NEWARK — Before the crack of dawn, Linda Reynolds is at her job at Cherry Valley Lodge, helping prepare the hotel for business.
Linda Reynolds works on a flower arrangement at Cherry Valley Lodge in Newark. (Matthew Berry, The Advocate)
This top-notch employee can be found in the dining room at 5:30 a.m., making coffee and preparing the room for the day. She then will walk the hotel, putting furniture back in place, cleaning table tops, checking restrooms and making sure room service dishes are cleared from hallways.
During the winter months, Reynolds can be found shoveling sidewalks or spreading salt. She also touches up furniture that is dented or scratched. That all is before her main duties as the director of the grounds and arboretum.
Reynolds has the opportunity to combine her love of gardening with her job. She constantly is in the garden, making sure everything looks perfect for hotel guests. She designs and orchestrates the planting of each garden plot, oversees a crew of four or five between March and December, and oversees the mowing and shrub and tree pruning.
“I love what I do,” Reynolds said. “It is a hobby as well as my job. I love being here. It is a great place to work. I treat the garden as I would do my gardens at home.”
An art major by training, Reynolds is a natural at flower arranging and decorating in general. She creates new arrangements, almost on a daily basis for special events, all the public areas at the lodge and even the restrooms. She decorates for all the major holidays in the 10,000 square feet of banquet space and outside, as well as in CoCo Key Water Resort.
“I try to use as much material as possible from our arboretum, to create unusual effects,” Reynolds said. “We are the only hotel that has an arboretum.”
The mission of the arboretum is to show the diversity of not only the plant material, but also wildlife, in central Ohio. During the summer months, Reynolds gives tours of the grounds to interested guests as well as putting on educational programs.
Each year, Reynolds plants a sharing garden in which she grows fresh vegetables to be used by the hotel’s restaurant, then donates the rest to help the homeless. She also grows herbs in containers for the chef to use in his creations.
She is preparing for spring by refining her designs for planting beds and containers. One of her best days of the year is when all the annuals arrive for planting in the spring. Another goal is when she does the designs for the beds and containers on the 18 acres.
“I try to give the hotel my all as far as being creative and introducing new varieties,” Reynolds said. “I try to keep the containers changing all the time.”
Beth Kelly, director of marketing at Cherry Valley Lodge, said she is impressed with the way Reynolds treats the lodge as if it were her home.
“Her home is like a picture, and she does the same here,” Kelly said. “She is in charge of the total beautification of our public space.”
Reynolds also fills in as a hostess in the dining room and work the switchboard when necessary.
“I’ve always done these things,” she added. “It feels like working at home. I feel very comfortable doing the things I do. I want to do this until I can’t move anymore.”
Visit Linda Reyonlds Website Here for Flower and Arrangements in Columbus, Ohio
L.B. Whyde can be reached at (740) 328-8513 or lwhyde@newarkadvocate.com.
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