Happy 4th (A Day Early!)

Happy early 4th of July!  After a weekend of beautiful weather (and lots of garden visitors!), today started with some light rain but the sun came out quickly and the day warmed to 83 degrees F.  We had a solid turnout of both grounds staff and volunteers today as we get ready for a busy day tomorrow.  Visitation should be quite strong tomorrow and we are offering free admission for veterans and active military personnel (with ID). We haven’t had as much heat as I’d like to see and recent heavy rains and cool nights have created some issues.  However, our displays are filling in nicely and July will be a strong month for growth.  Nice shot above of Incrediball® smooth h ydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens ‘Abetwo’).

Larry O., Larry H., Bobby K., Trevor, Big John, Cindy and I were all here as grounds horticulturists today with a wide range of tasks to tackle.  Duties included shearing, pruning, mulching, tidying paths, fertilizing, planting and just about every other type of horticultural task.  We still have some planting to accomplish over the coming weeks including many perennials and shrubs.  We are also trying to catch up with our plant labeling and plant records.  July is a busy month with weeding also being a primary task!  The weeds have loved all the rain..as have the mosquitoes.

with a bit of rain, the ‘All Gold’ Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) looks like a waterfall in this location

‘Little Rocket’ ligularia (Ligularia stenocephala) – perennial

golden hop-tree (Ptelea trifoliata ‘Aurea’) – woody tree

water lilies (Nymphaea) are filling out nicely – perennial

Our volunteers had a busy day today.  Above are Eva (left) and Kathy weeding in the gazebo garden.  The ladies later moved to the reception garden which had plenty of action in terms of weeds.  Bob K. and Alan did a great job weeding (even in the rain) out near the arboretum.  Kay always does a nice job tidying up her portion of the shade garden.  Dennis (directly below) worked on the  North path.  Ron R. and Steve E. tidied up gravel paths and in many instances, skimmed muddy gravel and replaced these spots with fresh path gravel.  Rollie and Dr. Gredler finished their mowing rounds while Bill O. finished shearing the boxwoods (Buxus ‘Green Velvet’) at the pergola.  Stan and Kristin were out to tidy in the Japanese garden and Amy H. was nearby weeding as well.  Dave, Jim, Ron Y. and Steve J. all had carpentry projects and Maury ran some errands.  Gary worked on some new labels and Peg was in to continue working on our plant records and label preparations.  Barb C. was out working in the Giant Aquarium.  We also saw Mary Kay, Becky and many others today.

long distance photo of Dennis…not really sure what he is doing but those boulders lined up by his legs make it look like he has huge giant boots on!

observation pier in the distance with zig-zag bridge in the foreground

nice shot (above) in the Japanese garden

the plants at the North Point garden are filling in nicely

speckled maple (Acer pictum ssp. mono ‘Hoshiyadori’) – woody tree

variegated Corneliancherry dogwood (Cornus mas ‘Variegata’) – woody tree

‘Vienna’s Weeping’ European hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) – woody tree

‘Astra Blue’ balloon flower (Platycodon grandiflorus) – perennial

Black Lace® elderberry (Sambucus nigra ‘Eva’) – woody shrub

‘Pink Cotton Candy’ wood betony (Stachys officinalis) – perennial

‘Leilani’ hybrid coneflower (Echinacea hybrida) – perennial

a stoic garden visitor

the Giant Aquarium is looking great by the way!

SunPatiens® Compact Tropical Rose impatiens (Impatiens x hybrida ‘SAKIMP037’) – annual

‘Painted Lady’ sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus) in the Heirloom Garden – annual

bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora) – woody shrub (colonizing!)