Enriching lives through beauty, education, and the arts.
The scent of these royal lilies (Lilium regale ‘Album’) (seen above in the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children’s Garden) was intoxicating on this sunny and cool summer day. With ample moisture last week, watering hasn’t been as time consuming as colder weather has allowed soil dampness to persist nicely. Hotter days will be important very soon though for all of our heat loving plants. It was nice to be back in action after a successful and enjoyable trip out to Hamilton, Ontario for the American Public Garden Association Conference last week. I was able to tour the gardens (everything looked great) and am catching up to speed in regards to our late June planting and maintenance initiatives. Other grounds staff included Larry O., Cindy, Big John, Larry H. and Trevor. Everyone had a wide range of tasks to accomplish and did a great job continuing our momentum out in the gardens.
blooms on ‘Blue Sunrise’ perennial geranium (Geranium hybrida) – perennial
Crimean sage (Phlomis taurica) – perennial
‘Overdam’ feather reed grass (Calamagrostis x acutiflora) – perennial
‘Little Peach’ lewisia (Lewisia longipetala) – perennial
‘Zebra Stripes’ plantain lily (Hosta) – perennial
While unseasonably cool at 70 degrees F for a high today, it was sure great “working weather”! Above is Mary Kay preparing for a youth project. She was later joined by more of our education volunteers. We had a strong volunteer turnout for the grounds today. Dr. Gredler and Rollie took care of their mowing duties. Lloyd and Derrick worked on some weeding and tidying while Derrick also helped Dennis and Garrett with our boulder wall project on the North path. Bob K. did a bed preparation project near the Horticulture Center. Kathy and Eva weeded in multiple areas. Kay was in to tidy up her area and both Kristin and Stan did plenty of work in the Japanese garden. Marv worked on both of his moss areas. Peg was in to work on plant records and labeling duties and Gary worked on label production earlier in the day. Maury ran errands for us while Ron P. continued repairing lights for the Holiday Light Show (HLS). Steve J. helped with various projects and was alongside the carpenters of Ron Y., Vern, Dave and Jim. Dick H. had some jobs and we also saw Becky, Mark S., Polly and many others today. Our Home Garden Tour Committee (Barb, Sue, Carol, Cora, Janet, Becky, Hayley and me) met to discuss the exciting and upcoming 2017 Home Garden Tour (July 15th). Tickets ($10 in advance) are on sale now at RBG or K&W Greenery!
Vern (left) and Jim bringing back a bench for repair
Eva (red), Kathy (blue) and Big John in the background
“Mossy Marv” tidying up one of his two large sections of moss – looking good! (the moss)
Becky D. putting new ink in our engraved bench letters – awesome job!
Dick H. (left) and Dennis
Garrett (left) and Dennis
nice lighting coming through an Emperor I® Japanese maple (Acer palmatum ‘Wolff’) – woody tree
view looking upwards in to a ‘Goshiki’ variegated zelkova (Zelkova serrata) – woody tree
‘Young Lady’ smokebush (Cotinus coggygria) – large shrub
yellow meadow rue (Thalictrum flavum subsp. glaucum) – perennial
field scabious (Knautia arvensis) – perennial
‘Wild Horses’ coneflower (Echinacea hybrida) – perennial
blooms of golden Southern catalpa (Catalpa bignonioides ‘Aurea’) – woody tree
opening bloom of Japanese stewartia (Stewartia pseudocamellia) – woody tree
blooms of purple catalpa (Catalpa x erubescens ‘Purpurea’) – woody tree
The APGA Conference does continue through this evening although I left Hamilton, Ontario early this morning to begin the journey home. It was a rewarding week and highlights certainly included giving my presentation, networking, going to educational sessions and certainly many garden visits. I ended up with over 3,000 photos which is not a record but certainly a great representation of some neat things I saw throughout the week in Ontario. I broke up the drive home today with an overnight in Grand Rapids, Michigan but not until I spent a couple of delightful hours at the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. These photos are some of the highlights at the garden which had a busy day with youth groups, a wedding and much more. I was happy that it had stopped raining as I drove through a monsoon for about 2 hours of my trip west and was able to enjoy a “dry experience” at the gardens. Aside from sculpture throughout the park, the children’s garden, conservatory, natural areas, farm garden, Japanese garden, etc. make this a must see garden in the Midwest. Another must see garden is RBG of course and I look forward to my return on Monday.
