A Fun Tour Group

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Today was hot and humid.  It was fairly brutal out there but the gardens continue to thrive like this composition above featuring an Abyssinian banana (Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurelii’) in the background.  We were a bit surprised by how many visitors were out in the gardens but it made for a fun day as we also had a tour with the grounds crew from the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater (seen below on the arched bridge).  Chuck and John brought the crew down to explore the gardens for a couple of hours and it was nice to share the gardens with them along with information on how we maintain the gardens.  It’s always fun to “talk shop”! :)

Our grounds staff proved their mettle again today being out in the gardens all day with a wide range of duties to accomplish.  Nolan worked on weed whipping, edging and watering while Trevor skimmed/replaced gravel and watered.  Terry moved sprinklers around, sheared willows (Salix) and had many other duties.  Big John also had sprinkler duties, pruning and continues to do a great job pressure washing benches, stones, walls and other “targets” out in the gardens that attract his attention.  Janice worked on more labels for our new All-America Selections (AAS) perennial trials and had some other tasks as well.  Larry had a wide range of duties including mulching, watering and some other odds and ends.  I gave the tour this morning and sprayed our entire holding yard for weeds in advance of the big Fall Plant Sale coming up in September.

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UW-Whitewater Grounds Crew

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the Giant Aquarium continues to engage and inspire (above and below)

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the garden bed above is filling in nicely (that haze in the middle is the grass below…)

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‘Frosted Explosion’ annual switchgrass (Panicum elegans) – annual

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‘Rooguchi’ clematis (Clematis hybrida) – perennial vine

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Our volunteers braved the heat as well and were very productive.  Larry (above) watered the yard and then started getting the largest weeds out in that area before our Fall Plant Sale arrives on September 10th and 11th (pre-sale for RBG Members on the 9th!).  Larry also had some other projects. Alan (below) continued with tidying efforts over at the Horticulture Center.  Kathy and Eva weeded and tidied in many areas and Kay continues to wage war on the weeds in the woodland walk.  Gena, Mary, Myrt (with two grandkids!) and Nancy targeted the woodland walk as well with weeding efforts.  Vern was in for some carpentry and Marv B. continues to make the two moss gardens look exceptional.  Sutton was in for some watering duties and path work and we also saw Maury, Marsha M., Rick L. and many others today.

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Alan

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Eva (left) and Kathy

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Marv B.

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‘Profusion Double Deep Salmon’ zinnia (Zinnia sp.) – annual

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‘Inferno’ coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) – annual

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‘Golden Dreams’ coleus (Solenstemon scutellarioides) – annual

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‘Hot Biscuits’ amaranth (Amaranthus cruentus) – annual

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Vertigo® elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum) with friends – annual

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Abyssinian bananas (Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurelii’) hovering above amaranths

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‘Copperhead’ copperleaf (Acalypha wilkesiana) – annual

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the fern & moss garden was looking idyllic this morning