Color Fix for a Cloudy Day

We had quite a bit of rain overnight and aside from a couple of hours of sunlight this afternoon, it was fairly gloomy.  I wanted to share some photos I took this past Sunday at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago, Illinois.  This is a fabulous conservatory and the gardens around the conservatory are worth the visit later in the season as well.

We had a very productive day with many volunteers on hand working an a wide range of tasks.  Kathy P., Eva and Liz worked on garden clean-up after planting the remainder of our caladiums.  Bob K. worked on mulching and collecting debris.  Alan painted our Adirondack chairs while Vern, Marv, Steve J. and Jim continued with their carpentry projects.  Maury and Dick H. picked up the remainder of our bananas from K&W Greenery and both had other tasks as well.  Dr. Gredler aerated some lawns while Marcia L. and Mirjam composted in their assigned garden – the English cottage garden.  In the afternoon, Dr. Gredler and his son Phil painted in the Giant Aquarium.  Jason brought down five RECAPPERS and they helped install our three giant culvert pipe planters.  Peg continued work on our plant records.  We also saw Gary, Rollie and many others today.  We also had a meeting to work on the layout of the Giant Aquarium which included Barb C., Marleen, Julie, Becky and myself.

Our grounds staff kept busy as well.  Cindy worked on pricing many of the options in our Pansy Sale which starts (in tandem with our Compost Sale) this Saturday at the Horticulture Center from 8 am until 12 noon.  Cindy also did a whole lot of mulching and tidying.  Larry H. had a wide range of projects with plenty of mulching and composting as well.  Larry O. continued to finish some tasks associated with our water system and bounced between some other projects.  I had some meetings and continue to complete spring orders and details for looming events.

Guzmania ‘Sir Albert’

orchid (Cymbidium sp.) – above and below

fragrant stocks (Matthiola incana) with Japanese maple (Acer palmatum)

‘Gypsy Queen’ garden hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis)

pocketbook flower (Calceolaria herbeohybrida) – above and below

‘Magic Mix’ monkey flower (Mimulus sp.) – annual

Twisty Baby™ black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Lace Lady’) – woody tree (fragrant!)

‘Ukigumo’ Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) – woody tree

freesia (Freesia ‘Priscilla’)

Philodendron xanadu ‘Golden’

Persian buttercup (Ranunculus sp.)

‘Elegance Claret’ geranium (Pelargonium)