The day was quite nice with a mixture of clouds and sunshine and temperatures near 80 degrees F. This was one of our FREE visitation days and many took advantage of this opportunity to enjoy the gardens. We were running some irrigation and sprinklers but had to stop most of that activity due to the heavy foot traffic (which is a great problem to have!). Above is the Azumaya structure in the fern & moss garden which is always quite scenic in that setting. Our grounds staff and many volunteers had a very productive day and some potential rain tonight might save us some more watering tomorrow! Below are some additional images taken today.
The grounds staff had a busy day for sure but the weather was perfect for gardening and the soil hasn’t dried out yet! Above is Big John rototilling an area in advance of planting (hopefully tomorrow). John also ran irrigation, composted, set up sprinklers and had myriad other tasks as well. Cindy (half day) planted a bunch of fragrant tuberoses (Polianthes tuberosa) in the Smelly Garden theme located in the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children’s Garden. They have amazing scent! She also fertilized containers and some other garden areas. Cheryl did a great job weeding throughout the Japanese garden and watered the remaining yard plants. Terry set up sprinklers, watered, fertilized (all the containers too), sheared and had some other duties. Nolan mulched all day and does an excellent job. Trevor fertilized, watered and ended up mulching as well. I was able to place more plants for installation and continue preparations for the exciting Home Garden Tour coming up on July 11th! Tickets are available right now for $10 each at K&W Greenery (Janesville) and RBG. The five photos below feature one of our twenty-five beautiful “Nature Nooks” which are the 2015 Garden Art Project. Note the photo below I included myself (cool mirror effect inside!). These are designed after the “Little Library” program and will be auctioned off on September 13th (1 pm) this year. Come see these wonderful works of art (nice job Connie)! Further below are more photos from the gardens today.