Rose Garden - 1st pruning of the year

Kathy M and I had a great time giving the roses a good pruning today.  We had to cut the time short due to rain, but got done what we could.  The star of todays show was Kathy's new poka-doted boots!

Here is a picture of Don Miller and Kathy M hard at work showing me how it's done!

Lett-us Plant Pansies

My partner in all good Kathy M and I volunteered ourselves to help out the Kingwood Staff planting seasonal pansies and lettuces.  Shawn McClain made sure the beds were prepared and the soil was fluffy soft.

 




 
 
 

 Next Bill Collins, Glenna Schaeffer, Charles Applegate and Don Miller laid out the designs.

and now we plant....
Do you want to live here Mr. Pansy?      Grow and thrive!
  

..with a chill in the air and an excitement to be outside ... we planted the Gazebo area....

We didn't worry about watering.  As Charles Applegate puts it, we would let God water the next day.

What's that Charles? ..a little thing called photosynthesis, means that you cannot bury the plant, the leaves need to be uncovered?  Got it.  Oh the things we learn! 

We moved on to the Old Herb Garden, or Bay Tree Garden or whatever the name of the day is for it.

After a break for lunch, in which Kathy ate fried clams with rice pudding and I had too many hash browns, we continued onto circled fountain area.  We weren't hungry any longer, but with full bellies, we weren't bending over as easy after lunch either.

The day moved on.. so did we, (though we were moving a little slower) up to the formal garden to finish up the beds for a job we considered well done! 

Could it be the last snow?

Today was a beautiful day to be at Kingwood.  Snow covered trees bring a special quiet magic. Also a busy day. Don Miller is back from a two month lay off.  Kathy M and I visited with him on the peony project that we had been working on over the winter.  After that we headed up to the house to work on the attic library project.  Had to stop many times along the way to take just a few pictures of snow covered Kingwood.  Kathy M took this picture of me taking pictures and now it is my favorite picture of me.  We saw Kay Hostetler on the way in to the house.  She was on her way out to take pictures.  Glenna Sheaffer is also back from lay off and we popped our heads in her office on the way up the stairs to the attic. She lent me a book on animal tracts.  I plan to use it in the snow!

Charles Applegate is also back from leave. He showed us the newly created dried flower arrangements.  Christmas removed, the rooms looked strangely barren so the arrangements gave the rooms a pick-me-up.  Charles recycled an  arrangement by removing peacock feathers, replacing with dried flowers.

Glenna Sheaffer created this beautiful arrangement.  I love the sweeping look.  Most of the other new arrangements were created to be place under a dome glass.  Which although beautiful, difficult to get a good picture.  Well, as I said it was a busy day.  So happy to see the staff back at work and to have been able to see just one more snow covered Kingwood before the busy spring begins. 

Kingwood by the Numbers - Countdown - One Day



ONE ...



... Gala Apple Tree Espalier.

Espalier - plant trained to grow against a flat surface and pronounced es PAL yer.  There are three types, of which, Kingwood’s is the cordon. A central trunk with horizontal laterals spaced evenly along the trunk.  Created and nurtured by Don Miller.