A Wreath Essay to Start Off the Holiday Season

I'd like to show you four exquisite wreaths hanging about Mohonk Mountain House and handcrafted by our own Greenhouse staff. This first creation hangs outside the Spa's indoor swimming pool and features yellow twig dogwood, golden mop chamaecyparis, arborvitae and pitch pine... It makes a bold statement against this stone wall!

Yellow twig dogwood, golden mop chamaecyparis, arborvitae and pitch pine

Next, blue on-blue on-blue with blue Scots pine , white pine, and euphorbia "pulls out" the blue tinge in the green wall.

Blue Scots pine, white pine, and euphorbia

Here white pine, blue juniper, privet and wisteria make a dramatic statement.

White pine, blue juniper, privet, and wisteria

Finally red takes center stage with oak leaf hydrangea, crab-apple, Andromeda, Fraser fig and red twig cornus- lovely!

Oak leaf hydrangea, crab-apple, Andromeda, Fraser fig and red twig cornus

 

I hope these wreaths inspire you to try one yourself... of note, these take at least an hour to make after all the materials are collected  :-)

-gartenmeister 
 

Boy, Are We Busy!

There is a lot to do in the fall garden! We are hustling and back-breaking-bustling to get things done and "put to bed." Not to forget to mention that it is also holiday preseason!  

A recent article in ULSTER magazine has some nice things to say about Christmas on the Mountaintop...Check it out here!

Inspiration can come from many places, including this piece of crop art at Chanticleer Garden. We of course, ran out and fetched little blue stem (on left) for our gatehouse landscape.

Inspiration at Chanticleer Garden

All aboard for the Greenhouse! 
We tuck these tender Rex Begonias warmly inside the Greenhouse before the hard freeze arrives. They look particularly impressive all snug in the back of the Workman. The plants will return next year even larger!

All aboard for the Greenhouse! Rex Begonias.

Bringin' in the big guns to help heave out the large Ensete (Abyssinian Banana). First, large pits are dug , then we heft the plants out on a forklift (not shown).  All snug in Greenhouse C...

Ensete (Abyssinian Banana)

1000 Tulips were poised for planting, moments before Hurricane Sandy arrived. All these for cutting including three faves, 'Perestroyka,' 'Black Hero' and 'Akebono.' Check them out in your Scheepers catalog.

Tulips

About a one-third of the Cyperus from the African Show Garden are shown stockpiled off to the compost. This picture shows the incredible quantity of plant material needed to fill the beds. These plants, in particular, were a bear to dig, although you couldn't tell from their unassuming top growth.

Cyperus

See you after Thanksgiving!

-gartenmeister