Nice shot above of the Heirloom Garden which has filled in nicely over the past couple of weeks!  With all the recent rains, our concerns haven’t been about irrigation or watering but have shifted to potential problems of too much water (fungal issues, rotting, flooding, etc.)!  We had a very mild day today with cloudy skies all day and a temperature in the lower 70 degrees F.  We’ll miss this day next week when it is back to being hot but it felt like an autumn day out there today!  Our grounds staff of Larry H., Janice, Cindy, Bobby K., Nolan and Trevor all had a wide range of duties.  We worked around a bus tour that was enjoying the gardens and the set-up and start of a Friday wedding in the sunken garden.  Duties for the grounds staff included planting, weeding, mowing, blower rounds, path work, etc.  There was no shortage of tasks.  I was able to check out the gardens thoroughly but had some other obligations associated with our Home Garden Tour tomorrow (9 am – 3 pm).

‘Zahara Double Raspberry Ripple’ zinnia (Zinnia marlyandica) – annual

the moss island is looking excellent!

‘Tani-mano Uki’ pine (Pinus parviflora) – compact conifer

‘Lime Green’ flowering tobacco (Nicotiana alata) – annual

Cindy (above) chillin’ out in the Hummingbird Haven which she tends with TLC

Above are Kathy (left) and Eva who did a nice job weeding today.  We also had Bill O. in for his Friday mowing rounds.  Kristin was in to tidy up in the Japanese garden.  Vern came in for some painting and we saw some others as well.  It was a light day for volunteers but a beautiful day to be outside in our home gardens which is where I imagine many of our volunteers were located today!  I didn’t blog yesterday but know we had a huge turnout for Thursday activities and tasks.

purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) is looking great this year – perennial

‘Bishop of Llandaff’ dahlia (Dahlia hybrida) – annual

dill (Anethum graveolens) – annual

queen of the prairie (Filipendula rubra ‘Venusta’) – perennial

I’m so glad we added these signs this year! (so I wont get lost)

lilies (Lilium sp.) are still at peak right now with many being extremely fragrant!

‘Milkshake’ coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) – perennial

‘Rooguchi’ clematis (Clematis hybrida) – perennial

‘Early Splendor’ fountain plant (Amaranthus tricolor) – annual

‘Boule de Neige’ pearlwort (Achillea ptarmica) – perennial

giant coneflower (Rudbeckia maxima) – perennial

the Coleus Collection (above and two below) is filling out nicely!

‘Tigereye Spider’ daylily (Hemerocallis) – perennial

‘Wild and Free’ daylily (Hemerocallis) – perennial (above)

‘Black Falcon Ritual’ daylily (Hemerocallis) – perennial

We had another 3″ of rain this morning with much of it coming down fast and furious.  The retention pond above (at the Horticulture Center) filled very quickly (that’s why it’s there) and thankfully the water level didn’t get much higher than this.  The gardens are still wet from other recent rains so this saturation comes at a time when we’d prefer more sunshine and heat to get our plants moving along.  We have lots of path washouts and debris to contend with tomorrow which is typical after a storm of this nature.

Larry H., Larry O., Janice and I were on hand as grounds staff although most of our morning activity was inside.  We had plenty of indoor projects and later were able to get outside for some work although the humidity (and associated mosquitoes) took some getting used to!  I’m preparing for the Home Garden Tour this Saturday, July 15th (9 am – 3 pm, rain or shine).  Get your tickets in advance ($10!) at RBG or K&W Greenery.  Enjoy eight spectacular home gardens in the Janesville area and RBG is the ninth stop too!

While we didn’t have many morning volunteers due to the storms, we ended up with a respectable turnout later in the day.  Maury ran errands for us.  Kristin, Jim H., three RECAPPERS, Dale (see below) and Derrick were all in for a wide range of projects.  We also saw Vern, Dick H., Mark S. and a couple of others as well. There was lots of tidying done in the Japanese garden and some more work along the boulder wall along the north path.  All in all, it was a soggy but productive day!

the Heirloom Garden is looking great right now!

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

Dale S. (above) was one of many volunteers to come in today.  Here he can be seen tidying up one of the moss gardens – this one in the Japanese garden

love the bold foliage and bright flowers of ‘Chinese Dragon’ ligularia (Ligularia japonica) – perennial (above and below)

the photo above and all of those below are some of our really cool trial coneflowers (Echinacea sp.) at the Horticulture Center.  They were glowing today when the sun finally came out!

Today was more typical of what we expect for weather in July.  After a comfortable start to the day, the temperature heated up quickly on this partly sunny day to about 88 degrees F with high humidity.  It was pretty brutal but ultimately, this is the heat we have been lacking for our tropicals and annuals to really fill out nicely.  Recent rains have kept the soil moist although we are doing some supplemental watering here and there.  Plants should really take off this week with continued high temperatures near 90 degrees F although the weeds will like this as well!  Nice shot above of perennial fairy candles (Cimicifuga racemosa…now Actaea) looking statuesque.

Our grounds staff had a busy day.  Larry H., Larry O., Bobby K., Janice, Trevor and I all had a wide range of tasks which included weeding, watering, fertilizing and much more.  Larry H. continued some graveling work, weeding, watering and many other duties including watering containers.  Larry O. had watering duties and other tasks this morning.  Bobby K. worked in the Giant Aquarium, on our water features and was cleaning debris out of the pond.  Janice did the cutting display, tidied up the Heirloom Garden and bounced between some other tasks.  Trevor tidied up in the Giant Aquarium and did a lot of fertilizing in our annual beds.  I was able to haul more plants out for installation and did some herbicide spraying as well in select areas.  It was a busy day with many visitors out in the gardens as well as those enjoying our Story & Stroll program.

German statice (Goniolimon tataricum) – perennial

drumstick allium (Allium sphaerocephalon) – perennial

‘Fireball’ marigold (Tagetes patula) – annual

‘Empress Flair Violet Blue’ verbena (Verbena hybrida) – annual

the Giant Aquarium (above and below) is already a big hit this year!  come see it!

Despite the heat, we had great volunteer representation out in the gardens.  Above (left to right) are Mary, Nancy, Gena and Patty.  Way in the distance is Myrt doing some planting near the ‘Dialogue’ sculpture.  The ladies weeded and planted today out in the heat.  Kathy and Eva were out planting right away along our scented wall theme.  Stan, Kristin, Greg, Cheryl, Jim H. and four RECAPPERS were all involved with significant work in the Japanese garden.  Dr. Gredler came in for some mowing and Jenny E. weeded and tidied the hosta hollow garden space.  Janice also worked with volunteers from the Chestnut house which included Dawn, Jordan, Janelle and Donna.  The gang checked over their raised planters and did some additional planting out in the gardens.  It was another productive day in the welcome heat!

Russo Family Fountain (above…40′ tall)

mama deer has been nibbling out near the Horticulture Center (not sure where her babies were today….?)

‘Patio Deep Blue’ gentian sage (Salvia patens) – annual (great for hummingbirds)

‘Mighty Pip’ false spirea (Astilbe chinensis) – perennial

‘Visions’ false spirea (Astilbe chinensis) – perennial

woolly sage (Salvia argentea) – biennial

butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) in the prairie – perennial