Peak Summer Color Has Arrived!

Nice shot above of Easy Elegance® My Girl rose (Rosa hybrida ‘BAIgirl’) in the French formal garden.  It was a beautiful, late July day with ample sunshine and a temperature around 83 degrees F.  While it hasn’t dried out in the shadier locations out in the gardens, some of the more exposed spots were getting dry and needed some watering today.  It looks like some rain later in the week which would continue a great run of nicely spaced showers since May!  Our grounds staff of Larry O., Larry H., Cindy and Trevor all had watering duties of some sort today along with other garden tasks to accomplish.  I had some meetings and am getting ready for our August 9th Horticulture Therapy Conference (see our website and register!) and our Fall Plant Sale isn’t that far away either (September 8, 9 and 10 with RBG Member pre-sale on the 7th).

Surprisingly I didn’t take any photos of our wonderful volunteers today but we sure had a good batch of them.  With projects ranging from weeding to edging and sweeping to mowing, it was a very productive Monday as usual.  Kathy and Eva weeded in multiple locations while Dr. Gredler and Rollie took care of the mowing.  Alan, Bob K., Lloyd, Derrick and Ron R. all had gardening duties while Dick H. ran to the dump multiple times.  Stan, Kristin, Greg and Cheryl all spent some quality time in the Japanese garden which is looking great.  Ron Y., Vern, Steve and Jim worked on a wide range of carpentry projects while Ron P. was close by repairing lights for the Holiday Light Show (HLS).  Hard to believe that some initial set up for the HLS will begin in about a month!  UGH.  Maury ran errands for us and we saw Mark S., Maryam, Becky, Barb C. and many others today.

sea lavender (Limonium latifolium) – perennial

‘Wendy’s Wish’ salvia (Salvia hybrida) – annual

‘Tritunia Blue Star’ petunia (Petunia) – annual

‘Gateway’ Joe-pye weed (Eupatorium maculatum) – perennial

‘Love and Wishes’ salvia (Salvia hybrida) – annual

I keep photographing the North Point garden which looks awesome! (above)

‘Mazurkia’ zinnia (Zinnia elegans) – annual

‘Cupcakes Mix’ cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus) – annual

scarlet gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata) – annual

the Gothic theme in the entrance garden (above) is filling in well

Persian shield (Strobilanthes dyerianus) – annual

variegated cattails (Typha latifolia ‘Variegata’) – perennial

‘Prairie Sun’ gloriosa daisy (Rudbeckia hirta) – annual

‘Blue Mink’ flossflower (Ageratum houstonianum) – annual

Abyssinian bananas (Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurelii’) are loving all the recent rain!

Royal Hawaiian® ‘Black Coral’ elephant ear (Colocasia esculenta) – tropical

fragrant heliotrope (Heliotropium arborescens ‘Atlantis’) – annual

‘Prairie Moon’ rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium) – perennial (with garden phlox)

the Giant Aquarium (above and below) is looking really neat right now!