Today was another delightful one courtesy of Mother Nature.  Nice foliage combo above with ‘Purple Fountain’ European beech (Fagus sylvatica) and Tiger Eyes®  golden sumac (Rhus typhina ‘Bailtiger’) near the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children’s Garden.  It was partly cloudy most of the day and the temperature hovered around 80 degrees F with a nice breeze.  It was perfect day to be outside and I was able to get out and place a couple hundred plants for installation and had some other duties related to upcoming events.  The grounds staff of Larry H., Big John, Cindy, Janice and Trevor all had various duties and we were happy to see strong visitation today as well.  Our volunteers, as usual, were a huge help today as they are every day!

nice combo of ‘Summer Beauty’ ornamental onion (Allium sp.) in the foreground,  ‘Hummelo’ wood betony (Stachys monieri) in the middle and white gayfeather (Liatris spicata ‘Alba’) in the background

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

‘Cherry Fluff’ coneflower (Echinacea hybrida) – perennial

‘Thailand Giant’ elephant ear (Colocasia gigantea) – tropical

cat’s whiskers (Orthosiphon aristatus) – annual for us

monarch caterpillar on butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) in the Hummingbird Haven – perennial

come see the 2017 Garden Art Project with plenty of neat decorated fish like those seen above and below!

Vicki and Steve (above) did a nice job tidying up their areas and then moved in to a super weedy area that they are starting to reclaim along our west property line near Lion’s Beach!  We had a nice turn out of volunteers today.  Kathy (below) and Eva did some planting and were filling in some gaps here and there in our “Gothic theme” entrance garden.  The ladies then moved to weeding in the shade garden.  Kay and Terri were both in to not only tidy their areas (shade garden and gazebo garden respectively) but also planted in those spaces as well.  Bill O. was in for his mowing and Chuck came in for recycling.  Maury ran some errands for us and Vern was in for some carpentry work.  We also saw Roger, Marlene and some others today.

Kathy P. (above)

‘Lakeside Neat Petite’ plantain lily (Hosta) – perennial

the Coleus Collection is filling in nicely although we do have some fungal issues with all the rain!

Royal Hawaiian® ‘Maui Gold’ elephant ear (Colocasia esculenta) – tropical

variegated horseradish (Armoracia rusticana ‘Variegata’) – perennial

‘Jasmine Scented’ flowering tobacco (Nicotiana alata) – annual

‘Charlotte’ variegated speedwell (Veronica longifolia) – perennial

‘Torch’ Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia) – annual

Today was absolutely beautiful with a combination of sun and clouds, a cool breeze and temperatures right around 75 degrees F.  While it was more reminiscent of later September, we didn’t complain and to have another day without rain is welcome so the gardens will actually dry out a bit.  Nice shot above of ‘Cinnamon Sunrise’ daylily (Hemerocallis) in the Potter Daylily Collection near the arboretum which is currently at peak!  We had another great day out in the gardens and saw a lot of visitors including a wedding party (on a Monday!) having photographs taken!

The grounds staff had a very busy day but thankfully it didn’t include a lot of watering.  Cindy continued to tidy the entrance garden which is a bit sloppy after all of the recent rains and she did water our holding yard as needed. She later shifted to the Hummingbird Haven theme in the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children’s Garden which is looking exceptional right now.  Big John worked on lots of pruning and shearing projects, container watering and many other odds and ends.  Larry H. continued some path tidying and was doing a whole lot of mulching in the woodland glen garden.  Larry O. worked on various pruning projects as well as some tasks around the Horticulture Center.  Trevor tidied the Giant Aquarium and shifted to clearing some of our drains that have become plugged up with all the recent rains and associated sediment.  The English cottage garden has become a real damp location recently due to some challenges.  I was able to tour the gardens and had a series of meetings today.

bloody dock (Rumex sanguineus ssp. sanguineus) – perennial

part of our dark color theme seen above (with culvert pipe planter)

‘Green Jewel’ coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) – perennial

alpine gentian (Gentiana septemfida var. lagodechiana) – perennial

‘Summer Beauty’ ornamental onion (Allium sp.) – perennial

one section (of two) of the pergola (above) in the French formal garden

the North point garden above is looking great

the dark theme is extended in to the terrace garden (seen above)

the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children’s Garden (above)

Marv (above) was one of many volunteers helping out today.  Marv was lovingly tending to his moss garden areas this morning.  Kathy and Eva worked on weeding in multiple areas while Dr. Gredler, Rollie and Bill O. took care of mowing duties.  Derrick and Bob K. tidied paths and did some weeding.  Dennis and Garrett (see below) continued work on the boulder retaining wall on the North path and are making great progress.  Dick H. ran to the dump and helped with some other projects. Dave, Vern, Ron Y., Steve and Jim D. had a wide range of carpentry projects to complete.  Maury ran errands and both Stan and Kristin were in to tidy up the Japanese garden.  Mary W. helped weed in the daylily collection and we were later joined by both Kay and Terri, both of whom continued tidying up their areas.  Ron P. worked on repairing more lights for the Holiday Light Show (HLS) and we saw many others today as well.

