Dawn Redwood...fall color in the morning sun at the south entrance to the Bonsai Penjing Museum

One of the bonuses of spending a whole day in one place is that, as the sun arcs through the sky you get to see the varying effects of different angles of sunlight. These trees were beautiful all day, but stunning in the morning when the sun first crept over the wall and ignited them with the background still in deep shade.

I worked in the Bonsai/Penjing Museum again this weekend and for the first time felt as though I had some grasp of which plants needed water and which didn't. Heretofore I haven't really felt that any of them were dry (actually, they weren't) but this time some definitely were. I like to water plants that are ready for water; conversely I am made very uncomfortable when I'm assigned to water a large number of plants and none of them need water. Curiously many of the dry plants were pines; the last few times I watered I don't think I watered any of the pines. Sometimes I find it helpful to think of water as a chemical, toxic to plants, that they nonetheless require in certain quantities. But I'm a bit odd.

I was the weekend waterer in the Greenhouse complex (and the Herb Garden), but didn't have a lot to do there.  Tony watered yesterday and he is meticulous, scrupulous, and thorough.