Thursday, May 21, 2015

A Gorgeous Day


Today started out cool but became warm with ample sunshine.  The temperature increased 30 degrees from 43 degrees F at 7 am to 73 degrees F by this afternoon.  We had another monumental volunteer turnout throughout the day and it was nice to see many visitors and many young students enjoying our youth education program.  The cool evenings have been of concern for our many tropical plants in the yard but everything seems to be ok and a warm up will be most welcome.  We're heading in to a holiday weekend with five weddings, a volunteer workday (Saturday! 8 am until 12 noon!) and many other functions.  The season is upon us for sure!  Below are some plants photographed this morning on my "reconnection tour" of the gardens as I've been way too desk bound these past couple of days.

  sweetshrub (Calycanthus raulstonii 'Hartlage Wine')
wild hyacinth (Camassia leichtlinii 'Blue Danube')
hybrid false indigo (Baptisia x bicolor 'Starlite' Prairieblues)
tree peony (Paeonia lactiflora) - unknown variety
'Moon Frost' Canadian hemlock (Tsuga canadensis)

We had some great volunteer assistance from our veterans like Kathy and Eva above (Eva driving).  Suffice it to say that our volunteers did a wonderful job on a diverse amount of projects including weeding, planting, carpentry, composting, edging, etc.  I've included some names under the photos below but as the hour is getting late as I type, I wont go in to too much detail.  I do offer a big thank you to Kathy, Eva, Mary R., Suzy, Bonnie, Sandi, Larry H., Alan, Ron P., Gary B., Dr. Gredler, Bob K., Jim D., Dave, Vern, Ron Y., Del, Mary W., Betty H., Shirley C., Mary Ann G., Jumbo Jim, four RECAPPERS, Stan, Urban, Rose, Maury, Gary, Sue, Kelley, Mary H., Myrt, Cheryl D. and many others.  The Youth Education Volunteers did a fabulous job as well and I saw Mary D., Barb C., Shirley S. and others helping out with this important program.  Janice, Big John, Larry and I all had our share of tasks as well.

The Three Amigos (Mary R., Suzy and Bonnie from left to right)
Jim D. sizing up some carpentry projects
Dave T. (left) and Ron Y.
Kelley (left) and Sue M. working in their section of the shade garden
Ron P. working on some edging
Mary Ann G. (left) and Janice in the Thomas Jefferson Collection
Alan (left) and Larry H. slinging compost
Dr. Gredler
Shirley C. (left) and Betty H. (you should see them when they act silly!)
Myrt (left) and Mary H.
Urban sanding with Rose just off camera starting to apply primer to the observation pier
Mary D. (above) leads a group of young visitors
Barb. C. had her group of children on the bridge in the distance
hybrid false indigo (Baptisia hybrida 'Carolina Moonlight')
painted maple (Acer pictum subsp. mono 'Hoshi yadori')
ornamental onion (Allium karataviense 'Ivory Queen')
crested iris (Iris cristata 'Edgar Anderson')
 milky iris (Iris lactea)
Larry pulled the short straw and had to get in to this smelly muck to retrieve this branch which was creating a "sludge dam" near the gazebo
the Japanese garden is still very beautiful right now

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