Brucemore Art & Garden Show August 27 By Peggy Green

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1 Vol. 26, No. 8 Editors: Julie Stark/Lisa Slattery August 2016 MASTER GARDENER EVENTS Steering Committee Meeting Extension Office August 2 6:30 pm Expert Ed Workshop Weed Identification Extension Office August 4 6:30 pm Family Gardening for Food and Fun Harvesting and Preserving Your Crop Lowe Park Demo Gardens August 16 6:30-8:30 pm Brucemore Art and Garden Show Volunteer Forms Due August 1, Linden Drive, SE August 27 9:00 am-4:00 pm Almost any garden, if you see it at just the right moment, can be confused with paradise. Henry Mitchell, , American garden writer and humanist Brucemore Art & Garden Show August 27 By Peggy Green Plans are in the final stages for the Brucemore Art and Garden Show scheduled for Saturday, August 27. Volunteer Forms were sent via from Shelly on July 21. Please complete it as soon as possible and return to Holly Ritter, Brucemore Volunteer Coordinator (hkiousritter@gmail.com) or by regular mail to Peggy Green, MG Chair (Linn County Extension, 383 Collins Rd NE, Suite 201, Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52402).Your help is needed to make this day a success! What s Inside Brucemore Art/Garden Show Page 1 Garden Walk Highlights Pages 2-3 Coordinator Comments Pages 4 Family Gardening for Food & Fun Page 4 Volunteer Spotlight Page 5 Marion Community Garden Page 6 Plant Exchange Page 6 Ely Library Community Garden Page 7 Expert Ed Workshop: Weed Identification Workshop Page 7 Donate Produce to Area Food Pantries Page 8 Steering Committee/Project Reports Pages 9-11 August

2 GARDEN WALK 2016 By Co-Chairs Diane Stevens and Beula Dvorak On Saturday, July 9 th, Mother Nature provided us with a picture perfect summer day to host the 8 th Annual Linn County Master Gardener s Garden Walk. Approximately 525 attendees spent the day touring the gardens and properties at Noelridge Park, the homes of Master Gardeners Diana North, Dave Mahlke, and Vicki Keegan. Host, Diana North and her husband, Joe, and photos from their garden. We want to thank the hosts for enthusiastically responding to our request of opening their gardens to the public. Each garden so beautifully emphasized the Planting For Pollinators theme adopted by the MG for this year. We received many favorable comments on the diversity of each location, and the close proximity of the gardens made for shorter travel time and more time to enjoy each location. (Continued, Page 3) Host, Dave Mahlke, and photos from the Mahlke Prairie. 2 Germinator

3 We want to thank our hosts Becki Lynch and Kathy Rhodes at Noelridge; Beth Roof and Karla McGrail the leads at Noelridge, Linda Hayward the lead at the North garden; Kay McWhinney the lead at the Mahlke prairie; Co-Host, Becki Lynch, and photos from Noelridge. and Kathy Hughes, the lead at the Keegan acreage. We also thank the 50 plus Master Gardener and Intern volunteers for making the day a success. A special thank you to the staff at the Extension Office: Shelly O Neal, Johanna Rahbusch, and Janice Savel for their help in creating the website and Facebook pages, editing and printing of the posters and brochures, Host, Vicki Keegan, and photos from the Keegan Acreage. the countless pages of copying, and their patience in helping us put this all together. Thank you, also, to Debbie Main for getting the brochures and publications together to fit each garden location. This year s walk was certainly a team effort and we sincerely appreciate everything that was August 3

