Continued Progress

It was a frigid day but at least we had some sunshine. The light coming through the fall color of this fernleaf buckthorn (Rhamnus frangula 'Asplenifolia') above was nice though and provided at least a little warmth!  We all headed outside right away for a full day of Holiday Lights Show (HLS) preparations and some gardening as well.  This time of year the grounds staff starts finishing up and today was Cheryl's last day for the season.  Oddly enough, she didn't seem depressed.  She had a great season for sure.  Cindy and Terry will finish up on Friday.  We had some tough volunteers come and help today and continue to approach the goal of having the HLS ready to be turned on and tested which takes another couple days of tweaking.  Below are some additional photos from today.

 this 'Bloodgood' Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) is our last to have leaves and still looks showy - woody tree

same as above

 showy seedheads of the sweet Autumn clematis (Clematis terniflora) - perennial vine

 maroon fall color on cranberry cotoneaster (Cotoneaster apiculatus) - woody shrub

another larch (Larix sp.) showing fall color - deciduous conifer

Alan M. (above) continued his raking focus in many areas today.  Alan started this year as a Grumpy and has come in quite often since starting.  He has been a huge help, particularly with this fall clean-up.  Whitey (below) spent the entire day putting up more lights on our temporary white pines (Pinus strobus) and has done a great job over the past couple of days.  Pat M. worked on some HLS projects and gardening projects in the reception garden.  Ron P. was in for more lights repair and we saw Marsha M. and Dr. Yahr as well.  The second photo down shows Cheryl doing some gardening in the Japanese garden.  She had a full day in the garden and did a superb job in this "tough to access" area.  Cindy worked on putting up lots of lights for the HLS today and helped process some cords this morning.  The duo of Big John and Terry continued putting out some of our last displays for the HLS including a new, large LED display which looks pretty cool.  I ran cords all day and probably have another five days of the same to finish up.  Further below are more shots from today.

 bugleweed (Ajuga sp.) looking colorful with pine needles - perennial

fall color of the Hamilton's spindletree (Euonymus hamiltonianus) - woody shrub

 Blue Heaven little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium 'MinnBlueA') - perennial

roots?..worms?...nope.  These are the shallow, fleshy rhizomes of Canadian ginger (Asarum canadense  ) which will send out foliage and flowers next spring - perennial (nice groundcover)