I had an early start from the hotel this morning in East Lansing, MI and only had a 5 minute drive to the Horticultural Display Gardens on the campus of Michigan State University.  This would be my seventh or eight visit over many years and I always enjoy seeing their trials as their ornamental horticulture program continues to be very strong.  Their 4-H Children’s Garden (built in 1993) is exceptional and continues to be the “flagship” for the best of children’s gardens around the country.  It was designed with input from children and has very active use and management.  I also toured the trials nearby and while the annuals were newly planted, I did catch some exceptional perennials and container plantings.  I spent a good 2 hours or so touring this portion of the MSU campus on a quiet Sunday morning then headed east towards Canada.  Thankfully I only drive through rain and both of my garden stops were pleasant and sunny.

I passed through Port Huron and crossed the bridge ($3 to leave the USA!) to Canada.  No trouble getting through customs although the customs agent hadn’t heard of Rotary Botanical Gardens which really ticked me off. :)  The roads in Ontario, Canada that I traveled today were in such good shape I couldn’t believe it.  I don’t think I hit a pothole until Toronto.  I drove another three hours to the Toronto Botanic Garden and will admit that the Sunday traffic in Toronto reminded me of Chicago and my big city driving skills were invaluable.  I’m glad I made it to the garden (my first visit) as there was so much to see.  The botanic garden is part of a larger park and had some great displays and colorful plantings.  I then made it to Hamilton, Ontario for the evening and the adventure continues tomorrow with registration for the conference, networking and a trip to see gardens in Buffalo, NY (back to the USA for a bit!).  See some highlights below!

the MSU 4-H Children’s Garden gets very active use and is packed with lots of hands on activities (above photo and three below)

cool Monet bridge

in the foreground, the bricks form he body of the butterfly with the “wings” being planted for pollinators!

above is a portion of the shady perennial trials at MSU

‘Bronze Peacock’ Rodger’s flower (Rodgersia pinnata) – perennial (best photo I’ve taken of this one)

in the shade, this combination was a bright beacon with ‘All Gold’ golden Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) and ‘Citronelle’ coral bells (Heuchera villosa) – both perennials

Michigan State University Horticultural Display Gardens (weeping Alaskan cedars in the back)

propeller plant (Crassula falcata) – not hardy

nice hosta collection (above)

very interesting….the Toronto Botanical Garden was “free” but two of these donation machines were front and center (no cash?  no problem!…charge your donation!)

Star of Persia (Allium christophii) intermingling with perennial salvia (Salvia sp.)

beautiful flowing borders with lots of lavender, blue and clear white!  yummy!

‘Bush’s Lace’ Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii) – woody tree

the beautiful area above was blocked off for wedding photos (I hopped the barricades…rebel)

‘Delta Dawn’ coral bells (Heuchera) – perennial

neat slope plantings abounded at the Toronto Botanical Garden (above)

Black Lace® elderberry (Sambucus nigra ‘Eva’) – woody shrub

Day 1 of my mini-adventure out to the APGA (American Public Garden Association) Conference in Hamilton, Ontario is complete.  After stopping by the gardens this morning to make sure the Volunteer Work Day was in order, I hit the road and headed right to the Chicago Botanic Garden (Glencoe, IL) which is one of my favorite gardens.  Janice, Big John, Larry and Bill O. had everything in order and it looked like we had a nice turnout of volunteers with the planting projects complete by 10 am!  Rain last night and today was sure welcome as well.

I rarely make it to the Chicago Botanic Garden (CBG) in June and was glad I wandered for a couple of hours (and 566 photos later!).  While their annuals hadn’t quite filled out, there was lots to see.  They have a huge Brazil theme this year that can be seen throughout the gardens.  I drove through some heavy rain on the way there and despite carrying my umbrella, the weather was beautiful at the gardens with a nice breeze.  I will say that Saturdays are busy for sure!  I grew up in the Chicago area and don’t miss the traffic (which isn’t much milder on weekends!).  By the way, I used my RBG Membership card when entering CBG and the “reciprocity benefit” which allowed me to save $25 on parking today!  The reciprocity benefit extends to MANY other gardens around North America.  Just another reason to get that RBG membership.

