A Winter Wonderland?

Considering it was about 60 degrees three weeks ago, we were thrust back in to winter weather with flurries yesterday and overnight. Only a dusting stuck around here but it was enough that we cleared paths and salted and sanded as needed. With the premiere lighting of the Holiday Lights Show tonight as part of the Taste of Chocolate, we don't want any accidents! Above are shots of Becky conducting a winter container class at the horticulture center yesterday. She did a nice job with the help of Nancy and I hope the partipants didn't mind all the activity (and noise) over here as there were Grumpies, meetings and other activities occuring, making it a very busy Thursday. Below is a shot of some of the elements the ladies used in their containers. While some botanic gardens shift to winter arrangements of grasses, branches, etc. in their containers, we don't as we have very few visitors in winter, limited funds and like to bring our containers back to the maintenance facility for emptying and cleaning before their use next spring.

I took a good portion of yesterday off but saw our carpenters hard at work finishing a garden bench and starting to prepare cucumber frames/supports for our collection next year. Maury and Dr. Gredler did some painting while Del worked on getting more deer cutouts prepared for our gift shop. It was very busy so I'm sure I'm missing mentioning everyone. Larry kept everyone moving around and Little Jerry was here to do more pruning and is our resident tool sharpener. Now is a good time to clean, oil and sharpen tools for next year. Below is an aesthetic display of Felco #5 hand pruners that Jerry prepared (the display too!) for the container class yesterday.

Today was fairly quiet. I did some path salting then shifted to catalog perusing and presentation preparation. Bill came in and took care of checking the rest of the paths and getting the walk ready to go for tonight. Dick H and his brother were here working on truck repair while Dr. Gredler sanded and stained a bench. We also saw Maury and Barb briefly. I'll leave early and come back to fire up the lights show. Part of my duties tonight will include really checking over the show to address any needs next week before the "official" opening on December 11. Below is a shot of the English cottage garden from last year and we again hope this event will be well received considering the amount of time involved with set-up, facilitation and take down.