Heat Wave!

Today was hot!  We didn’t expect to see 90 degrees F this late in September considering how cool and damp it has been all year. but those are the cards we’ve been dealt!  The intense heat, breeze and recent lack of rain made watering a huge priority today.  Nice shot above of ‘Helen Campbell’ spider flower (Cleome hassleriana) catching some morning light (annual).  Our grounds staff of Larry H., Larry O., Bobby K. and myself all had a wide range of duties.  Larry O. and Bobby K. had quite a few jobs with our water lines, irrigation and watering while Larry H. helped water and continued his excellent progress on the Holiday Light Show (HLS) set-up.  It was a very busy day at the gardens with lots of visitors and activity out in the gardens proper.  It looks like we’ll have three more days of 90 degrees F which will be a curve ball in terms of watering but we’ll be up to the task.

‘Fireball’ French marigold (Tagetes patula) – annual

impressive hole dug by a tree spade to accept a “soon to be relocated” tree…unfortunately 2 irrigation lines were severed (my fault!)

Our volunteers, like Kay above, were a huge help today.  Kay tidied up her area in the shade garden which is seeing plenty of cottonwood (Populus deltoides) leaves drifting down consistently.  Kathy and Eva tidied multiple areas and Kristin was in to do her thing in the Japanese garden which included lots of primping.  Gena, Myrt, Nancy and Patty were all on hand to continue tidying up in the woodland walk garden.  Dennis continued his Herculean efforts on the north path improvement project. We had eleven volunteers helping this morning as part of the United Way Day of Caring.  We did a whole lot of leaf raking which was definitely warranted.  Janice worked with our Chestnut House volunteers on some projects which also included leaf collection.  We saw many other volunteers today.

we had the help of 11 excellent volunteers today as part of the United Way Day of Caring – they did A LOT of raking!

Mike O. was large and in charge with hauling leaves to the compost pile today

‘Pink Frost’ Japanese Joe-pye weed (Eupatorium fortunei) – perennial

the fern & moss garden

‘Queen Red Lime’ zinnia (Zinnia elegans) – annual

fragrant heliotrope (Heliotropium aborescens ‘Alba’) – annual

the entrance garden (above) still is looking quite vivid

‘Iron Butterfly’ ironweed (Vernonia lettermannii) – perennial

‘Bonanza Orange’ French marigold (Tagetes patula) – annual

white autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale ‘Album’) – perennial

a colorful border in the gazebo garden