Monday Magic

Today was our Spring Plant Sale Clearance which saw some action but the crowds were never overwhelming.  A big thanks to Tina, Marleen, El and Joy who ran the sale today as the rest of us headed in to the gardens on this beautiful spring day.  Nice shot above of ‘Blue Danube’ wild hyacinth (Camassia leichtlinii) combined with ‘Purple Sensation’ ornamental onions (Allium sp.).

 

The grounds crew had a busy day.  Cindy tidied, watered, weeded and planted.  She also potted up some new trial plants.  Larry H. continued mulching, planted perennials, installed signs and worked on some weed control issues.  Larry also made a run for plants after John returned from his trip.  John also put up all of our hanging baskets and secured them, took down the plant sale parking lot stakes/ropes and installed a new memorial bench.  Larry O. checked water features, weed whipped and helped our irrigation guys with some troubleshooting issues.  Trevor started back for his third summer and jumped right in to hauling topsoil, creating a mulch path and watering.  I was able to get out in the gardens to capture the images you see here and to place some plants for installation but most of my time was spent in the plant sale clearance.  It was a busy day.

red buckeye (Aesculus pavia) – woody tree

‘Tricolor’ Corneliancherry dogwood (Cornus mas) – woody tree

Spanish bluebells (Hyacinthoides hispanica ‘Queen of Pink’s) – perennial

Beaver Creek® witch alder (Fothergilla gardenii ‘KLMtwo’) – woody shrub

The photo above of Jan and Joe was taken on Sunday as they were two of our many, excellent volunteers out in the sale over this past weekend.  Our volunteers are so valuable and essential to everything we do at RBG, whether it is special events, gardening, education, tours, gift shop, etc.  Today was no exception for having excellent volunteers.  Ron R., Lloyd and Alan helped take down a tent then worked on tidying up the mulched tree circles in the arboretum.  Kathy and Eva did a nice job weeding in the shade garden.  Kristin, Stan, Greg and Cheryl all did some excellent work tidying in the Japanese garden.  Ron Y., Dave, Vern and Jim all had carpentry projects to accomplish.  Dennis J. worked along with Garrett and Wendy on the North path boulder wall (see directly below) which is coming along well.  Marv B. tidied up both of his moss areas which are looking excellent.  Dick H. ran to the dump and finished processing new aluminum plant sale labels.  Maury ran more errands for us and both Dr. Gredler and Maury mowed.  Bill O. and Dave K. worked on repairing some equipment after Bill finished mowing.  Becky was in to work on re-lettering our quote benches and she sure has a steady hand!  Barb C. spent some time working in the Giant Aquarium.  We also saw Don A., Mark S., Del, Marsha M., Cheryl D. and many others today.

Garrett, Wendy and Dennis (left to right)

Becky

Eva

Kathy P.

Marv B.

‘Herman’s Pride’ yellow archangel (Lamiastrum galeobdolon) – perennial

‘Kokumon’ tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa) – woody shrub

umbrella leaf (Dyphylleia cymosa) – perennial

shooting stars (Dodocatheon sp.) – perennial

flower of the Mayapple (Podphyllum peltatum) – perennial

variegated horsechestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum ‘Variegata’) – woody tree

prairie smoke (Geum triflorum) – perennial

flowers of the ‘Royal Cloak’ barberry (Berberis thunbergii) – woody shrub

above are just some of our many annuals poised and ready for installation!