Dennis (left) and Garrett

Kay (above)

ROYAL HAWAIIAN® ‘Black Coral’ elephant ear (Colocasia esculenta) – tropical

‘Silver Falls’ Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum) – perennial

‘Fatal Attraction’ purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) – perennial

the ‘Dancing Waters’ fountain (above) had a bit of a rainbow this morning

cool container (above) seen at K&W Greenery (Janesville) this morning

our carpenters built this custom, double Adirondack chair that will soon go out in the gardens (beautiful!)!

I was in Madison Sunday afternoon and wandered over to Monona Terrace to see the William T. Evjue Rooftop Gardens.  Wow!  Really neat with many summer perennials at peak.  The view of the Capitol, Madison sky line and the lake is excellent here and there were many folks enjoying the setting and gardens as well!  I would say these gardens are two stories above street level and likely four stories above the water line of the lake.

Nice shot above of ‘Supreme Cantaloupe’ coneflower (Echinacea sp.) seen near the Heirloom Garden this morning.  Our summer blooming flowers are really hitting stride right now and recent heat, coupled with more than adequate moisture, has everything growing pretty well this week (including the mosquito population).  More rain is predicted throughout the week but our music event in the gazebo garden should be dry this evening!  The morning was actually quite cool and pleasant with humidity setting in after the lunch hour with overcast skies most of the day.  We had some great volunteer help today and our grounds staff accomplished a wide range of projects.  We had a bus tour from Cedarburg, WI today and they seemed to enjoy the gardens.  In fact, we had a lot of visitors out in the gardens throughout the day which is always nice to see!

The grounds staff accomplished a lot today and it was nice that the only watering needs were some of our containers and the yard plants!  Larry H. worked on mulching, watering, weeding, path repair, re-graveling and tidying up the gazebo garden for the event tonight.  Trevor push mowed and took care of watering all of our containers.  Big John also push mowed and worked on shearing shrubs, major pruning, securing our large bananas and other tasks.  I was able to get outside for quite a few tasks including some lawn fertilizing.  It was a busy day!

I didn’t get any photos of volunteers today but we sure had some good ones.  Kathy and Eva worked on some planting in the gazebo garden then shifted to pinching back our MANY coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) plants as well as significant weeding.  Vicky and Steve were in for some serious weeding and planted along the “scented wall”.  Vern worked on some painting and carpentry projects while Bill O. did some mowing and repairs in the Horticulture Center with Dave K.  We also saw Jim W., Tina B., Chuck S., Cheryl D., Dave B. and many others today.

‘Butterfly Kisses’ compact purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) – perennial

‘Milkshake’ double white coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) – perennial

one of the many shades (mix) of coneflower for the variety ‘Cheyenne Spirit’ (Echinacea hybrida) – perennial

‘Annabelle’ smooth hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens) – woody shrub

Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum var. pictum) – perennial

‘Delft Lace’ false spirea (Astilbe hybrida) – perennial

‘Fubuki’ Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) – perennial

‘Purpurkerze’ false spirea (Astilbe chinensis) – perennial

‘Sunburst’ false sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides) – perennial

‘Frosted Explosion’ annual switchgrass (Panicum elegans) with ‘Profusion Orange’ zinnia (Zinnia hybrida) – both annuals

rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium) – perennial

the North Point garden as seen this morning

the Hummingbird Haven theme in the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children’s Garden

Tiger Eyes® sumac (Rhus typhina ‘Bailtiger’) – large woody shrub

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

‘Royal Blue Ensign’ dwarf morning glory (Convolvulus tricolor) – annual

the corner planting near the “Biota” sculpture is looking great (nice job Hal and Doris!)

exquisite bloom of eggplant (Solanum melongena) – annual

It was a beautifully sunny day today and the rain over the weekend has kept everything damp…in some cases, overly so.  The weeping willow (Salix) directly above hasn’t minded all the moisture but some plants are resenting being perpetually damp and combined with some cool overnight temperatures, fungal issues abound! There is sure a lot of color out in the gardens and also some great fragrance.  The photo at the very top shows chocolate cosmos (Cosmos atrosanguineus) which is a fragrant annual that smells like dark chocolate (from close proximity)!.  One of our garden areas is a scented border and runs along the wall overlooking the observation pier.  We spent a lot of time today tidying up paths, repairing path washouts and in essence, negating much of the obvious results of a very heavy downpour.

