Sunshine Abounds Again!

Nice shot above of the entrance to the Parker Education Center.  Lots of folks are smitten with the wave of lavender color out there with South American verbena (Verbena bonariensis) covering a lot of real estate.  It was a very busy morning with two large tours coming through the garden along with many additional visitors.  It’s great to see folks enjoy the gardens at the start of peak summer color.  Our grounds staff of Shania, Alex, Ibhar, Larry H. and myself all had a wide range of duties including resuming watering in select areas as needed.  We continue to fine tune many area and our volunteers are instrumental on a daily basis in helping improve the gardens.  Our volunteers today included Kathy P., Eva, Greg P., Cheryl P., Kristin, Urban, Jenny E., Maury and many others.  It was another very productive day.  There is no shortage of color out in the gardens this time of year!  The next three weeks will feature peak summer color out in the gardens.

fruits of pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia) – woody tree

golden hoptree (Ptelea trifoliata ‘Aurea’) – woody tree

‘Autumn Moon’ fullmoon maple (Acer shirasawanum) – woody tree

Ivory Halo® Tatarian dogwood (Cornus alba ‘Bailhalo’) – woody shrub

‘Hot Biscuits’ amaranth (Amaranthus cruentus) – annual

Wellness Garden plantings are filling in nicely (above)

‘Xanthos’ cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus) – annual

Sombrero® Flamenco Orange hybrid coneflower (Echinacea hybrida ‘Balsomenco’) – perennial

neat three tiered planter at the Horticulture Center with (top to bottom) – ‘Wicked’ ornamental hot peppers (Capsicum annuum), ‘Tricolor’ sage (Salvia officinalis) and ‘Hot Pops Purple’ ornamental hot pepper (Capsicum annuum) – directly below too!

willow-leaf amsonia (Amsonia hubrichtii) transitioning to late summer golden foliage – perennial

EnduraScape™ Pink Bicolor verbena (Verbena peruviana ‘Balendpibi’) – annual

hazy morning shots of the pastel theme in the entrance garden (above and below)

sea lavender (Limonium sp.) – perennial

‘The Blues’ little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) – perennial grass

sunflower (Helianthus annuus) in the Plants of the World (POTW) collection

the prairie is looking nice and colorful this summer! (above)