I nabbed a couple neat plant photos included below and will hopefully have seen two more gardens in Canada by the time I blog tomorrow night.

love the silver blue of Bismarckia nobilis

blue corydalis (Corydalis elata) – perennial (tender!)

Rosa gallica ‘Versicolor’ (a real old variety)

Canary Island foxglove (Isoplexis isabelliana) – tropical

Scotch thistle (Onopordum acanthium) – biennial (above and below)

‘Guardian Blue’ delphinium (Delphinium sp.) – perennial

white lace flower (Orlaya grandiflora) – annual

straw foxglove (Digitalis lutea) – perennial

nice mass plantings near Evening Island…and they were renting canoes today!

‘Sunny Morning’ Martagon lily (Lilium martagon) – perennial

Sapphire Indigo™ clematis (Clematis hybrida ‘Cleminov 51’) – perennial

awesome shade garden shot – the grass is ‘All Gold’ golden Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) – perennial

mass planting of ‘Big Daddy’ hostas (Hosta sp.) – perennial

colorful plantings abounded! – all annuals

‘Miss Muffet’ caladium (Caladium) – tropical

Jerusalem sage (Phlomis fruticosa) – wouldn’t make it here…barely in Chicago as a perennial

a trio of nice ‘Sun King’ Japanese spikenards (Aralia cordata) – perennial

‘Coal Miner’ elephant ears (Colocasia esculenta) – tropical

blue trumpet vine (Thunbergia grandiflora) – tropical

picture perfect ‘Queen Lime’ zinnia (Zinnia elegans) – annual

Flower Carpet® Amber groundcover rose (Rosa hybrida ‘NOA97400A’) – woody shrub

It has been a crazy week as I prepare to go to the American Public Garden Association (APGA) Conference in Hamilton, Ontario next week.  It is a great networking opportunity with ample time to see area gardens.  I’ll be giving a presentation with the focus on how we are able to incorporate so many annuals on a “shoestring” budget.  Preparations for being gone for a week are significant and even more challenging as we continue to actively plant and garden.  All of these photos were taken Thursday and I lacked the steam to finish the blog.  Above is ‘Sunflower Ray’ petunia which is quite fetching to the eye.

This morning is our last spring planting Saturday for volunteers.  I’ll be heading east but Big John, Janice and Larry O. will have everything well in hand.  Despite the first work day being cancelled due to rain back in  May, we’ve had a good stretch with the last four and today should be no exception.  Our Wednesday evening planting events have gone well also.  We’ve been planting almost daily and did have some welcome rain last night (finally!).

Our grounds staff and volunteers have all worked at a frantic pace this spring with planting being almost 85% complete and our shift to weeding and tidying is really catching up out in the gardens.  Further below are some recent images of volunteers in action out in the gardens.  I didn’t take any photos yesterday (Friday) but we also had great help.

bright foliage of Sugar Tip^® Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus ‘America Irene Scott’)

our giant ornamental onions (Allium giganteum) are still looking pretty good

the Coleus Collection (above) looks better every day as it fills in

‘Minnie Pearl’ hybrid phlox (Phlox hybrida) – perennial

‘Claude Shride’ Martagon lily (Lilium martagon) – perennial

unknown Martagon lily (Lilium martagon) above – perennial

Our Wednesday evening went well with five helpers (Dylan above and Garrett and Flannery below)

Firefighter Cathy on Thursday planting the fragrant wall

Suzy, Shirley, Marilyn, Eva and Kathy (left to right) planting the sunken garden Saturday

Kathy P. (above)

Ty (new volunteer) and Liz

Barb C. made these awesome crabs and baby sea turtles for our Story Walk program which includes the Giant Aquarium (see further below) while interpreting the book Commotion in the Ocean by Giles Andreae

‘Aureola’ golden Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) – perennial

‘Fubuki’ variegated Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) – perennial

‘Firefly’ tickseed (Coreopsis hybrida) – perennial

‘Magicien’ deutzia (Deutzia x hybrida) – woody shrub

At the start of this blog, we hadn’t had any rain all day and it was another scorcher.  I watched the doppler radar for incoming precipitation which always seemed to avoid us today.  However, we did receive some rain later this afternoon which just barely whet our whistle but was heavy at times either north or south of us.  Some rain is better than no rain of course!  With the majority of the day being hot and muggy, our grounds staff and volunteers did an exceptional job at various tasks and I’m glad we did so much watering and didn’t just rely on the possibility of significant rain.  Nice shot above of some ornamental onions (Allium) out in the gardens today.

