The Annual Tree Run

Today was a crazy day around the gardens although everything went smoothly. The pictures above are from our annual tree cutting expedition which resulted in 150+ white pines (Pinus strobus) coming back to the gardens from Paul's Tree Farm (www.paulstreefarm.com/). Paul has donated trees over the past 14 years and we estimate we've utilized over 2,500 of his trees as part of our Holiday Lights Show (HLS) set-ups over the years. Please patronize Paul if you're looking for a great tree! Thanks to the gang in the top picture for all the hard work which included not only dragging and loading (Larry and Big John went down early to "pre-cut" and get ahead of us) but also securing the load and ultimately unloading them and dragging them in to place (we all smell like pine sap!). In the top picture we have (back row, left to right), Rollie, Jim, Ron Y., Dennis, Ron W., Maury, Big John and Dave. Bottom row, left to right are Pat, Dick H., Dick P., Jenny, Bob A., Larry H., Larry O. and Curt H. (with his pup). We made quick work of the project and enjoyed a baked potato lunch (see to the right) organized by Kelli, Lori, Polly and Mark S. All but Kelli joined us as did Amanda, Kris and Roman. Thanks to Mary W. for baking the spuds and all those that helped with organizing this appreciation lunch. To the left is the coppery fall color of the purple beech (Fagus sylvatica 'Riversii'). This specimen was glowing from a distance and while beeches (Fagus sp.) aren't overwhelming with fall color, they offer interest late and will frequently get some nice yellows and golds too.

While we were off galavanting at the tree farm, many things were happening at RBG. The picture to the above left shows some preliminary work being done in advance of our new, digital entrance sign that will be arriving in the next month or so. This sign, and its installation, was donated by the Morning Rotary Club (thank you!). The contractors above dug and prepared a large concrete footing and set the sign frame today. L.P. Tree Service was also here with two bucket trucks as they hung over 250 dangling icicle lights from the upper canopy of our larger trees. They did a great job as usual and we'll spend the week "wiring" all these lights up as needed. Marv, Terry, Marianne and Janice were at the gardens "holding down the fort" and working on various HLS projects and garden clean-up while keeping an eye on all the "peripheral" activity. Marv and Terry removed our RBG sign to make room for the sign contractors and moved on to setting up and securing more HLS elements and did a great job wiring up trees to stakes as soon as they rolled in this morning. Marianne worked on HLS jobs including hauling lights out to the new trees for decoration tomorrow and Wednesday. She also collected quite a bit of debris. Janice worked on some HLS preparations but spent the bulk of the time collecting debris as we had major winds yesterday and we have another solid round of leaf/debris collection to accomplish. Del and Vern stayed behind to work on carpentry projects and we later saw Bill O. who helped tidy out in the gardens this afternoon. Luis was also in to continue his exhaustive (and much appreciated) woody plant inventory. To the right is the bronze/pink fall color tinge to our golden European filbert (Corylus avellana 'Aurea') in the Scottish garden. I love the bright gold spring growth as well although it ages to a "summer chartreuse." All in all, one of our craziest (but also productive) days! Below is Jenny out at the tree farm tidying up after our clear-cut. Thanks again Paul!