August 19, 2024 Project GREEN Gardens, Week 16 summary

Hi All,

Our week 16 at the Project GREEN Gardens was a nice morning with a temperature of 67 degrees. Our rain gauges showed a little more than 3 inches of rain since we last met. Watering our plants will not be necessary this week!

There were 16 volunteers in attendance for week 16 and they were: Hetty Hall, Nick Goergen, Rina Sjolund, Monica Hoherz, Jim Peters, Mary Laughlin, Erin Buscher, Pat Yeggy, Evelyn Frey, Sue Mullins, Susan Ahrens, Dhyana Kaufman, Lisa Haverkamp, Linda Bergquist, William Blair, and moi. Everyone stayed for two hours with four volunteers remaining until after noon.

It seems summer has returned for eastern Iowa. With high humidity and temperatures forecast for our work together tomorrow, consider arriving early (8 a.m.?) and leaving early (10 a.m.?). I plan to be there by 8 a.m. and will not leave until 11 a.m. or the last volunteer leaves. We will concentrate our efforts by weeding our favorite flowerbeds. A lot of work has been accomplished in the past few weeks and I’ve got the pictures to prove it! Also, let’s begin watering plants at 8 a.m. We have two long hoses which will help give our plants a cool drink. Fingers crossed it will rain later this week. Our usual goals of filling the Little Free Library and watering/fertilizing containers and wagon need to be attended to again.

Here are pictures of the Project GREEN Gardens after 16 weeks of work.

The first two pictures show West Oval 3 (next to the hiking/biking trail). This very long bed has been rid of unwanted plants or weeds and readied for mulch. Volunteers will fill the northwest side with Chicago Allium and the southwest side with Denim and Lace Russian sage. There are mature trees in this bed so there are sunny and shady spaces left to plan. The next two pictures show the catalpa bed located in a northern section of PGG. Volunteers will finish weeding this bed soon making it ready for mulching. At the north end of the bed is a thumbnail of Canadian anemone. The plan is to dig in violet beauty allium just below the length of Canadian anemone. The rest of the bed is still in the planning stages.

The first picture shows the Circle bed with its Voodoo Lily in its center. If you stand where the picture was taken, looking toward Park Road, it is possible to see the Arch with its new birdbath, Mary’s tree, the Quilt, and finally the Triangle bed. All so pretty with bright colors! The next two pictures show the north side of the limestone Ashton House and ADA ramp to the front door. The flowerbed next to the house is lovely and will continue its beauty until the end of October when volunteers will remove the annual plants. The last picture shows five newly trimmed cranberry bushes.

Here are the numbers after 16 weeks together caring for the Project GREEN Gardens. Weeks 1 – 15 + Week 16 = 686 1/2 hours + 36 hours

= 722 1/2 hours for Project GREEN volunteers! It’s an amazing amount of hours for an amazing group of volunteers. Many thanks to all!

I’m looking forward to Week 17 which will be held Monday, August 26 from 8 – 10 a.m. or 9 – 11 a.m. Until then, happy gardening! Diane

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