The warmest part of today was this morning with quickly cooling temperatures in the mid-morning coupled with drizzle becoming some light snow. I'm glad we had so much of the Holiday Lights Show (HLS) set-up taken care of over the past couple of weeks although we were determined not to lose the day and many of us spent significant time outside. Above is a nice shot of the arched bridge with a bit of snow and while it wont last for long, it was nice to see some white stuff which we hope will be "moderately consistent" in December for the HLS. The show always looks better with snow and we'll hopefully avoid any December rains. Further below are some other snowy shots from the garden today and despite the scenic value, it was a penetrating cold and I soaked through all of my layers (and three pairs of gloves) by the end of the day.
We had a nice turnout of volunteers this morning and had some serious productivity before the drizzle and snow thwarted outside gardening efforts. Above is Gene, who along with Bob C., continued to collect leaves where they have accumulated (here in the reception garden). There are still quite a few leaves yet to come down and we'll keep collecting them as time and personnel allows. Below are Jim and Dick P. (goofy red hat) who worked with Rollie on pounding stakes in advance of putting up our protective deer fencing in select areas. The guys will get the fencing up over the coming weeks but we wanted to get the stakes in before the ground started getting too hard. Dick H. ran some loads to the dump and brought back some more evergreens (donated from his house) for the HLS. Maury ran out for more cords which we're starting to get "thin on" this week. Dave, Vern and Ron Y. worked on carpentry projects and Pat M. continued some lights and cord repairs which is giving us some useful items to use back out in the HLS. Del was in to work on his deer cutouts and we also saw Mary W., Gary and many others. Nancy N. did some work on organizing our reference library. Art, Elaine W. and Karen B. came in later for a meeting.
The grounds staff kept busy both inside and outside. Cindy started the day gardening and the rough weather shifted her inside for lights processing (for luminaries) and other indoor duties. Big John and Terry secured trees, put lights on trees, wired up some displays, set up the last our displays and had some indoor tasks as well. Larry worked on putting lights on our Parker Education Center and had myriad other tasks as well. I was again "cord boy" and ran my fair share amongst the drizzle, snow and cold. I'm glad I didn't lose the day but certainly wouldn't mind better weather. Below are some additional photos from today.
fall color of cutleaf stephanandra (Stephanandra incisa 'Crispa) - woody shrub
yellow fall color and green stems of the Japanese kerria (Kerria japonica) - woody shrub
gold fall color on a European beech (Fagus sylvatica) - woody tree
European larch (Larix decidua) fall color - deciduous conifer
'Winterthur' smooth witherod viburnum (Viburnum nudum) - woody shrub
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