Today’s GPOD comes from Lilian Ho.
Seven Master Gardeners from Vancouver made some Christmas ornaments for Pearson Long Term Care facility. In Canada, most long term care facilities are funded by Medicare and they have certain budgets, so we brought our own containers and materials. We gathered the greens from the facility ground and our own gardens. This year somehow, there is a lack of red berries in the gardens. We made 20 Christmas ornaments in 2.5 hours. Attached are highlights of our work.
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Comments
Lilian, it is so nice of you and the other Master Gardeners to create the wonderful arrangements. I am sure it will brighten the lives of the residents, as well as the staff working there. They look great.
Hey Lilian - Wonderful arrangements for a wonderful cause. Great work by you and the 6 other Master Gardeners! Lovely gesture, especially at this time of the year. Cheers from Oz
Lilian - Since you had trouble finding red berries perhaps I can add some red to the mix for the festive season. Pic.1 is of the flame tree (Brachychiton acerifolius), which is a large native deciduous tree. It drops its leaves and then the red flowers appear this time of the year. Pic.2 shows the current flowering of our little kurrajong (Brachychiton bidwillii), which is a very small tree. Both are drought tolerant. My friend is experimenting with grafting the flame tree onto little kurrajong seedlings to reduce the vigour of the flame tree and induce earlier flowering so that it could be used as a street tree adapted to the effects of climate change. Hope posting these pics. is OK with you, Lilian. Cheers from Oz
Nice pictures, Frank. In the first photo, is the red flowers or leaves?
I am really enjoying your frequent postings.
Red flowers, Kev., which turn into interesting seed pods.
Wow. Those are impressive seed pods.
Hi Frank, that red tree is so amazing. When we were in New Zealand st a garden, they mentioned that a huge tree was called the Christmas tree because of the red flowers at this time of year. It was almost done flowering when we saw it, but I’m wondering if it was the same tree. Thanks fir the photos.
No a different tree, Linda, but it is also spectacular. Grows well here.
Beautiful, Frank! Perfect for the holidays!
So red for sure. Somehow I missed this post yesterday and I just found it now 0.5 hour from being to work. I somehow will read this all later.
Looks like you and your friends had a wonderful time creating. What a kind and thoughtful activity to share, also.
Lillian, what a thoughtful and caring thing you and the other six master gardeners have done. I am sure that all the residents and their visitors at the Pearson Long Term Care facility will enjoy them very much, even with only a few red berries. Every arrangement is beautifully done.
May God bless you and the others this Christmas season!
What a lovely and caring use of time and effort. Lilian. The arrangements are delightful and certainly show the compatibility of the various greens and other plant elements. I'm sure these festive seasonal pops of color and scent elicit a lot of smiles from the facility residents, staff and visitors.
Good morning, Lilian. How great that you were able to bring some good smells and holiday cheer to those that don’t always get out much. You and your fellow Master Gardeners are very creative. Beautiful displays. Thanks for sharing them with us.
Lillian, Thanks for sharing these photos of your creative arrangements. As a frequent visitor to a local nursing home, I know what these efforts mean to the residents who often feel as though they are forgotten by most. You and the other Master Gardeners have shown a beautiful example of bringing beauty into lives. Our red berries that were profuse just two weeks ago (deciduous and evergreen Ilex) are now nearly gone also - eaten by the hungry hoards of migrating robins! Perhaps that is what happened to yours as well.
How wonderful that you and the other master gardeners get together to make these beautiful displays for the long term care facility. As one who works at a continuing care retirement community I know they will brighten the day for the residents, visitors and staff who get to see them.
What a perfect way to bring Holiday Cheer to the folks at Pearson. I'm sure your lovely decorations brought back many long lost memories!
That's very kind work, Lilian. I wish you a very Merry Christmas!
Joy!! What a lovely thing to do!
What a wonderful idea to bring cheer. Every garden club should do something like this. I will put this into may memory bank for next year. I leave my hanging baskets up and just stick evergreen branches into the container. Very easy. Sometimes i place outdoor balls or decorative glass things.
Love these, Lilian! What a wonderful gesture for these great people! Iam sure they were so blessed! It looks like you had a great mixture to choose from too! Thanks for sharing!
I somehow just see this post and thanks for your comments.
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