Winter Wonderland

Wednesday night my friend, Carol, and I took a drive over to Winter Wisconsin to the fabulous greenhouse there.  Winter is a pretty small town, population about 250 I think, but the greenhouse is a big deal.  They advertised Girl's Night Out.   

We were to bring our own beverages of choice & an appetizer to share. 

The turn out sure surprised me.  I am guessing there were 80 - 100 women there and about that many different types of appetizers.  Some had really gone to a lot of work to create a masterpiece, like the cheese rolls lined up, rolled in chopped greens and then decorated to look like a big caterpiller.  Very clever and tasty.  We had plenty to eat, enjoyed a couple of beers while we listened and walked around and enjoyed the nice weather and lovely flowers.

Our night started with the food and our drinks, then we were shuttled off to a class on making a mini garden in a wine glass using succulent plants, sand and rock.  The class teacher was Arlena Schott who has a gardening program on WEAU TV 13  called Garden Wise Living  she is a high energy woman and she made the class fun, and speedy.  The Discover Wisconsin folks were there filming for a future segment.  They were friendly and nice (and I loved his movie camera gadget which attached to his iPhone!)

Clever use of old coffee pots by the instructor.

Yes, I thought it was fun.

Carol and I were quite pleased with our creations.

We both added some Fairy Garden embellishments to make them super cute.

Had to be a cardinal and a bird house in mine.

Elegant with flamingo resting in Carol's.

Once we were done with our 'gardens', the folks at the greenhouse took them to wrap them up for us for safe travel home.  Then we headed off to learn about herbs.  The speaker was funny and easy to listen too.  I have to admit I was not glued to her talk but I did appreciate her humor.

 I picked up a new rhubarb plant, I'm going to try a new location and a new root.

The selection of pots and trees and shrubs and plants is impressive.

The drive is about 75 miles each way, but we only saw about 6 deer coming home and no close calls, I call that a victory in Wisconsin, whether it is in winter or on the way back from Winter.