tina who share their beautiful images.  We saw a lot of monarchs this year, particularly in August and September when they targeted our Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia rotundifolia ‘Torch’), South American verbenas (Verbena bonariensis) and much more!

We had quite a bit of indoor work today which included processing lights for the Holiday Light Show (HLS), processing labels, etc.  Volunteers included Kathy, Eva, Marlene, Vern, Ron P. and Dick H.  Our grounds staff of Larry O., Larry H., Big John, Cindy, Bobby K., Janice and myself all had a wide range of projects as well.  Larry H. and John loaded and hauled off our bananas (Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurelii’) for winter storage which was not a task the rest of us envied. We sure can use the moisture although the sideways wind wasn’t appreciated.  This would have been a whole lot of snow if the weather was colder so we’ll take this as some much needed Autumn moisture!  Enjoy the photos of this amazing creature.