4 Coordinator Comments By: Shelly O'Neal Hello MGs, I am always so happy when spring arrives and to think that felt like just the other day, and here we are in August. I hope you have all been enjoying your gardens. I know I really enjoyed seeing the wonderful gardens at the Garden Walk! I have really been enjoying myself this summer at all the wonderful MG events. I have also been working behind the scenes on a few administrative projects. I have been working with ISU to try and provide an online store for the MGs. In speaking with the Trademark and Branding Departments I learned a lot about the importance of ISU s mission to have brand recognition. They have asked that we only use an ISU approved vendor and the colors that are to be used for items are limited to denim, red, white, gold or wheat. The MGs will still be able to use their existing lime green shirt; however, future purchases will need to be in compliance with the colors identified by ISU as acceptable. I am still in the process of working with them to identify a local vendor, so more information will be coming soon. I had a wonderful suggestion from a MG to include in the Germinator a Dear Shelly, Column in which I would answer MG questions. I think it would be helpful to everyone to hear questions that they wanted to ask but never got around to it. Please submit your questions to me anytime, and if before the 20 th of the month, you can expect to receive an answer in the upcoming monthly Germinator. No names will be used to protect identities lol Please note, I will be on vacation and away from the office from August Enjoy your August! Shelly Family Gardening for Food and Fun All Master Gardeners are invited to attend Family Gardening for Food and Fun, the 3rd Tuesday of every month from April through September. Upcoming Classes: August 16: Harvesting and Preserving Your Crop September 20: Putting the Garden to Bed Classes are held at 6:30-8:30 pm at Lowe Park Demo Gardens, Lowe Park 4500 N. 10th St Marion. The evenings will be an informal/interactive discussion of pertinent topics followed by a snack and beverage. The evenings may include a walk through the demonstration gardens, the new orchard, or just an evening in the Park. No registration is necessary just show up! 4 Germinator

5 Volunteer Spotlight Michele Jones Interview by Linda Skvor Michele grew up on a 4 th generation farm in Kansas and besides the routine farm work, she helped her grandfather tend a rather large garden. Michele has loved gardening since childhood, so it seemed like a natural progression that Michele was interested in pursuing the Master Gardner program in She has been very happy with her decision! I love to learn and this program allows me to continuously do so. The biggest thing I have learned is how much I really don t know. I had never started seeds under grow lights before so that whole process of germinating seeds that way and the care and time to get those plants into a six pack. I think I had about 42 last year. Michele tends to do mostly all perennial flower gardening and stated that her favorite is flax; however, the deer tend to like it as well! Michele and her husband, Mike, have lived in Iowa for 18 years and now call Marion home. She will soon be an empty nester as her son will be a freshman at Iowa and her daughter is a junior at Iowa State. Volunteering is a big part of Michele s life. Along with being involved in the LCMG, Program she volunteers at the Mission of Hope and serves on several boards at her church. She has also been on two mission trips to Haiti and will go on her third in October! During the last trip, Michele used part of the From the Ground Up curriculum here in Cedar Rapids, and applied it to a classroom of 3rd graders in Haiti! The unit focused on the parts of the bean plant and its life cycle. Each child planted their own bean in a cup to grow. The kids loved it! Haiti has an agriculture department in the university there, and learning the different gardening techniques they use there has been very interesting. What works there is not the same as what works here, Michele was quick to point out. Way to go, Michele, for spreading your knowledge on to the children of Haiti! Michele s favorite place to volunteer as a LCMG is at the Lowe Greenhouse and Demonstration Gardens where she has learned so much. Questions are always welcome, and it has been a great experience for her. During the first year of volunteering, Michele tried a wide variety of activities. She was on the planning committee for the 2016 Winter Gardening Fair (handled tech for the day), went into the classroom with the From the Ground Up program, and helped at the Lowe Greenhouse. August 5

6 Marion Community Garden & Urban Orchard By Phil Pfister The Marion Community Garden, located in Uptown Marion between the Marion Library and Marion City Hall, is in its second year of production, and producing an abundance of produce for the Marion Churches United Food Pantry. The gardens were launched and funded through the Blue Zones Project. They are tended and harvested by volunteers. The Lowe Park Orchard, also known as the Urban Orchard, was planted in the spring of 2015, and is cared for through a partnership between Trees Forever, Fruit TreeKeepers, Parks and Rec Dept. and LCMG. As the orchard develops, it will be used for educational opportunities such as pruning, pest management and harvesting. On June 28, David McClain, the photographer who traveled with Dan Buettner, author of The Blue Zones Solution, to document the Blue Zones regions of the world for National Geographic, came to Marion to document some of the work of the Blue Zones Project in Marion. Two of the projects David photographed are the Marion Community Garden and the Urban Orchard. Marion was one of six certified communities in Iowa (Mason City, Cedar Valley, Marion, Cedar Rapids and Muscatine), to be selected for the photos. The photos are meant to be used on a national scale in marketing and possible stories. 6 Germinator The Marion Community Garden banner and the volunteers and photographer getting ready. Photographer, David McClain, volunteer Peg Heald, and LCMG Beula Dvorak and Phil Pfister sampling celery being harvested from the Marion Community Garden. Plant Exchange Save the Date By Kay McWhinney Can you believe that summer is half over? and that school will begin in another month? It is time to start thinking about fall and dividing some perennials that have gotten too big. The annual LCMG Plant Exchange is Saturday, September 24 from 10:00-11:30 at the Lowe Park Greenhouse and you are all invited. Bring a perennial division, a woody plant division, cuttings, bulbs, seed, houseplants or any other plant material to share with another Master Gardener. For each selection shared, a new treasure will go home with you. If 3 items are donated, you will take 3 different treasures home. Refreshments will be served and it would be appreciated if you could contact me if coming ( ; Jonkay1965@yahoo.com). (There is no home UI football game that day!)

