99.9% Ready To Roll

Special thanks to my beautiful daughter who at age 10, put together the new "header" at the top of this blog. She is quite talented and works for a reasonable rate! It was a dreary day today with some sleet in the early afternoon. However, it was significantly warmer this morning than yesterday morning and we had a very productive day. Above is a neat flower arrangement created by Jackie, Big John's wife. Very colorful and little maintenance required (no watering either)! Larry and I went out early to adjust cords which also entailed a heat gun and major muscle power to get some cords out of the frozen gravel paths. We trench in many cords to minimize tripping hazards for our Holiday Lights Show patrons. We then turned the entire show on and went around addressing all the minor problems that were identified during our test night on Monday evening. I didn't mention it but we had a photographer from the Messenger and a film crew from Local Vision getting some shots and footage of the show to help promote the event. We will have another test night next week in advance of the December 4th premiere for the Taste of Chocolate event. Tickets are going fast for this event as usual. Tom C. came in for a couple hours and helped us troubleshoot our remaining power problems. He also did some repairs and improvements on our existing power boxes and has some additional work to complete on Monday. He has been a tremendous help in consulting with us regarding power issues. We're 99.9% ready to roll with the show (assuming no rain!) and just have some displays to put back in place once Randy repairs them Saturday. Our five hour test window today went well with NO issues. Nice shot to the above left of the concolor fir (Abies concolor 'Candicans') just west of the building. I love all evergreens but prefer this fir over the ubiquitous blue spruce, any day of the week. We have quite a few fir (Abies) species and varieties around the gardens and they have a strong presence throughout the year. Recently I showed the 'Venus' coral bells (Heuchera). To the above right is 'Saturn' with a light silver patina over dark leaves.

We had a nice turnout of other volunteers as well today. Dick H. and Pat continued working on our deer fencing around the sunken garden arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis) hedge. After finishing this up, they put burlap around some of our more sensitive specimens in the Japanese garden. The burlap is meant as a deer barrie but also as a wind screen for protection. Hopefully deer wont eat burlap... Bill came in to do some clean-up and continued the burlap project this afternoon. Del worked on some carpentry as did Vern and two of his friends. Dr. Gredler was here to do some painting and took the mower out for the last time to collect some late falling leaves in the arboretum. Larry will get the snowblower attachment on the mower this Saturday. We also saw Maury, Janice, Big John, his wife Jackie and their daughter and granddaughter. It was a nice day for "closure" as we segway in to our winter projects and preparations. To the left is the late season, pinkish color of the little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium 'The Blues') out in the garden and to the right is the winter contribution from the dune switchgrass (Panicum amarum 'Dewey Blue') that is one of my favorite taller (and blue) grasses. Aside from noticing hundreds of geese flying overhead today, I was able to spot some additional interest here and there. Below is the fall color of the invasive gooseneck loosestrife (Lysimachia clethroides) that while vigorous in an uncontained garden situation, has beautiful blossoms (featured in the past) and this reddish fall color. Our populations have an edging containment. At the bottom is another switchgrass (Panicum virgatum). This is 'Northwind', introduced by Roy Diblik of Northwind Perennial Farm (near Lake Geneva) which is a "must visit" destination for sure. Note the use of a row of these grasses to screen the retaining wall (hard to see isn't it?) and soften harsh architectural lines. Ornamental grasses have not only color, wildlife interest, movement, etc. but also form and function!