Hi All,
Oh my, the colored leaves are flying by outside my window this morning. My weather app shows 54 degrees and 14 mph winds, this I can believe! I’m afraid tomorrow morning (Monday, October 14th) could be challenging. Now where are my wool socks?
I clicked on a Proven Winners website yesterday titled, “Falling Into Winter Prep.” I was thinking it would provide perfect motivation for writing the 23rd weekly summary for the Project GREEN Gardens. I scrolled through the to-do lists for north, south, east, west areas of the U.S. and found the attached video. It’s a little more than an hour in length, but worth every minute. If you can find time, check it out!
Our rain gauge showed 1/3 inch of rain when we last met, October 7 at 9 a.m. We scratched our heads wondering how this could be. Oh yes, remember late last week a night time thunder and lightning rain? Well, 1/3 inch is better than nothing. It was 57 degrees with a 38 air quality (good) as we went over our to-do list for the morning. There were 13 Project GREEN volunteers in attendance: Linda Bergquist, Jim Peters, Pat Yeggy, Sue Terveer-Mullins, Hetty Hall, Monica Hoherz, Rina Sjolund, Dhyana Kauffman, Susan Ahrens, Erin Buscher, Cindy Parsons, Lisa Haverkamp, and moi. All volunteers worked two hours each with an extra 5 hours added during the week by volunteers. As we exited the Gardens, the temperature had risen to 62 degrees. Our list of chores included: planting Chicago Allium in West Oval 3, planting 50 daffodils, watering containers, watering, blowing clear the long driveway, parking lot, and sidewalk leading to the Ashton House, and moving Project GREEN materials from upstairs in the House to a downstairs closet. Volunteers continued weeding beds. Lots of debris was left on tarps for Parks and Rec Steve Erickson + crew to clear away. All of these chores were accomplished! Well done and thanks to all!
Please read through the following announcements.
* Coat donations to Cindy are due tomorrow.
* Look through the following catalogs for 2025 ideas for the PGG. If you find ideas (annual and perennial) to order, please list using the catalog name, plant name with color, page you found plant, and how many to order for each item chosen. Also identify with PGG location where these plants will be put into the ground. Keep in mind our deer family we share the Gardens. Whew! Please send your list to Cindy & me. We will put our order into Dawn Bouslog at Pleasant Valley Greenhouses soon.
* There will be a brunch sign-up for the November 4th event along with our sign-in sheet tomorrow. Also, you can text me as an RSVP (hopefully YES!) by October 28. If you have any photos to add to the 2024 photo show, please send them to me. If you could organize your pictures by weeks beginning week 1, May 6 and ending week 26, October 28, I would appreciate it. I hope Laura Hawks can join our brunch and have her REAP Grant information available to share with our group.
* Do you receive the Project GREEN newsletter? If not, please let Cindy or me know and we’ll get your information to add to our mailing list.
* Do you have extra flat cardboard boxes to store canna lilies and elephant ears? Please bring them next week, October 21, and we will store them in the garage.
Here are the numbers after 23 weeks together at the Project GREEN Gardens. Weeks 1 – 22 + Week 23 = 876 1/2 hours + 31 hours = 907 1/2 hours for our Project GREEN volunteers!
Many thanks!
Fingers crossed for a warm sun and calm breezes tomorrow morning. We will continue clearing beds of unwanted material, gathering yard art to store in garage, planting 50 (or so) Violet Beauty Allium in the Catalpa bed, & walking the still beautiful gardens one more time. Keep an eye out for places to plant 2025 cannas and elephant ears. Let’s drain our hoses and put away in the garage. Please attach the hose ends to keep out winter’s varmints.
Looking forward to seeing volunteers in the morning. Until then, happy gardening! Diane