November 12...

This morning Gacy and I got to go into the Cafe and light big branches that have been painted white... this was great and I LOVED it!!!!!  Its looking so awesome everywhere I cant wait to see it finished:):):)

Later today I wrote my evaluation for Shippy and had my evaluation with him!!!  He said I was great and he liked working with me:):)  I need to work on noticing things I can do without being told but Shippy said that would come with experience in any area!!!! After that I had more study time so Gracy and I went into a shop and studied all the power equipment and hand tools!!!!!

November 11...

Today we were going to go back down to the entrance and keep planting bulbs but the rototiller stopped working so I hula hoed the main courtyard!!!  After that I went and pruned Virginia creeper over by the visitor center entrance...  There was lots of it and it was really stuck onto the wall:):)

Later Shippy decided we did not need a rototiller so we went down and kept planting bulbs by the north gate!!! This was really fun because it was so casual... we did not have plant in straight lines and we were making the shape and size as went so it was just really fun!!!!!

November 10...

This morning was good... It was kind of cold but I just stayed in my sweat shirt longer:):)  I pruned lots of wisteria and some other vines today in the service courtyard!!!!  It was fun and I got to use these really long handled pruners to reach the long whips on the top of the wisteria!!!!

After that Shippy told me all about vines and how often they cute them and how they grow and just lots of information about them!!!!  This is one of my goals and I really liked working and learning about all the different kinds of vines and how to prune them!!!!  After we got done talking I pruned some ficus on the side of the house where it was getting super overgrown!!!  I think it looks much better now!!!!

For the rest of the day I helped Shippy Plant bulbs by the gated entrance to Filoli!!!!  We planted 600 bulbs and I think they will look good in the spring... They had never planted any there before and this was a complete experiment but I think it will be a good one!!!!!  It was a long process though because we had to till the ground and then we used an auger to make the holes... hahah... this was actually really fun and I am glad we will be doing more tomorrow!!!!

November 9...

In the morning I worked on the Jasmine some more till we had our soil workshop... Megan taught it and it was really good to learn about fertilizing and the importance of knowing what your doing so you dont have week plants or so you done burn your plants. Filoli is slowly going organic so it was interesting to learn about the fertilizers and amendments they used to use and what they use now!!!!

I went back to pruning the Jasmine after that was done and after break I helped Shippy clean up the area... we had to set back up some fences on the grass and gather all the equipment that had been used through the day. Shippy had been mowing so we also had to gather all the piles of grass clippings!!!!  It was a good day and its really starting to cool down...

November 8...

This morning we moved boxes again!!!!  When we went back out I got to read about hedges at Filoli... this was interesting and I enjoyed understanding more about them!!!!

Alex came and asked us to help with some HT decorating so we got to go inside and do more decorating!!!!  We put garland all down the service area stair case... I just love how the house is changing everyday and becoming this wonderful Christmasy place... its getting me super excited for the Holidays!!!!

After that we went out to the orchard and I helped Shippy with lots of random stuff... we gathered more traps and actually caught 2 moles... we gathered drip lines that wont be used till spring... we took down an electric fence from the grapes because they dont need it any more... and we talked a lot about the process and maintenance the orchard receives!!!!  This was very interesting and its one of my goals!!!!

In the afternoon I was set up to prune some Jasmine in the service courtyard... this was fun and I got sap all over me!!!!

November 5...

First things in the morning it was till dark so Shippy talked about the importance of keeping a calendar of everything we do and a record of how long things take and how much fertilizer we use and just everything!!!  The rest of the day we were planting the rest of our beds!!!  After our break in the afternoon we actually had study time!!!  This was nice and Gracy and I made a little bit of a plan for how to study for everything we will be tested on in the next few weeks!!!!

November 4...

HAHAH... guess what???  We moved boxes again!!!!!  Then I went out and helped prep and plant more beds:):)  I love my life even if its doing the same thing over and over again!!!  Thats really all we did today so its not a long entry... sorry:):)

November 3...

Well we started with moving boxes again :):):)  It was fun again!!!  After that I went out and started planting bulbs in the area by the ballroom that we had been preping!!!!  Its fun to plant bulbs because someone goes along and makes a big hole while someone else drops that bulb in the ground!!!!

Sometime later Alex came out and got me to help do some decorating in the house!!!!  I love this part and I actually got to put branches on a big tree in the front room of the house!!!  It was super fun and I liked working and seeing everyone in the house :):)  Also, funny story but they had the Mormon Tabernacle Choir playing... hahah  this was pretty funny!!!!!

That afternoon we finished the group project in the sunken!!!

November 2...

First thing in the morning we moved a bunch of boxes from the basement to the ballroom!!!!  This is kind of fun because we all get to work together... this way you can see how everyone makes fun of each other and just get to see everyone working together!!!!

After that we went out and finished the hedging in that area so we could finishing preping the beds for plants!!!!

After lunch we helped with a group project in the sunken garden... this was fun and I will just say it was the first time I ever really laughed at work:):):)  It was pretty funny and everyone was a little shocked... hahah!!!!

November 1...

Well today was my first day in area #1!!!!!  It was good and I got a tour at the beginning... that was good but then we got right to work!!!!

I started by forking and leveling a bed by the dinning room... I was getting it ready for bulbs and some annuals!!!

After preping the bed I helped hedge the boxwoods in that area... that was good and it did not look to bad:):)  At the end of the day Jim gave us a plant test and out new list of native plants!!!!  While getting the new list he took us around the property and we got to go to the cemetery... that was cool and I also got to see the other houses on the property!!!!

Picture Time!!!!!

Well here are some pictures form the greenhouse area!!!  I loved this area and am glad I will get to work in the greenhouses on campus!!!!!

Good picture :):)

This is the potting shed... its where we do lots of work like potting plants, seeding, cuttings, and everything else!!!!

This is inside the potting shed where we do all the work!!!!   

This is a big room on the side of the main room and where they teach workshops!!!  Right now they are working on HT stuff so thats why there are wreaths on the table!!!!

This is the main house... Sophia is in charge of it and its where all the orchids are!!!!  There are also other plants but I LOVE the orchids!!!!

This is the south house and Kelly is in charge of it!!!!  This is also the production house so its where we put everything to grow to the right size till it gets planted!!!!  I forgot to take a picture of the propagation house but its where we put the cuttings and seeds and stuff like that till they get put in this house!!!!

This is outside where we keep plants to harden off or just because they are just really big... we have lots of bedding plants out there and lots of succulents!!!!

This is the north house and Lisa normally takes care of it... but while I was in this area I got to do everything for it!!!!  It was sweet and I loved it!!!

This is the Plant Shop or service courtyard... its where we sell plants and have volunteers available to answer questions!!!!  Sophia takes care of all this and does the ordering of plants if we dont have them!!!!

This is behind the potting shed where we keep a lot of pots!!!  We have lots of pots and  are always rotating them through the garden!!!!!

This is over on the side where they keep lots of big plants and plants that dont need to be in the greenhouses and are not used for much other then displays and things like that... this is a bunch of ivy that I transplanted one of the days I was in this area!!!!

 Some projects that I did while in this area!!!!!

This is the mum pots I trimmed... I had to cut them all down to size!!!!

We did some planting of pots for the gardens so this is what they looked like when we got done!!!!

This is a tub of pots that need to be washed... I did one like this and it was fun... also a little wet but not too bad :):)

This is just a good picture and I will again say I LOVED working in this area!!!!!!