Hi All,
Project GREEN volunteers had two days of marathon planting this past week! Our temperatures were in the low sixties with air quality good, 23. May, 2025 has accumulated 2.71 inches of rain in Iowa City. Project GREEN volunteers are a busy group of gardeners. We needed to reschedule from our usual Monday work session because of rain. Fortunately we had extra help from Master Gardeners on Thursday. Our challenges included muddy conditions to dig, but we all had smiles on our faces as we moved from one flower bed to another. After two days of digging, planting, watering we were finished with the Triangle, Quilt, Mary’s Tree, Circle, and Evelyn’s Corner. These are all large beds and now are filled with beautiful flowers from Pleasant Valley Greenhouses. Lots of work, but such wonderful results! Passers-by on the hiking/biking trail often told us how beautiful the Gardens looked and gave us lots of thumbs up.
Our Thursday volunteers were: Chris Ostrander, Nick Goergen, Joel Wells MG, Kathy Hall MG, Linda Schreiber MG, Evelyn Frey, Becky Hall, Hetty Hall, Pat Yeggy, Dhyana Kaufman, and Diane Allen. Our Friday group included: Diane Allen, Mary Laughlin, Monica Hoherz, Susan Ahrens, Nick Goergen, Chris Ostrander, Rina Sjolund, Hetty Hall, Evelyn Frey, and Becky Hall. What an amazing group of gardeners! We used Fern (our Gator) to move plants to their new homes. Ed Rinderspacher (Project GREEN’s project manager) had prepared our beds which made planting so much easier. Our sessions lasted from 9 a.m. to noon, with many staying extra time. Kudos to our volunteers for their extraordinary work! Please forgive me if your name was not included for week 3. The master gardeners’ time (MG) with us will not be included as their hours will apply to the Iowa City Ashton House Park.
Lots of extra time was spent preparing for our week 3 planting. Here’s the list: Jim Peters – 4 hours, Cindy Parsons – 3 hours, Diane Allen – 8 hours, Larry Allen – 2 hours, Monica Hoherz – two hours, and Evelyn Frey – 2 hours. I know there are more hours not recorded, so please let me know the time and date of the extra work.
If anyone took pictures Thursday and/or Friday would you please send them to me? For now, do yourself a favor and head to the Project GREEN Gardens to see for yourself all that was accomplished. It’s an easy drive, 820 Park Road, and will be worth your time.
We still have plants (annuals and perennials) to plant into other places around the 8+ acres park. Please mark your calendars for Tuesday, May 27 from 9 – 11 a.m. for our week 4 session. If we have inclement weather, I will be in touch by 7 a.m. Tuesday morning to cancel and reschedule.
Here are the numbers after week 3 at the Project GREEN Gardens. Weeks 1 – 2 + Week 3 = 153 hours + 75 hours
= 228 hours for Project GREEN Gardeners after three weeks together! Many, many thanks to all.
Wishing everyone a nice Memorial Day weekend. Tuesday (if anyone is interested) we will meet at the Ashton House patio, 8:30 a.m. for coffee (bring your own). Our work session will begin at 9 a.m. Until then, happy gardening! Diane