John Greenlee & Jeff Epping at Intrinsic

One of the joys and rewards of working in the industry is learning from global experts.

Plant people are generally grounded & passionate.

They know that for plants to survive, we must not only share them, but pass along knowledge, so they are also usually generous.

Yesterday, I was fortunate to hear/see presentations by 

John Greenlee of Greenlee & Associates (Meadows & Grasses)

&

Jeff Epping, Director of Horticulture at Olbrich Botanical Gardens

(Meadows & Gravel Gardens)

at Intrinsic Perennial Gardens run by Brent Horvath.

By the time John gave a tour of the garden (below) that he had just put together,

Jeff had already left to drive back to Madison (so no pix of him).

I was inspired by their commitment to sustainability,

their practical advice

and their aesthetic concepts.

It was quite a dramatic weather day with the types of

clouds we witness in The Midwest.

Insects #2: Not good eyes: just enlarged image

For all of you who wrote me to comment on my good eyesight: In the previous post (Insects), I didn't see the insects when I photographed them. It wasn't until I saw the photo enlarged on my computer that I noticed the insects in addition to the plants.
Why did I use this photo in today's post? Because it shows another example of the virtue of the camera (mine is just iPhone these days): I was photographing this downspout at a client's while measuring for a basemap, but it wasn't until I saw the image later that I "saw" the nice red plant hoop.

Yippee! We are finally starting to get a little rain...we need it for the plants, of course. And, I love the fresh smell of the rain and the sound of car tires rolling through puddles.

Insects

It wasn't until today, because I had this date's photos on my screen saver, that I noticed these two insects on the Hibiscus August 17th. Can you ID them? Especially the blue and red one? The other looks aphid-like.

The Little Petunia That Could...

Plants do many things, including Surprise, Delight and Inspire...
Enjoy Labor Day weekend in the context of Gratitude.