Autumn is definitely in the air with cool mornings, leaves turning color and some early raking activities.  It was another beautiful day but we sure could use the rain that might appear this evening.  It is getting dry out there in non-irrigated areas!  Above is a nice shot of one of blue varieties of fragrant heliotrope (Heliotropium arborescens).  We had a great day out in the gardens.  Big John, Larry H., Larry O., Terry N. and Cindy were on staff today and had a wide range of tasks including some Holiday Light Show (HLS) preparations by John, Larry H. and Terry.  We’re moving full steam ahead on the HLS set up over the coming eight weeks.

Our volunteers of Winifred, Shirley H., Kathy, Eva, Ron R., Lloyd, Dennis, Garrett, Alan, Bob K., Ron Y., Dave, Vern, Steve, Jim, Dick H., Dick P., Rollie, Dr. Gredler, Maury, Chuck S. and many others had a productive day with myriad projects occurring throughout the day.  We also saw Becky, Maryam and many others.

‘Versicolor’ variegated giant reed (Arundo donax) – non hardy grass

‘Dakota Gold’ sneezeweed (Helenium amarum) – annual

‘Carmencita Red’ castor bean (Ricinus communis) with ‘Sky Rocket’ variegated fountain grass (Pennisetum x advena) – both annuals

fruits (drupes) of a female white fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus) – woody tree

Terry is already putting up lights on our outer fence!

underside of the leaf for white beam (Sorbus aria) – woody tree

variegated umbrella sedge (Cyperus albostriatus ‘Variegatus’) – not hardy

‘Nagoya White’ kale (Brassica oleracea) – annual

‘Honorine Jobert’ Japanese anemone (Anemone x hybrida) – perennial

‘Little Henry’ sweet coneflower (Rudbeckia subtomentosa) – perennial

‘Solar Cascade’ goldenrod (Solidago shortii) – perennial

‘Summer Chocolate’ mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin) – non hardy woody (above and below)

‘Black and Blue’ blue anise sage (Salvia guaranitica) – annual

‘Patio Sky Blue’ gentian sage (Salvia patens) – annual

‘Fireworks’ rough-stemmed goldenrod (Solidago rugosa) – perennial

grafted Siberian cypress (Microbiota decussata) – woody shrub

sweet autumn clematis (Clematis terniflora) – perennial vine (fragrant!)

‘Evening Fragrance’ devil’s trumpet (Datura meteloides) – annual (fragrant! poisonous!)

‘Pamina’ Japanese anemone (Anemone hupehensis var. japonica) – perennial

‘Dark Beauty’ toadlily (Tricyrtis formosana) – perennial

I attended the Third Annual Ornamental Grasses Day held at Intrinsic Perennial Gardens, Inc. (Hebron, IL) today and had a blast!  I attended this event last year and will make it an annual ritual.  We had garden tours, lectures and time to network. I saw many folks that I knew and appreciate Brent Horvath, owner of Intrinsic Perennial Gardens, Inc., hosting this event.  RBG is also a customer of this nursery and Brent supplies his wonderful plants for both our spring and fall plant sales.  Brent, Jill Selinger (Chicago Botanic Garden) and Roy Diblik (Northwind Perennial Farm) gave great presentations and we’ll have Roy at RBG for our November 4th Fall Symposium.   RBG was in good hands with Janice, Cindy, Larry H., Bobby K. and our wonderful volunteers today.  Hopefully we’ll see some rain soon.