sweet patch of ‘Jack Frost’ false forget-me-not (Brunnera macrophylla) – perennial
Today was another busy one with a combination of educational sessions and then a great trip which is represented in all of these photos. I gave my presentation this morning and it went well. This was a panel presentation with five speakers including Tim (Chicago Botanic Garden), Mildred (Atlanta Botanical Garden), Jim (Longwood Gardens), Dan (Chanticleer) and me. Andrew from Chicago Botanic Garden was the facilitator and despite some untimely AV problems we gave a great collective program to a good sized audience. It was nice to share what we do at RBG to a group of public garden professionals. I did ask the crowd how many had visited the garden and over 20 had which was awesome! The discussion revolved around how we all approach our seasonal displays. I then attended some additional sessions. After lunch, all conference attendees headed over by bus to the Niagara Parks Botanical Garden & School of Horticulture which is on the Canadian side of the falls. The gardens were spectacular and the school has a very prominent reputation. I wished we had more time there though. We then went to the falls and had some fun before returning to the hotel. I depart tomorrow morning with an overnight in Michigan (and more garden stops) then back home after a long week.
Hot Cocoa™ rose (Rosa ‘WEPaltlez’) – woody shrub
Graham Thomas® rose (Rosa ‘Ausmas’) – climbing rose
Brothers Grimm® rose (Rosa ‘KORassenet’) – woody shrub
Livin’ Easy™ rose (Rosa ‘HARwelcome’) – woody shrub
‘Highlight’ rose (Rosa) – woody shrub
Poseidon™ rose (Rosa ‘KORfriedhar’) – woody shrub
Julia Child™ rose (Rosa ‘WEKvossutono’) – woody shrub
Wisteria espalier
Wisteria espalier
big patch of ‘All Gold’ Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) – perennial
yes…I went out on this!
Niagara Falls from the Canadian side
The weather was absolutely perfect today in Hamilton, Ontario with partly cloudy skies, plenty of sunshine and a temperature around 70 degrees F. We had a full day of breakout sessions at the American Public Garden Association (APGA) conference and it’s tough to choose between them at times! My presentation is tomorrow morning on our use of seasonal plants at RBG. I was able to spend some time later today at the University of Guelph Arboretum (20 minutes away) and have included some images of the primary Royal Botanical Garden campus and one of their satellite gardens (The Laking Garden). The image above is the visitor’s center for the Arboretum at the University of Guelph. I also briefly visited the Arboretum of the Royal Botanical Garden but it was so enormous that I didn’t get to see much of it. More seminars tomorrow and an afternoon tour. The image at the top of the blog post is a Gryphon which is the mascot of the University of Guelph.
the tulip trees (Liriodendron tulipifera) were still in bloom (above) – woody tree
weeping European beech (Fagus sylvatica ‘Pendula’) – woody tree
there were lots of cool lego sculptures out in the gardens too (Nature Connects)
interesting to say the least
cool canoe planter above!
‘Glitter’ coral bells (Heuchera) – perennial
Today was another busy one at the American Public Garden Association (APGA) Conference in Hamilton, Ontario. There were plenty of sessions, meetings, networking opportunities and a trade show to enjoy. There seem to be a lot of folks here and I’ve met some neat people and seen some old friends. I was able to head over to the Royal Botanic Garden (another RBG!) which has four sites in nearby Burlington, Ontario (literally 10 minutes away). I visited the main site, Laking Garden and the Rock Garden. I’ll try to visit the Arboretum later in the week if I have time. I was frustrated in that I lost about 1,200 photos this morning from my first two stops when my memory card for my digital camera went bad. Frustrating but at least all my photos from previous days were backed up! I did include a bunch of photos from their recently renovated (reopened in 2016) David Braley & Nancy Gordon Rock Garden. I chatted with three of their staff and explored for over two hours. It was one of the most photogenic and enjoyable gardens I’ve ever visited and very well maintained. Back in town now and headed out tonight for a gathering of Chanticleer Scholars for dinner. More excitement tomorrow. I wont bog any blog readers down with too many plant photos but I sure took a lot today!
old photo of the Rock Garden (above)
