To me, one of the biggest drawbacks of winter is what I can only call “graying.” After vibrant shiny lights illuminate the coldest of winter nights, we seem to hit months and months of complete absence of color. Then, as the days warm and sun reinvigorates the earth with life, my senses are just about overloaded with stimulus as flowers begin to surround the world in a full spectrum of colors.

This is something that I notice every single day as I stroll to my office at Woodloch. Brilliant displays of flowers catch my eyes at every entrance and nooks and crannies in between. Being less of a winter fan (not that there’s anything wrong with that!) and more of a summer fan, the arrival of blossoms brings me much joy.

Woodloch is a pretty big property- almost 1,200 acres between our resort and Woodloch Springs, our golfing community. So in that respect, you might be quite surprised to find out that ALL of the flower work- planting, maintenance and care (not to mention the challenge from deer, moles, and other flower munching critters) – is the product of just three ladies. Ellen, her daughter Dusty and Jess – our Woodloch Gardening Department- are tasked year round with caring for all of the beautiful flowers that adorn our resort.

Every morning, just as the sun rises above our resort, the ladies set forth planting, watering, deadheading and treating flowers sprawled all across our resort. It’s a never-ending commitment- just as one path of flowers are in pristine condition, something else likely needs attention. There’s a lot of ground to cover! From all of our roadside signs, to each and every building entrance and flower pot, it’s a labor of love.

Behind the scenes, Ellen and the girls are always preparing for our next season. Orders for new spring plants starts well before March while bulbs from last season are prepared in Woodloch’s greenhouse. Plastic flowers are displayed during our “swing” months (after all, March and April are somewhat inconsistent with temperature) until spring plants finally find their way into the ground. By this time, summer flowers are being prepared, then mums and cornstalks for fall and Halloween celebrations, and so on and so forth. Mother Nature, as well as the ladies, don’t stop moving!

The ladies of our Gardening Department of course have their support. Our landscaping crew is constantly cleaning up our flower beds and making sure the rest of our grounds are looking just as beautiful as the flowers surrounding them. Let it be known that in addition to our front of staff operations, we have hundreds of “behind the scenes” employees that keep the cogs of Woodloch moving like a well-oiled machine!

In case you haven’t already noticed (which it is very, very hard NOT to), take an extra couple of minutes to scope out our floral displays- I think you’ll be very glad that you did!