Warmest Day Left?

With more rain overnight Sunday and a drizzly start this morning, I thought we would have a rainy day and lose some momentum.  We ended up with a warm and sunny day in short order and were able to get outside for a very productive day in a damp garden!  Nice shot above of various hot peppers (Capsicum sp.) that Janice and the “Green Team” dug late last week and planted in pots for arrangements to be used at our Volunteer Appreciation Dinner next week.  Those colorful fruits sure offer a lot of color and many of these varieties also have colorful foliage.  Our grounds crew of Larry H., Janice, Alex, Cindy, Big John and Terry all had a busy day with Holiday Light Show (HLS) preparations and many gardening tasks.  I actually started running my first cords!  With the chance of frost later in the week, we’re pulling annuals right now to also prepare for getting the HLS ready to rock and roll!  Our volunteers today included Kathy P., Cathy, Josh, Lloyd, Alan, Steve E., Steve J., Ron Y., Dave, Jim, Vern, Dick H., Dr. Gredler, Phil, Jenny, Dave, Maury and many more.  It was another wonderfully productive day!

Northern sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium) – perennial

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

 Prince Tut™ papyrus (Cyperus papyrus) – not hardy

one of many neat props out in our StoryWalk theme this year!

‘Canary Wing’ begonias (Begonia sp.) – annual

‘Blazin’ Lime’ bloodleaf (Iresine hybrida) – annual

fall color on Bowman’s root (Porteranthus trifoliatus) – perennial

‘Fireworks’ variegated fountain grass (Pennisetum x advena) – annual

late season color on ‘The Blues’ little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) – perennial

cranberry cotoneaster (Cotoneaster apiculatus) – woody shrub

seed heads forming on sweet autumn clematis (Clematis terniflora) – perennial vine

variegated fiveleaf aralia (Eleutherococcus sieboldianus ‘Variegatus’) – woody shrub

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

Malabar spinach (Basella rubra) – annual vine (edible!)

yellow buckeye (Aesculus octandra) – woody tree