June 20th Work Session: Stalwart Volunteers

Joyce

Today four stalwart volunteers once again joined Ann and I to work in the Prospect Gardens. Pictured are three: Joyce, Ken and Claudia. Laura joined later and continued to work after we left. A special thank you to these dedicated volunteers.

We managed to get a lot done with the outcome being  a large pile of material near the sand barrel. The city will pick up it sometime early next week. The crew is so responsive and I greatly appreciate their contribution to the Gardens.

I also trimmed back the Tall Coreopsis that border the picket fence that crosses the southwestern side of the gardens. Cutting off at least five inches prevents them from getting too tall and flopping over. We have learned that these plants need more room than our small area. They need wide open prairies rather than serving as a hedge as they do in the gardens.  Plus they readily seed themselves which means we are constantly pulling up the seedlings.

Claudia and I also removed Rudbeckia from the southwest side of the gardens. We planted them about two years ago. Usually they grow about 2 to 3 feet tall, but these have become aggressive giants. The progeny of those first year plants have even spread to the neighboring raspberry patch. Now that's aggressive!  So Claudia and I are putting a halt to the Rudbeckia invasion.  The predicted rain came about ten o'clock but stopped in time which allowed Laura to continue working. 

Claudia

Ken