7 Ely Public Library Community Gardens Supported by ISU Mini-Grant Funding The Ely Public Library Learning Garden is one of three community gardens in Linn County selected by Iowa State to receive a 2016 Food Insecurity Mini-Grant. Just begun this spring, the garden features 2 raised beds and several pots growing a variety of vegetables, all located in front of the library along the main street in Ely, a small community of about 2,000 residents. Library staff have involved community members since the inception of their garden. At least 8 community members have been involved in the design, construction, and filling of the beds, with some of the materials and all the labor being donated. All seeds planted were from the library s seed library which is open to the public. The garden has been well embraced by the Ely community every day residents walk by and stop to look to see what is growing and ask questions about the garden. Twice a week Madeline, the youth services librarian, invites youth to come to the garden for class and activities around the garden. Approximately 27 youth of various ages have been part of one or more of these classes/garden activities, including planting, caring for, monitoring growth and harvesting. Radishes, lettuce, green beans, and herbs have been harvested and donated to community families. Students itemize and weigh the produce picked. An eating/teaching class is also provided each month - --the August 20 th class is on making salsa. Later in the summer/fall they plan classes on food preservation, including canning and dehydrating. Already plans for expansion are being made for next year. This year certainly has been a learning year for us says Librarian Sarah Sellon, the mastermind of the garden project. Shade trees and so much rain have created gardening challenges and learning opportunities. Future plans include another garden bed along the west side of the library building and utilizing the four corners of the streets in some way. Expert Ed Workshop Weed Identification Workshop By Linda Hayward, Chair Wondering about those weeds? Karla McGrail and Fran Potratz will be conducting a Weed Identification Workshop on Thursday, August 4, Meet at 383 Collins Road, NE, Cedar Rapids, Iowa at 6:30. We will be outside examining and discussing weed samples growing in the immediate area, so dress appropriately. This workshop will be open to Master Gardeners and the public. Register: Contact Linn County Extension (phone: ; soneal@iastate.edu) August 7

8 Greater Cedar Rapids Area Food Pantries Produce Acceptance Policies By Beula Dvorak If you have extra produce from your personal gardens and want to give it to a good cause, below is a list of Linn County food pantries accepting donated produce. It is recommended you call for up-to-date information before your first donation. All pantries are in Cedar Rapids, unless otherwise noted. Foundation 2 Crisis Center nd Ave. SE (by appointment) Open weekends Produce accepted 8 AM to 8 PM- CALL FIRST Linn Community Food Bank First Presbyterian Church, St. SE Mon-Fri 1-3:15 PM (Pantry hours) Produce accepted Mon-Fri 8:30-10:00 AM Loaves and Fishes rd Ave. SE Tues 3-5PM Produce accepted during open pantry hrs Metro Catholic Outreach th St. SE Wed 1-3PM; Thurs 10AM-NOON & 5:30PM Donate during office hours 9 AM-3 PM M- Th or 9 AM-NOON Friday Mission of Hope B Ave. NE Produce accepted Tues-Fri 9 AM-3 PM; Sat 9AM-4PM St Vincent de Paul th St. SE Produce accepted Mon-Sat 9AM-4PM VA Outreach Center st Ave SE Veterans Only Produce accepted Mon-Fri 8AM-4PM Cross Roads Mission nd St. SW Produce accepted Tues-Fri 10AM-4PM River of Life Blairs Ferry Rd. NE Produce accepted Tues before 9 AM Olivet Neighborhood Mission th St. NW Tues-Fri 8:30-11:30AM; Sat 9-11:30AM Do accept produce in morning; it goes out same day Open Hands Food Pantry E Ave. NW Produce accepted Mon-Thurs 8:30AM-4:30 PM; Fri 8:30AM-NOON Salvation Army C Ave. NW Mon-Fri 9am-noon & 1-4PM Produce accepted 8:30 AM - 2 PM First Baptist Church th St, Marion Mon-Fri 8:30-11:30AM During Food Pantry hours; produce can be dropped off after 7:30AM Mon-Fri. United Church of Christ Food Pantry N 5 th St, Central City 1 st and 3 rd Wed, 6-6:30PM and by appt. Call to donate Springville Comm. Center Broadway St, Springville Springville School District Only Mon-Thurs, 8:00AM-1:00PM (call for other times) Produce accepted during open hours Southeast Linn Comm. Center S Washington, Lisbon M-Th 9AM-3PM; F 9AM-12:30PM Produce accepted during open hours or call 8 Germinator

