Still Colorful Out There!

Nice shot above of the golden Japanese orixa (Orixa japonica ‘Aurea’) which is a tough shrub that most folks aren’t aware of yet!  The glossy,  bright gold foliage in spring fades to a chartreuse in summer then transitions back to a soft gold in fall.  We’ve planted about 10 more of these at the gardens in the last year or so due to their toughness and durability (particularly in shade and in heavy root competition from trees.  Today was overcast for most of the day and the temperature was comfortable.  The gardens continue to look quite colorful although we are starting to remove some annuals that are failing.  The bulk of our summer color, however, continues to persist.

Our grounds crew today of Cindy, Larry H., Big John, Janice, Terry and Bobby K. all had a wide range of tasks.  We continue to run irrigation and set up sprinklers as we haven’t seen rain in many weeks.  We do have a promising chance of precipitation tonight but we never count on it.  Everyone had some degree of watering today and tasks ranged from general gardening to Holiday Light Show (HLS) set-up.  Our volunteers included Kathy, Eva, Marleen, Kay, Bill, Maury, Vern, Mary Kay and some others.  It was another nice October day to be out in the gardens.

‘White Christmas’ caladium (Caladium) – tropical

the Hummingbird Haven theme in the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children’s Garden is still looking great!

‘Wallowa Mountains’ mossy sandwort (Arenaria sp.) – perennial

‘Black Pearl’ ornamental hot pepper (Capsicum annuum) – annual

these little “Gothic pockets” of color on the terrace are still looking good!

‘Lemon Lace’ vine (Fallopia aubertii) – woody vine

awesome grouping of popcorn cassia (Cassia didymobotrya) – tropical

‘Sky Rocket’ fountain grass (Pennisetum x advena) – annual

‘Born’s Gracious’ skeleton-leaf silver maple (Acer saccharinum) – woody tree

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

fruiting structures of Japanese spikenard (Aralia cordata) – perennial

‘Miyazaki’ toadlily (Tricyrtis hirta) still looking great – perennial

bloody dock (Rumex sanguineus ssp. sanguineus) – perennial

‘Dallas Red’ lantana (Lantana camara) – annual

Bobby K. is doing a nice job upgrading this electrical panel…probably should have turned it off first….

‘Ping Pong Lavender’ globe amaranth (Gomphrena globosa) – annual

awesome haul from the Chestnut House volunteers and Janice last week (photo from Janice)