Blue Skies

Above is a shot taken today in the Japanese garden. It was sunny with blue skies but still quite cold. I spent a couple hours sanding/salting the paths in preparation for our Holiday Lights Show this evening. I hope we have a nice crowd despite the cooler temperatures. Stan Milam (WCLO Radio) had me on his show this morning to promote the event and we always appreciate Stan's support of what we're doing at the gardens throughout the year. Working my way around the gardens, I did notice more damage with broken limbs here and there. Below is another shot in the Japanese garden of white pine (Pinus strobus) branches that couldn't take that recent wet snow load. This is what we call "Mother Nature's pruning"! We'll clean up the gardens next week when we have a gap between light show evenings.

Dr. Gredler came in today to clear snow from our yard near the horticulture center. We maintain access to all our shed and buildings during the winter and he created quite a pile of snow! I saw Dick H. and Christine D. today although they were here for non-RG business. Good to see volunteers though it is quite a change from summer to winter in terms of seeing the "crew". Below are some images of indoor projects that are occurring at the Horticulture Center. There is quite a bit of activity and much of it is anticipation of 2010 already. Note the color-themed garbage can and the new bench that the carpenters made. The stack of cut lumber will become cucumber trellises for our heirloom cucumber collection.