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All the photos in this blog were taken by Marsha Mood who generously shared her images from our test nights over the past couple of weeks. While we’re not sure how much of the recent snow will stay on the ground, the Holiday Light Show (HLS) is up and ready to go for opening night on December 9th. See our website for dates, times, ticket information, parking advice and details on this wonderful event.
All of these images of our 2016 Holiday Light Show (HLS) were taken last night (November 30th). There was a private event last night which utilized the show and I used this as another “pseudo” test night to check things over. We’ve ironed out the problems and despite some drizzle, the HLS stayed on and looked great! We are poised and ready for the opening of the show on Friday, December 9th. See our website for event details including important information on pre-purchasing tickets and some excellent parking advice. Our trailwalkers (Jim, Carol, Mary, Alan and Frank) did a great job last night and our guests seemed to enjoy the experience. Some light snow would add to the effect although we don’t want too much! On Tuesday night, we had a drone film the show and you can see a neat, 1 minute clip at https://youtu.be/R8Udv3KfDlw. I’m not sure how to make this a direct link so “cut and paste” this in to your browser and enjoy!
Today was our last official gardening day for the year although we’ll continue to tidy up the HLS route and prune as time allows. Alan, Bob K. and Kathy were all out tidying up and working on other projects. Urban was in for some pruning. Dick H. made some runs to the dump and helped inside. Vern, Jim, Marv, Steve and Ron Y. were all working on our new gazebo railings (priming) while Ron P. finished working on repairing lights. Gene assembled some spotlights for our HLS. Gary and Maury both ran errands while Dr. Gredler planted and did some December mowing to touch up our frontage turf along Palmer Drive. We also saw Terry, Becky and many others today. Our grounds staff of Cindy, Larry O. and Bob K. all put the finishing touches on the HLS. I’m shifting to 2017 preparations immediately as Spring is only four short months (hopefully) away! These images don’t do the HLS justice…come see for yourself!
I thought this photo above displayed an interesting convoy today with Kathy P. driving and Bobby K. holding on to a hand cart. Safety is always top on our priorities! We had a beautiful day today after a rainy one yesterday that delivered over 1.5″. We could use the rain but it made fine tuning our Holiday Light Show (HLS) a bit challenging. We continued to work on it today and have most of the difficulties taken care of with corrections being made during our testing. Larry H., Bobby K., Cindy and I all had HLS duties. Larry H. and Bobby K. hung out most of the day troubleshooting. Cindy did some tidying and shifted to HLS work with luminaries. Kathy P. did garden clean-up and Alan M. had some projects as well. Urban M. was in for some pruning on crabapples (Malus sp.). Vicki and Steve were in to check bulbs and troubleshoot out in the HLS as well. Dr. Gredler was in for painting and we also saw Lynn Y., Dr. Yahr, Larry O., Art and many others.
My blog title refers to the fact that my daily blog will have to become less frequent as I focus on preparations for 2017. I already have about 30 catalogs to peruse for seeds and plants and will be focusing on lots of time sensitive tasks. I’ll still post a blog occassionally in December and January and will resume in February with a more consistent blog.
‘Berry Timeless’ coral bells (Heuchera) – perennial
‘Britzensis’ scarlet willow (Salix alba subsp. vitellina) – woody shrub
Vicki and Steve working on repairs…
one of our smaller power boxes (above)
late season look of ‘Strictus’ porcupine grass (Miscanthus sinensis) – perennial
fall color on variegated wayfaringtree viburnum (Viburnum lantana ‘Variegata’) – woody shrub
Larry H. (left) and Bobby K. bonding above
We had a test night for the Holiday Light Show (HLS) this evening and it went great! We were tweaking the show through the entire day with the help of John, Larry H., Cindy, Larry O. and Bobby K. The test went well and we invite media representatives to this event as well. We had visits from NBC 15 and the Janesville Gazette and look forward to more exposure for this event before it opens to the public on Friday, December 9th. The photo above looks like there is snow on the ground. That is the fine powder from all the cutting that occurred on our newly finished flagstone walkway. The rain later tonight should clean things up nicely. We had a great test and will continue to tweak the show tomorrow as well. Some staff and volunteers helped locate some repairs for later attention. Here are a couple of my semi-fuzzy shots from tonight. Check out the dates for the HLS on our website and start spreading the news about this popular fundraiser. We still need plenty of volunteer assistance as well!
Cindy (above) did a superb job finishing the two containers (seen below too) in the English cottage garden with materials found throughout the gardens. Cindy also worked on some HLS tasks. Larry O., Larry H., Big John and Bobby K. all had a full day of HLS tasks as we continued to make some adjustments and prepare the final route of the show. I was involved with lots of troubleshooting today as well. Our excellent volunteers today included Kathy, Eva, Alan, Marsha M., Steve, Vicki, Maury, Dick H., Bill O. and a couple of others. As we head in to “winter hibernation”, we’ll have plenty of indoor action and will start pulling the HLS back in for storage in five short weeks! Further below are some additional photos from today.
Larry H. in the “Selfie Stop” he developed!
Eva (left) and Kathy behind bars again!
winter look for ‘All Gold’ Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) – perennial
late fall color on American beech (Fagus grandifolia) – woody tree
‘Dale’s Strain’ coral bells (Heuchera) – perennial
the common witchhazel (Hamamelis virginiana) continues to bloom – large shrub
‘Glamour Red’ kale (Brassica oleracea) – annual
the interior decorations for the HLS are looking great too!
This is one of the few times I’ll only have one photo in the blog but I lacked the time today for more traditional photography. Much of my efforts, along with many others, was tweaking the Holiday Light Show (HLS). The vast majority of the show has been set-up over the last 12 weeks so we simply turned everything on today and went around to see what still needed to be plugged in, adjusted, tweaked and otherwise readied for a test tonight (see above). I was pleased with the results and we’ll continue to put the finishing touches on the HLS route. Big John, Cindy, Bobby K., Larry H., Larry O. and I all worked on the HLS throughout the day and will continue tomorrow as well.
While staff focused on HLS-related tasks, our volunteers did a great job with our continued gardening needs. Eva, Kathy, Alan and Bob K. all worked on clean-up duties which included collecting drifts of leaves and twigs that had accumulated over the windy weekend. Ron Y., Dave, Vern and Jim all worked on carpentry projects. Peg worked on our plant records while Steve and Vicki continued to help decorate for the HLS. Dick H., Dr. Gredler, Maury and many others had tasks as well. We also saw Gary, Becky, Dr. Yahr, Maryam and many others.