Tiers of Joy

I've always called the three levels of the raised beds leading up the the Gus Fonner Rotunda Entrance, the tiers.  The tiers are somewhat difficult to manage for so many reasons.  I am still trying to figure it out.

In 2014, the surrounding area was under construction.  I didn't know that I could remove the concrete urns and had to use the flowers given to me when taking the job in mid-season.  Most garden centers were out of flowers. Nothing looks good here.

In 2015, the grand re-opening of the Stuhr put pressure on me to make this area look good.  I still didn't realize the urns didn't have to stay.  I still hated the way it looked.  I didn't like spending over $500 in supertunias either.  They frequently had to be fertilized because the soil is very sandy.  The grass in each tier was a nice place for the ducks to sleep, too.  

In 2016, I decided to remove the huge Karl Foerster grass in each tier and divide them.  I tried different annual flowers and added better soil, too.  Notice, the concrete urns are gone!

In 2017, I did the same thing, but continued to bring in better soil.  The grasses grew thicker and visitors started to compliment the flowers.  I used three tidal wave petunias and victoria blue salvia in each tier both years.

In 2018, it was time for a different annual flower.  The petunias were getting budworms in mid-season, and I didn't want to spray insecticide in this area.  Profusion zinnias are another wide spreading annual flower that do not cost as much as petunias when they come in a 4-pack. I went with two colors along with the blue salvia.  

In 2019, more zinnias were used since they were successful the year before. White and red were the colors of choice with the blue saliva only because I wanted a patriotic theme.  It was the year of flooding in Nebraska.  Flowers struggled to dry out between rains.

A storm hit on August 7, 2019.  High winds broke off the zinnias and everything leaned to the south.  It would be a risk to prune large stemmed zinnias way back to see if they would bloom again to finish the season.  

   Two months after the storm, Oct. 7th, Success!

In 2020, I decided to leave out the blue salvia and just plant cherry and orange profusion zinnias.  I spent $139 total in all areas of the grounds this year because the coronavirus created a financial burden at Stuhr Museum.  With fewer visitors and no big events scheduled, I decided to do less flowers and divide the grasses again.