Heading In To Summer Peak

Today was another delightful one courtesy of Mother Nature.  Nice foliage combo above with ‘Purple Fountain’ European beech (Fagus sylvatica) and Tiger Eyes®  golden sumac (Rhus typhina ‘Bailtiger’) near the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children’s Garden.  It was partly cloudy most of the day and the temperature hovered around 80 degrees F with a nice breeze.  It was perfect day to be outside and I was able to get out and place a couple hundred plants for installation and had some other duties related to upcoming events.  The grounds staff of Larry H., Big John, Cindy, Janice and Trevor all had various duties and we were happy to see strong visitation today as well.  Our volunteers, as usual, were a huge help today as they are every day!

nice combo of ‘Summer Beauty’ ornamental onion (Allium sp.) in the foreground,  ‘Hummelo’ wood betony (Stachys monieri) in the middle and white gayfeather (Liatris spicata ‘Alba’) in the background

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

‘Cherry Fluff’ coneflower (Echinacea hybrida) – perennial

‘Thailand Giant’ elephant ear (Colocasia gigantea) – tropical

cat’s whiskers (Orthosiphon aristatus) – annual for us

monarch caterpillar on butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) in the Hummingbird Haven – perennial

come see the 2017 Garden Art Project with plenty of neat decorated fish like those seen above and below!

Vicki and Steve (above) did a nice job tidying up their areas and then moved in to a super weedy area that they are starting to reclaim along our west property line near Lion’s Beach!  We had a nice turn out of volunteers today.  Kathy (below) and Eva did some planting and were filling in some gaps here and there in our “Gothic theme” entrance garden.  The ladies then moved to weeding in the shade garden.  Kay and Terri were both in to not only tidy their areas (shade garden and gazebo garden respectively) but also planted in those spaces as well.  Bill O. was in for his mowing and Chuck came in for recycling.  Maury ran some errands for us and Vern was in for some carpentry work.  We also saw Roger, Marlene and some others today.

Kathy P. (above)

‘Lakeside Neat Petite’ plantain lily (Hosta) – perennial

the Coleus Collection is filling in nicely although we do have some fungal issues with all the rain!

Royal Hawaiian® ‘Maui Gold’ elephant ear (Colocasia esculenta) – tropical

variegated horseradish (Armoracia rusticana ‘Variegata’) – perennial

‘Jasmine Scented’ flowering tobacco (Nicotiana alata) – annual

‘Charlotte’ variegated speedwell (Veronica longifolia) – perennial

‘Torch’ Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia) – annual