The grounds staff had a busy day.  Larry O. worked on draining, cleaning and refilling the sunken garden pond and he also worked on some gravel washouts from the storm.  He helped water containers and had to pick up some supplies as well.  Cindy worked on significant “post-storm” issues in other garden areas then shifted to the Hummingbird Haven theme in the Nancy Yahr Memorial Childrens’ Garden and later watered the yard.  Larry H. worked on repairing many path segments that were affected by the storm.  He also worked on some plant staking and other tasks. Trevor had a wide range of duties today including primping the Giant Aquarium, spreading topsoil, working on drainage problems and significant work with the blower on messy paths.  Big John and Bobby K. dismantled and removed our “everflowing urn” water feature which has been quite problematic.  They then installed our new garden kaleidoscope which looks excellent in that location.  I had some work out in the gardens but am also getting some closure on our Home Garden Tour which was held this past Saturday and enjoyed by over 400 attendees.

golden wafer ash (Ptelea trifoliata ‘Aurea’) – woody tree

popcorn plant (Cassia didymobotrya) is blooming strongly – seasonal plant

‘Armor Yellow’ cockscomb (Celosia cristata) – annual

giant fleabane (Inula magnifica) – perennial

Above are Kathy (left) and Eva getting ready for some fun out in the gardens.  These ladies were two of many that helped out on this beautiful day.  The ladies worked on hauling out caladiums to the gazebo garden which they helped plant and Terri came in later to finish them off. Barb S. helped weed in that area and all the ladies later shifted to weeding in the woodland walk garden.  Alan and Bob K. continued working on weeding while Ron R. and Derrick did path and patio tidying along with Lloyd.  Rollie did a huge amount of mowing and Dick H. ran to the dump and worked on some other projects as well.  Vern, Steve J., Ron Y. and Jim were all working on carpentry projects.  Ron P. continued to repair lights for the Holiday Light Show (HLS).  Don and Pearl came in to touch up their garden space and both Kristin and Stan were in to tidy up in the Japanese garden.  Garrett worked on clearing weeds and brush around benches on the other side of the arched bridge while Elaine tidied up in the woodland walk.  Alan M. and Bob K.  continued with their weeding project.  We also saw Gary, Becky and many others today.

Bobby K. (left) and Big John

Barb S. (above)

Lloyd (above)

Rollie (above)

Ron (left) and Derrick

‘Armor Yellow’ cockscomb (Celosia cristata) – annual

‘Strawberry Blonde’ marigold (Tagetes patula) – annual

Mystic Illusion™ dahlia (Dahlia hybrida ‘Knockout’) – annual

Lemon Coral™ stonecrop (Sedum mexicanum) – annual

the raised beds at the Horticulture Center are looking fabulous

This past Saturday, July 15th, was a beautiful day for the 23rd Annual Rotary Botanical Gardens Home Garden Tour.  With ample sunshine and temperatures in the upper 70 degrees F, we saw over 400 attendees descend upon eight lovely gardens and RBG as well.  These photos don’t due the gardens justice but give a taste of what attendees enjoyed throughout the day.  This event would not be possible without our wonderful volunteers and the planning of of our Home Garden Tour Committee (Barb T., Marcia N., Marcia M., Jean S., Sue S., Carol K., Cora O., Janet Miller and Dave G.) and RBG staff (Maryam and Hayley).  Our volunteers helped as ticket takers and also garden docents.  Thanks to our supporting ad sponsors, NBC15, WCLO, AM1380 and our major sponsors: K&W Greenery, DWG Landscaping, LP Tree Service, Agrecol, The Bower City Garden Club, Dvorak Landscape Supply, Creative Gardening and Wirkus Nursery.  And of course, our garden owners were so generous with sharing their gardens for this vital fundraising event!

Dawn (left) and Victoria (RBG Volunteers)

Joanne Anderson (RBG Volunteer but also shared her gardens on the tour!)

Sandy and Bob (RBG Volunteers)

Kay (left) and Terri (RBG Volunteers)