‘Blackhawks’ big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) – perennial

ornamental grass border

‘Blonde Ambition’ grama grass (Bouteloua gracilis) – perennial

‘Dancing Wind’ big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) – perennial

Jill Selinger (Chicago Botanic Garden) talking about bulbs with grasses

‘Pillow Talk’ stonecrop (Sedum hybrida) – perennial

Roy Diblik (Northwind Perennial Farm) who will be at our November 4th Symposium! (very inspirational)

‘Red Glare’ fountain grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides) – perennial

We had a very foggy start to the day which, while a bit eerie, was pretty cool in terms of how the garden looked (above).  The fog lifted quickly as the sun emerged and we had another warm, mostly sunny day.  I’ve been remiss in blog postings as it has been extremely busy with the Fall Plant Sale wrap up, continued gardening efforts and an increasing momentum on our Holiday Light Show (HLS) set up daily with only 9 weeks left for set-up (not a lot of time!).  I gave a tour this morning for members of the Morning Rotary Club that meets at the gardens every Thursday morning and we had a great time.  The day then became very busy for both grounds staff and volunteers with lots of activity.  Larry O., Larry H. and CIndy all had a wide range of tasks including plenty of watering during this dry spell.  We had some exciting news today with the donation of a utility cart from Jim’s Carts N Parts (Milton, WI) which was delivered by Jim Jr. (directly below) this morning.  We greatly appreciate the donation and this cart is a “sweet ride” and welcome addition to the fleet!

Our volunteer efforts over the last two days have been significant out in the gardens and at the Horticulture Center.  Yesterday we had Kathy, Eva, Kristin, Dr. Gredler, Bill O., Gena, Mary, Myrt, Patty, Nancy, Sue, Maury, Marv and many others (bad memory).  Today was another full crew of Alan, Bob K., Bob C., Kathy, Eva, Bonnie, Liz, Marilyn, Dick, Steve, Ron P., Ron Y., Dave, Jim, Vern, Maury, Peg, Dr. Gredler, Rollie, Vera, Firefighter Cathy, Terry and many more!  The volunteers are a very productive group and they work well together in so many instances.  Today was no exception with such a diverse range of projects being addressed.

trouble x 6 with Patty, Sue, Gena, Nancy, Myrt and Mary (left to right) – Wednesday

‘The Giant’ autumn crocus (Colchicum autumale) at peak – perennial

BIOTA sculpture (by O.V. Shaffer) with ‘Yvonne’s Giant’ annual salvia (Salvia splendens) – annual

red verbena (Verbena hybrida) – have to check on that variety

the prairie (above) is looking good!

Mystic Illusion dahlia (Dahlia hybrida ‘Knockout’) with ‘Sylphid’ plume celosia (Celosia plumosa) – annuals

‘Hortensia’ giant coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata) – perennial

‘Jimmy Nardello’ pepper (Capsicum annuum) – annual

signs of fall with cottonwoods (Populus deltoides) already dropping leaves

our tropical beds, here featuring ‘Maurelii’ Abyssinian bananas (Ensete ventricosum) have filled in well

‘Diane’s Gold’ false forget-me-not (Brunnera macrophylla) – perennial

‘Indian Summer’ gloriosa daisy (Rudbeckia hirta) amongst the foliage of popcorn cassia (Cassia didymobtrya)

variegated giant reed (Arundo donax ‘Versicolor’) – not hardy

‘Zahara XL White’ zinnia (Zinnia marylandica) – annual

SunPatiens® Compact Tropical Rose impatiens (Impatiens hybrida) – annual

Quick Fire® panicled hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata ‘Bulk’) – woody shrub

our “Scented Wall” plantings still look great…the dark maroon is chocolate cosmos (Cosmos atrosanguineus) – annual

Today was another beautiful sunny one with blue skies and temperature around 75 degrees F.  Today was our one day only Plant Sale Clearance which included a 15% discount off of everything at the sale.  We saw decent traffic to the sale and overall we had a pretty busy weekend with the sale which originally started last Thursday evening with our RBG Members Only Pre-Sale event.  Once the sale is over and packed away for the season, our primary focus will be the set-up for the Holiday Light Show (HLS).  While early September seems odd for setting up holiday lights, it is not too soon to begin our set up duties in earnest as we only have 9 weeks of set-up time left to be ready by our opening evening of November 24th (Black Friday).  Directly above is the fruiting structure for Japanese spikenard (Aralia cordata).