Our grounds crew of Larry O., Larry H., Trevor and Bobby K. all had a full day out in the gardens with a wide range of tasks including plenty of watering.  We never count on the rain and I’m glad we accomplished as much as we did!

blue globe ornamental onion (Allium azureum) – perennial (spreads by seed!)

nice shot of the French formal garden above

Easy Elegance® Snowdrift rose (Rosa ‘BIArift’) – woody shrub

Our volunteers did a great job today and lots more plants were installed and many garden spaces were tidied up nicely.  Above are Mirjam (left) and Marsha who did a lot of planting and primping in the English cottage garden.  Directly below are Mary H. (left) and Kathy P. planting their area this morning.  Kathy and Eva tidied up multiple areas with a focus on removing bulb foliage and weeds.  Stan and Kristin did a nice job in the Japanese garden and Alan M. continues to be a tidying whirlwind (see him below in the gazebo garden).  Mary, Gena, Patty and Myrt all worked on planting in the sunken garden this afternoon.  We also saw Dick H., Maury, Joanne A., Dr. Gredler, Bill O., Dave K. and many others.  Today was one of our Community Appreciation Days with all sorts of fun activities, things to see, food, promotion of the Giant Aquarium and much more!

Mary H. (left) and Kathy P.

Alan M. (above)

Kristin and Stan

Mary, Gena, Patty and Myrt (left to right)

pale coneflower (Echinacea pallida) – perennial

west entrance in to the Japanese garden

the everflowing urn (with fountain in the distance!)

Unstoppable Upright® Salmon begonia (Begonia boliviensis) – annual

SLUGGO has been applied around our hostas to combat slug damage

our visitors today were able to see this snapping turtle (which we think is a momma looking to lay eggs…)

It was another hot one today!  There did look like a promising chance of rain this morning and while areas north and east of us received rain, we were missed again!  Wednesday does look promising for some precipitation.  It was another scorcher although the morning was comfortable for a bit.  Nice shot of Decadence^® ‘Pink Truffles’ false indigo (Baptisia hybrida) seen above.  We had a great year of color from our false indigo (Baptisia sp.) selections this spring.

Our grounds staff of Cindy, Big John, Trevor, Janice and me all kept busy with a wide range of duties including plenty of watering.  Cindy was in early and continues to do a great job planting up the Hummingbird Haven theme in the Nancy Yahr Memorial Childrens Garden.  Big John ran irrigation, watered and had plenty of odd jobs. Janice continued planting the Heirloom Garden, watered and went around treating our hostas in advance of slug damage.  Trevor primarily watered  and I continued to run out plants for daily installation to keep up with our accelerated pace.

the increasing piles of nursery plastic are a telltale sign of rampant planting!

the English cottage gate (above) is blue for the first time (thanks Alan M.!) but most folks don’t notice the demon squirrel on top (see below)

‘Cinnamon Toast’ false indigo (Baptisia hybrida) – perennial

Vicky and Steve (above) put in a full day of planting and tidying and weathered the heat as well as any of us!  They do a nice job.  Kathy, Eva and Connie were on hand for weeding and tidying.  Firefighter Cathy was in to plant roses and help weed.  Bill O. did his mowing rounds while Steve E. and Frank planted some new daylilies.  We also had our Garden Development & Maintenance Committee meeting which included Gary, Dick P., Becky, Maury, Iza, Big John and Cindy.  It was a lighter day for volunteers and I’m sure the weather had something to do with that!

‘Forever Pink’ hybrid phlox (Phlox hybrida) – perennial

Bowman’s root (Porteranthus trifoliatus) – perennial

a mix of showy seedlings in my garden