I headed to Gaiety Hollow yesterday to check progress on the reflecting pool…this work generously funded by an anonymous donor.  I always know when there’s a truck in the driveway SOMETHING is under way!

It was the guys from Autumn Leaf Landscaping…

the little reflecting pool used to look like this…

and was never plumbed…maybe just filled with the garden hose.  Thanks to the donor the pool will be plumbed and have a pump that will pump recycled water keeping the pool fresh…and the process included this (i.e. electrical AND plumbing)…

and in the meantime board members Ross Sutherland and David Lichter managed to locate a putto to go in the center of the pool when complete…

Take a look at this vintage photo showing the original…

After checking work progress I strolled the garden with Board President Bobbie Dolp who told me these pavers are coming up this spring to be replaced with grass, as it was originally…

and the garden is still beautiful in in its shaggy late winter state…with lots blooming…

And Bobbie mentioned the plan to replace the entire pergola, bit by bit, this coming summer…

Additionally Dolp said…

“There is much that is glorious.  The camellias, viburnum and daphne are in full glory at the moment.  The flowering trees are just waiting for a few more days of warmth.

This week the reflecting pool is being restored.  There is even an appropriate putto to grace the scene.  The carpentry crew has continued to work on the perimeter fences.  We also have some grant money for new tools so some of those old gems can be replaced.

There is much to do; the grape on the pergola needs to be cut back along with some of the epimediums that got by the trimming last fall.  Roses need pruning.  And then of course there are those plants that love to challenge our determination.”

Friday volunteer work parties begin soon…consider coming to work in an amazing garden…