The Flowers of Holden Village

This small piece is mostly visual. Since I arrived, I have, from time to time, taken pictures of some of the flowers that have appeared in the flower beds located within the village. Our "Area Head" (as they are called here) of the Lawns and Gardens crew is Janice Haakons and she is quite experienced in achieving maximum floral output in an inhospitable environment without benefit of commercial fertilizers or pesticides. (She also makes incomparable desserts from our rhubarb and our lavender.) You can see for yourself the result of her labors...and the labors of those volunteers who work alongside her on the tough and uneven ground of Holden Village. I especially remember our wonderful volunteers from Australia who worked in the gardens and on the lawns. Cynthia Spurr was here at Holden last summer. Dean and Dorothy Zweck were here this summer. They all three hailed from Adelaide. So here's to you, Aussie friends! See what your labors have wrought!

Although Holden Village gets a whopping amount of snowfall in the winter (last year 310 inches), the summers are quite dry. Since I have been here (I arrived the first of May) , we have had only a few days in which there has been any significant rainfall. The climate is very dry in summer and the humidity is very low. This means that the entire lawn area must be watered...and often. Janice and her crews are out early each day to set the sprinklers.

Every lodge and every building has several...sometimes many... flower boxes. These flowers boxes are very commonly filled with petunias which are quite hardy in this environment and which require little care other than dead-heading and watering.

Foxglove are commonly seen in the village and growing in the wild as well. Here is a big clump of foxglove growing just outside the back door of one of the chalets.

The flower beds are full of daisies at the moment. After so many other flowers have gone, the daisies are there and ready to take their place.

There was only one small group of these colorful flowers. A butterfly seems to have found it quite pleasing.

I do not know the name of this white beauty found in the special garden surrounded by a high fence to keep out the deer.

Likewise, these purple very orchid-like flowers are in the garden protected from the deer which walk through Holden at will, seeking what they might devour.

Every garden needs a chipmunk.

Flower boxes hang throughout the village and must be watered frequently as well.