Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Frigid To Delightful in 6 Hours

Nice shot above of lungwort (Pulmonaria sp.) at Earthspirit Farms. That variety is 'Diana Clare' and has almost silver leaves. This perennial tolerates low light, tough soils and drought. I like the silver-leaved varieties but you can get these in all sorts of leaf patterns although the brief spring flowers (blue, white, pink, etc.) are nice too. Deer don't nibble on them much either. Nice shot to the left of amaranth (Amaranthus 'Fat Spike') down in the wishing well garden.

The weather was cold this morning and after driving around the gardens looking for frost damage, I realized I was two layers short of frostbite. Actually, it was cold but warmed up nicely and was a perfect fall day. Some herbs, impatiens and tropicals looked a little rough after 39 degrees last night and we started our preemptive strike of removing some annuals before they turn mushy. This is a crapshoot as you risk clearing beds and then having nice weather for weeks. We are being conservative with removals but cleared two large areas today. Kay was here and was in perpetual motion with her removal of impatiens while I worked with Jessica and Brian (from Shepherd's College) clearing another area. These young adults (and their instructor, Leslie) were very helpful and had a good day at the gardens accomplishing various tasks such as plant removal, planting, bulb sorting and clean-up. Marv, Terry and Bill worked on composting the new shoreline border in the wishing well garden and all three moved on to other tasks around the gardens. Marianne tidied up the entrance garden, ornamental edible wall, watered, etc while Little Jerry worked on various pruning projects. Larry worked on water features, cutting bricks and helping out as needed. It was Dr. Gredler's 85th birthday today so we celebrated by making him take us all out to lunch. I love the golden black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia 'Frisia') to the right. It offers some tangible "brightness" in the fern and moss garden and really catches the eye in a garden that is primarily green. Lots coming up including Shelley Ryan from The Wisconsin Gardener (WPT) show here tomorrow to film some segments. Looming weather looks damp so we'll see what we can accomplish! "Death Row" below with elephant ears (Colocasia esculenta) and begonias enjoying their last days before frost (although we do save the elephant ear bulbs over winter).



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