Our volunteers today included Kathy, Eva, Derrick, Gary, Maury, Marv B., Terry N., Steve, Jim, Dave, Dennis, Garrett, Vern, Dick H., Ron Y., Alan, Bob K., Ron R., Lloyd, Bob C., Peg, Dick P., Marleen, Magda, Sue C., Grace, Joy, Barb, Tina, Dr. Gredler and Rollie.  We also saw Becky, Marcia L. and many others today.  The grounds staff of Cindy, Larry H., Larry O. and Big John all had a wide range of duties with everyone also having significant watering tasks.  We haven’t had decent rain in a couple of weeks which hasn’t happened in many months as we were pampered with reliable rains.  I helped with the sale today and am preparing for many of our looming events at the gardens.  There was no shortage of color out in the gardens with these photos from today being evidence!

‘Miyazaki’ toadlily (Tricyrtis hirta) – perennial

‘Pearl Frost’ variegated orixa (Orixa japonica) – woody shrub

fruits of American cranberrybush viburnum (Viburnum trilobum) – woody shrub

‘Hot Lips’ turtlehead (Chelone lyonii) – perennial

‘Mexican Single’ fragrant tuberose (Polianthes tuberosa) – tropical (fragrant!)

chocolate cosmos (Cosmos atrosanguineus) – annual

‘Cheyenne Sky’ switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) – perennial

‘Lemon Queen’ perennial sunflower (Helianthus hybrida) – perennial

the “Gothic theme” looks great out on the terrace as well! (above)

variegated obedient plant (Physostegia virginiana ‘Variegata’) – perennial

stiff goldenrod (Solidago rigida) – perennial

fragrant blooms of the seven-son-flower (Heptacodium miconioides) – woody small tree / large shrub

‘Desert Black’ stonecrop (Hylotelephium telephium) – perennial

‘Lemon Lace’ silver lace vine (Fallopia baldschuanica) – woody vine

‘Firecracker’ variegated fuchsia (Fuchsia triphylla) – annual

‘Velvet Elvis’ lavender spurflower (Plectranthus hybrida) – annual

Our Members Only pre-sale at the Fall Plant Sale went well last night (Thursday) with strong attendance.  One of the great perks for our members is the pre-sale component of both our spring and fall sales where members enjoy “first dibs” and a 10% discount over the entirety of the sale.  There are also beverages and snacks involved!  The first day of the public portion of the sale started today (Friday) and we saw excellent traffic!  The sign above shows some of our other popular, “non-plant” offerings.  A big thanks to all the volunteers that helped get the sale ready over the last couple of weeks and have helped staff it recently.  We have great helpers for the rest of the weekend as well.  Larry H., Bobby K. and Cindy took care of the gardens today with help from Kathy, Eva and Bill O.  We still have oodles of great plants left and the sale continues from 9 am until 6 pm both Saturday and Sunday.

Bev and Ron W. (above) – past volunteers (they moved away!) at the Member’s Only sale

neat $5 aster with an awesome volunteer – Chris G. (above)

Kay (left) and Terri – great volunteers who appreciate gardening and a good beer

Yes! We will sell mums by the trailer load – Mark S. (above)

Josef and Debbie – new RBG volunteers

these young lads managed the carts well today!

RBG staff – Hayley, Chris and Maryam (left to right)

the prairie is looking great this year with all of the rain

the ‘Biota’ sculpture was looking nice amongst the flowers this morning

‘Flower Tower’ tall tickseed (Coreopsis tripteris) – perennial (blooming at 8′ tall!)

the “Gothic theme” continues to look great! (above and below)

‘Strawberry Fields’ globe amaranth (Gomphrena haageana) – annual

‘Honorine Jobert’ Japanese anemone (Anemone hybrida) – perennial

‘Little Henry’ sweet coneflower (Rudbeckia subtomentosa) – perennial

‘Garland Orange’ African marigold (Tagetes erecta) – annual (5′ tall!)

popcorn plant (Cassia didymobotrya) – tropical

the Garden Art Auction was this evening….I’m sure all 28 of the fish found a great home!

‘Fireball’ French marigold (Tagetes patula) – annual