Saturday, November 21, 2009

Our Last Workday (Until April!)

We had wonderful weather this morning for our "day of decoration" workday out in the gardens. Felicia (to the left) was one of about fifteen volunteers that showed up today to help decorate the 180 white pine (Pinus strobus) trees that we put up temporarily for the holiday lights show. We lit up the entire show today so our volunteers could plug in their lights, test them and wrap them around the trees. Tree decorating is a science, particularly with white pines as they aren't as rigid as spruce (Picea) or firs (Abies) or Douglas firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii). Marianne layed out all the lights yesterday so with Janice's supervision (Janice seen to the right) our crew did an awesome job and we're ready for our testing next week. I finished running the last of the cords and both Larry and I did some troubleshooting of lights that were out or nibbled on by critters. The rabbits (or squirrels) seem to enjoy chewing on net lights which really cripples some of our lit hedges. Regardless, nothing new in terms of challenges and we have plenty of time to test, tweak, modify and improve the show prior to the premiere lighting during our taste of chocolate event (www.rotarygardens.org/chocolate.htm). Dr. Gredler was here to work on cutting more greens and ran some loads to the dump. Bill did another nice job collecting leaves and debris from the gardens and continues to be one of the few that continues to be dedicated to clean-up as winter looms. One of our last blooming perennials continues to offer color. The pictures below show the fall-blooming, perennial onion (Allium thunbergii 'Ozawa') that started blooming in late September and continues to send up buds despite all the frosty mornings. The flowers will retain some color after the plant goes dormant but so far, this specimen in the alpine garden, is still "struttin' its stuff."

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