Second Favorite Time of Year!

img_5784

My favorite time of year is early May with my second favorite time being mid October (right now!).  I love the transition to fall colors like those seen in the bloody cranesbill geranium (Geranium sanguineum) above.  Peak fall color in this area is likely in the next 7-10 days.  However, the cooler temperatures this time of year are quite nice as well.  Today was a combination of cloudy skies, a bit of sunshine, sporadic drizzle, rain and then repeat all of these again.  We had a super turnout of volunteers and the rain didn’t thwart most of our efforts out in the gardens.  We did have some indoor work though to keep occupied with much of it related to Holiday Light Show (HLS) preparations.

Larry H. and Larry O. potted up some ‘Thailand Giant’ elephant ears (Colocasia gigantea) for winter storage and had various watering duties (before it rained).  Larry H. moved on to HLS tasks (see below) while Larry O. had more watering and some other duties.  Janice decorated more obelisks for the HLS, had some meetings and worked with our Chestnut House volunteers.  Big John and Bobby K. put up lights in the sunken garden (see photo below) and had a wide range of other tasks.  I bounced between projects and strung out a record low ONE extension cord today!  I’ll have to pick up my “HLS game” here very soon!  All the photos were from today.

 

img_5746

our 44 bananas (Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurelii’) have all been dug and potted for winter storage

img_5751

‘Arendsii’ monkshood (Aconitum carmichaelii) – perennial

img_5757

fall color starting on golden larch (Pseudolarix amabilis) – deciduous conifer

img_5760

fall color on Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii, unknown variety) – woody shrub

img_5764

Easy Elegance® Snowdrift shrub rose (Rosa ‘BAIrift’) – woody shrub

img_5766

Easy Elegance® Paint the Town shrub rose (Rosa ‘BAItown’) – woody shrub

img_5749

Our volunteer turnout on Wednesdays continues to be quite strong.  Kathy and Eva were joined by Firefighter Kathy (see below) for some plant removals.  We have a chance of frost tonight and sporadically until next week when we think we’ll have a “killing” frost.  We do remove some annuals right before frost as their removal is so much easier before they become mushy and a lot harder to remove after a frost!  Alan (above) and Dick H. have been literal machines over the last two days dicing up two trees that we had dropped on Monday.  Marilyn H. helped yesterday afternoon as well.  Dick H. ran A LOT of debris to the dump over the last couple of days.  Myrt, Patty, Mary and Gena worked on plant removals along with Vicki and Steve.  Marv B. tidied up his two moss areas and we also saw Chuck S., Mary Beth, Dr. Gredler and many others today.  The Chestnut House volunteers also did an excellent job with some removals out in the gardens as well.

img_5753

Eva (left), Firefighter Kathy and Kathy P. removing caladiums

img_5754

Bobby K. (left) and John putting up new LED strands in the sunken garden

img_5786

Larry H. putting lights on the Azumaya

img_5787

Marv B.

img_5793

Ron P. in his repair shop

img_5796

Gena (above)

img_5797

Patty, Myrt, Mary, Steve, Vicky and Gena (left to right)

img_5770

Vermillionaire™ hybrid cigar flower (Cuphea hybrida) – annual (great for hummingbirds!)

img_5772

fall color on ‘Whitespire Senior’ gray birch (Betula populifolia) – woody tree

img_5798

dwarf lion’s tail (Leonotis leonurus) – annual (great for hummingbirds!)

img_5773

‘Red Neck Girl’ forsythia sage (Salvia madrensis) – annual for us

img_5777

colorful calyces on seven-son-flower (Heptacodium miconioides) – large woody shrub

img_5778

fall color of ‘Red Bull’ big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) – perennial

img_5781

‘Santa Barbara’ Mexican bush sage (Salvia leucantha) – annual for us