9 July 2016 Steering Committee Minutes DRAFT Abridged for Germinator Present: Steve Bartlett, Jackie Baumhauer, Beula Dvorak, Darrell Hennessey, Linda Hinzman, Sylvia Kelley, Sam Krumbholz, Jackie MacLaren, Kay McWhinney, Jane Schildroth, Linda Shepard, Jean Wilson, and Diane Wiesenfeld and Shelly O Neal. Absent: Larry Dawson, Cindy Fagan. Quorum established. All MG purchases are tax exempt since we are nonprofit. Announcements: New Bo/Old MacDonald s Farm: Volunteers needed for the games at Old MacDonald s Farm on July 30. Accident Form and Weather Policy were reviewed. New Evaluation Form will be used at Garden Walk. Creating a new Electronic Newsletter for the public was discussed. MG Store still in progress. Financial Report: New money ($3.499) added to the Green House from the Plant Sale. Master Gardener Coordinator Report: From the Ground Up: We may team up with 4-H or Indian Creek Nature Center. Jan Ales is retiring from ICNC, Erin Anzalone will replace her. Open house for Jan on Sept. 17 at ICNC. The Garden Walk meetings are taking place at the 4 gardens. Year at a Glance Calendar and Memo Boards are in progress. VRS Training: Initial MG concerns are that it is too complicated to enter hours, give it time and hopefully it will become easier. Project and Committee Reports July, 2016 Brucemore: MG displays, main stage presentation, and other ideas are underway. Peggy and Shelly met with the Brucemore staff on June 17. A letter volunteer form will be sent to all MGs in July. An article for the July Germinator was submitted. Creative Gardening Series: The 2017 Committee is securing dates with the downtown library and looking for speakers. Community Outreach Gardens: The committee is very busy. Catherine McAuley Gardens A butterfly garden has been planted and the held a butterfly release party without the butterflies. Wellington Heights working with Horizons summer program, hosts 2 nd 3 rd and 4 th graders during the week to involve them in gardening. More helpers are needed! Summit Point Flowers are looking great. Plans include a speaker on the Monarch Project and planting milkweed plugs. Prairiewoods Cherries, mulberries & vegetables have been harvested. Ely Library Raised beds have been planted with lots of vegetables. They have regular classes and planting parties with different ages, completed 16 classes so far. Hiawatha School A butterfly garden has been planted and mulched. A family is tending to the garden this summer. Olivet Gardens About 28 students come weekly as part of Horizons summer program. Students made tin can bee houses and The Kernels were at the gardens for a publicity event. Hiawatha Care Center The raised bed garden is doing well. Staff are watering and MG Jackie Baumhaur assists with weeding and other tasks. Downtown Marion Community Gardens Veridian has taken over August 9

