Sarastro

https://www.chicagobotanic.org/downloads/planteval_notes/no31_bellflower.pdf

'Sarastro' was the only bellflower to get a five star rating in the trial.

We bought two today at Shady Acres, hoping to turn around our bad run of luck on bellflowers.

Isaac House

http://plantlust.com/plants/scabiosa-isaac-house-hybrid/

Bought four today at Shady Acres.

We have never grown Scabiosa before, very much looking forward to seeing how they perform.

Shady Acres

http://www.shadyacresnursery.com/

Today was closing day, so we had to go and buy a few treasures to tuck into odd corners of the garden.

We got Lamb's Ear, Bellflower, Scabiosa, Daylily, Salvia 'Lady in Red,' Phlox, Hosta, and some grasses.

Scabiosa

http://lindabeutler.merytonpress.com/a-flower-that-inspires/

We have never grown Scabiosa, but we should.

American Daffodil Society

http://daffodilusa.org/

Cities like St. Louis have a local daffodil society, but Milwaukee does not.

Go figure.

Little Gem

http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=259099&isprofile=0&

Daffodil 'Little Gem'

We have a lot of daffodils, but not many of the early miniatures.

Have to plant some.

Daffodils for Naturalizing

http://landscapeofmeaning.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-best-daffodil-plant-list-ever.html

Interesting list.

In the past, I have mostly planted unnamed naturalizing mixes.

Maybe I should focus on some named varieties as a change of pace.

Naturalizing Daffodils

http://daffodilusa.org/growing-daffodils/naturalizing-daffodils/

I am in favor of it.

A note of the use of a drill:  a powerful drill can feel like it is going to break your wrist when it hits a solid obstruction like a large stone or root.

Orach

http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=a666

I tried some fresh out of the garden at The Gus this past week, it had a very mild flavor.

I had never heard of it.

Garlic

We harvested ten heads of garlic from the garden today.

Most were good sized, but a couple were small.

Fumewort

http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=s700

Great plants, we should plant more Corydalis.

Compost

http://www.sonomacompost.com/Documents/%20Organic%20Recycling%20Soil%20Health.pdf

A good overview of compost.

The Gus

On Thursday, July 28, I attended the regularly scheduled MGV work day at The Gus Green Thumb Garden (but now called The Fox TV6 Home Demonstration Garden or something like that).

I did a lot of weeding, mostly crabgrass.

It had rained an inch the night before, so not much watering was required.
Again, I picked gooseberries, and they tasted delicious.

We harvested some garlic, very nice looking heads.

Counts as 3.5 hours of MGV volunteer hours (includes drive time).

Toad in the garden

Saw a large toad in the garden, the largest I have ever seen here, almost the size of my fist.

Impressive, most impressive.

Spotty Dotty

http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=262195&isprofile=0&

Would love to grow this, but we are zone 5.  Maybe with a little more global warming, it will grow here.

Who was Zephirine Drouhin?

http://southerngarden.weebly.com/zephirine-drouhin.html

One of the most famous roses in history is named for her, and yet almost no information is available about who she was.  Odd.

Frogs and Hummingbirds

There were four frogs in the garden pool yesterday.

And a hummingbird working the Bee Balm today.

Cherokee bean

http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ERHE4

I would be interesting to grow this as an annual here in Wisconsin.

The Gus

On Thursday, July 21, I attended the regularly scheduled MGV work day at The Gus Green Thumb Garden (but now called The Fox TV6 Home Demonstration Garden or something like that).

I did some weeding with my Roy Diblik hoe.

I picked gooseberries, and of course, I had to sample some, delicious.

Counts as 3.0 hours of MGV volunteer hours (includes drive time).

Roses

On Wednesday, July 20, 2016, we attended the weekly Garden Walk at Boerner Botanical Gardens.

The topic was Roses, and the guide was Bruce Barr of the local rose society.

The guide was knowledgeable and passionate about roses.

Entertaining, educational, and well worth attending.

We saw many fine examples, including old roses, more recent introductions, and even Dr. Huey (commonly used as rootstock for grafted roses).

One of the most interesting things we saw was some dog vomit fungus in one of the rose beds.

Counts as 1.5 MGV education hours.

Giant Hog Fennel

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peucedanum_verticillare

As seen at Northwind Perennial Farm.

WHPS at Northwind

Today (Tuesday July 19, 2016), I attended the meeting of the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society held at Northwind Perennial Farm.

There was a presentation by Roy Diblik.  The topic was his Know Maintenance gardening system via a wide range of topics, and included a tour of the gardens.

One of the most interesting plants was Giant Hog Fennel, like a more refined and less aggressive Angelica.

Entertaining, educational, and well worth attending as always.

Counts as 1.5 MGV education hours.

Corpse Flower

http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/our-garden/notable-plant-collections/titan-arum.aspx

I am still waiting for a chance to experience that foul odor.

In my imagination, it is an acrid odor so vile that it would make my teeth feel soft in their sockets.

Ruth Bancroft

http://www.ruthbancroftgarden.org/

If I am ever in Walnut Creek, I plan to make a stop at this destination garden.

Daylily Garden Walk at Boerner

On Wednesday, July 13, we attended the Garden Walk at Boerner Botanical Garden.

The topic was Daylily, the guides were Ted Haasch and Judy Schmitt of the local daylily society.

We saw dozens of beautiful daylily plants.

Three of my favorites were Joan Senior, Prophet, and Black Friar.

Entertaining, educational, and well worth attending.

Counts as 1.5 hours MGV education credit.

The Gus

On Thursday, July 14, I attended the regularly scheduled MGV work day at The Gus Green Thumb Garden (but now called The Fox TV6 Home Demonstration Garden or something like that).

I mostly did watering, it has been hot and dry recently.

The gooseberry set a lot of fruit, so of course I had to sample some, delicious..

The clematis Avant Garde was spectacular, dense with blossoms.

Counts as 4.0 hours of MGV volunteer hours (includes drive time).

Horseweed

http://bulletin.ipm.illinois.edu/pastpest/articles/200307l.html

I have seen this weed in our garden over the past several years, very few stems, maybe it cannot compete with Joe Pye, Goldenrod, and Asters.