Piercing Winds Prevail

The beautiful tree above doesn't "visually express" the experience of being windswept all day. It was a cold day and the difference between being in a sunny, sheltered spot and an open, windy spot was about 10 degrees F easily! The great fall color above is on a Pacific Sunset hybrid maple (Acer truncatum x platanoides 'Warrenred') out in the arboretum. We're still seeing some excellent late fall color out in the gardens although 90% of the leaves have come down already. The bitter weather didn't stop our stalwart grounds staff and toughest of volunteers though! We had a great day both inside and outside and with the threat of snow this Friday night, we're winding down our Holiday Light Show (HLS) preparations just in time and should be done tomorrow.

fall color of American beech (Fagus americana) both above and below

fall color of Sunjoy Gold Pillar barberry (Berberis thunbergii 'Maria') - woody shrub

donkeytail spurge (Euphorbia myrsinites) shrugs off cold - perennial (spreading!)

The volunteers were a big help today as well. Above are Dave (left) and Gary heading out to do some composting. The guys did a nice job spreading a lot of compost on one of our entrance garden berms. This sifted compost was from debris collected and composted at the gardens. Directly below is Alan collecting leaves and tidying (many locations) which is also what Peg (third photo down) accomplished in the English cottage garden. Vern, Jim and Ron Y. were in for multiple carpentry projects and Dick H. also helped with some projects around the Horticulture Center. Dr. Gredler continued priming some new Adirondack chairs (on sale now at the Garden Gallery!) and we also saw Maury, Gary, Cindy, her daughter Kristen and many others today.

Suffice it to say that Big John, Larry and I were out in the wind all day tweaking the HLS with plenty of progress!