10 maintenance of 2 beds. Harvesting of spring vegetables is done. Downtown Community Garden National Geographic took pictures of the garden as part of a blue zones story. COG will participate in Food Security Day at New Bo with information about the garden projects and partners.. Demo Gardens (Noelridge): June was bus with Garden Walk Prep. The biotents have been placed on the plots in Flutterby Acres. The eggs and caterpillars arrive June 30. The Winnie the Pooh Children's Garden was planted with flowers and vegetables. Radishes and leaf lettuce have been harvested. The sunflowers are high! The AAS beds look terrific! Goodwill of the Heartland clients come every Wednesday to help maintain the beds. We have harvested radishes, squash, kale and peppers. Linda Eggleston organized and lead three tours during the month with the help of MG's and Friends of Noelridge volunteers. St. Pius preschoolers visited to learn about butterflies and participate in butterfly related activities. New Bo: The Committee is planting, harvesting and donating produce on a weekly basis. In July, we will start bi-weekly education sessions, starting with a stir-fry demonstration promoting garden to table ideas and a session on succession planting. Expert Education: The Tour of Clark McLeod and Cambell Watts Monarch Zones Project was June 23. Becki Lynch arranged the tour that was attended by 32 MG. This tour was an interesting and fun event. Garden Walk: All volunteers have been assigned to each of the four gardens. Approximately MG's/Interns are involved. 75 posters with brochures each were delivered to coffee shops, garden centers, and libraries. Some of the posters have been restocked several times. Additional posters were distributed to Rockwell Collins, TransAmerica, the Marion Farmers Market and NewBo Market. Publicity is complete with electronic billboards across the city, the KCRG Mug Shot, an interview on WMT-AM Radio, and a feature article on the Keegan garden in Sunday, July 3 Gazette. General meeting for all volunteers, hosts, and leads held on June 27. The garden location meetings will be the week of July 4 and Preview will be July 8 at 6:00 pm beginning at Noelridge Gardens. Greenhouse: The greenhouse is now in the cleaning stage prepping for next growing season. Jacki Baumhauer, Sam and Jo Dillion, Polly Draker, Sandy Fiegen, Shelby Foley, Holly Foster, Lelia Garner, Coleen Kint, Mary Mikkola, Tina Patterson, Doug Smith, Shirley Thornton, and Paula Wilson have been cleaning and sterilizing pots, cleaning the greenhouse and weeding the grounds. Since we reuse many of the containers, cleaning and sterilizing is an important step to prevent the possibility of diseases. Reusing also reduces costs, and keeps them out of the landfill. The next step will be to wash and sanitize the entire greenhouse. This step is important to prevent disease and reduce the pressure from insects. Hortline: For May, Doris Hardt reported 231 clients had 299 questions. The majority centered around insects and pesticides ( herbicides and fungicides.) Eleven publications were given out. Occasionally clients would like us to make home visits to help them with a gardening or tree problem 10 Germinator

11 or have other questions. At this time we do not make house calls. This might be a topic for discussion. The Plant and Insect Diagnostic Clinic revised the client forms in May. The old forms were removed and new ones put in the files. Leads and Scribes are reminded to check s in the inbox and respond to them in a timely fashion. If the question has been answered transfer the and your response to the Completed file. Also check the Pending file. Use the reference number, the date of the initial contact, and the person s name ( Jones ). If there are several contacts with a client create a folder for that person. Plant Exchange: To be held Saturday, September 24, Planting for Pollinators: The committee and MG's have been busy preparing beautiful gardens for the Garden Walk. Thanks to the chairs, Diane Stevens and Beulah Dvorak, the theme is Pollinators. Also, an Expert Ed tour was given at the Monarch Research Station for 32 MG's. Thanks to Linda Hayward for setting up the tour. The next major event and display will be for Brucemore on August 27. We are pleased that a Pollinator Display and the presentation for "Pleasing the Bees and Butterflies" will be showcased during the day. Project Independence: Gardens and pots are planted and growing well. Winter Gardening Fair: The Committee started meeting in June to set up the various committees. There was also discussion on venue, and various places that might work, considering location, number of rooms, parking, etc. Subsequent to the meeting, the Venue Committee, chaired by Shelly O Neal, established a request for proposal, and scrip to follow when contacting the potential venues. Eight locations are being considered. The Program Committee, chaired by Sylvia Kelley, is also meeting to start putting the program topics and speakers together. Committee members are: Kim Becicka, Gail Denny, Devon Dietz, Beula Dvorak, Larry Edwards, Ann Halverson, Linda Hinzman, Kathy Hughes, Sylvia Kelley, Sam Krumbholz, Carrie Nilsson, Fran Potratz, and Jean Wilson. Larry Edwards and Sam Krumbholz are job shadowing. Our next meeting is August 2, at 6:30 pm. in the Extension Office. Respectfully submitted, Sam Krumbholz, Secretary Linn County Extension Master Gardeners 383 Collins Road NE, Suite 201 Cedar Rapids, IA ph (319) Hortline (319) The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Many materials can be made available in alternative formats for ADA clients. To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC or call August 11