Week 4, 2025 Project GREEN Gardens, Tuesday May 27

Hi All,

Here are pictures after our week 3 planting marathons. Thanks to Becky Hall and Linda Schreiber for sending their pictures to share.

The first picture shows one of the Dashes with a lovely, pink peony. The second picture shows our newest flowerbed called “The Catalpa Bed”. The third picture is another Dash with spectacular blooming gas plants.
The left picture shows the Circle being planted with white and blue (purple) salvia. There are voodoo lilies in the center. The right picture shows the Quilt being planted. This year we have a mixed selection of Globe Amaranth (Gomphrena) in the center with tangerine marigolds around the frame of the Quilt.

Project GREEN volunteers and one Master Gardener (MG) met Tuesday, May 27 from 9 – 11 a.m. This was our official week 4 work session. It was 59 degrees at 9 a.m. with air quality 23 (good) and Iowa City had accumulated 5.05 inches of May rain. Perfect weather for our time together.

We still had quite a few flats of annual and perennial plants to get into the ground. It was fun to find needy places to pretty-up with plants around the 8+ acres of the park. Volunteers got to work, Fern was fired up to transport plants to their new homes, and hoses pulled to water thirsty plants. Many volunteers arrived early and stayed late. This 2025 year I will include credit for extra work and hours working at the Gardens with my weekly narrative. For instance, Dhyana Kaufman has spent 21 extra hours at the Gardens since week three’s marathon plantings. Sue Mullins added 4 1/2 hours, Rina Sjolund added 2 hours, and Monica Hoherz added 5 hours. Many thanks to each of you! Note to all, let me know when and how many extra hours you’ve spent between each official work session.

The volunteers for week 4 included: Diane Allen, Nick Goergen, Susan Ahrens, Linda Bergquist, Monica Hoherz, Chris Ostrander, Cindy Parsons, Dhyana Kaufman, Linda Schreiber MG. Thirteen extra hours were spent at our week 4 session. Please remember our Master Gardeners in attendance use their time at the Project GREEN Gardens as volunteer hours at the Ashton House Park. Project GREEN appreciates all the time spent making the Gardens beautiful!

Here are pictures from week 4.

Left: Nick is ready to deliver plants using our newest volunteer, Fern. Isn’t she a GREEN beauty? Right: Susan continues work on the north garage flower bed. It’s a challenge to plant the middle area as an old Ashton House sidewalk under 4 inches of garden soil remains. The old sidewalk is protected as part of the National Historical Home. Susan has plans to make this bed worthy of a visit by anyone hiking/biking by. The apricot and yellow iris have been donated by Susan and Ron Haffner.
Left: Chris weeded the bed along the driveway leading to the garage. Lamium has been planted here for a few years thanks to Susan Ahrens’s plant donations. Silver Mound (a perennial) was planted amongst the lamium and should be a nice addition. Notice how steep the bed is and Chris is doing a great job staying upright. Right: Chris and Cindy cut peony stems that had fallen. They were very generous to give their best “Miss America” pose with the blooming peonies.

Here are the numbers after four weeks working at the Project GREEN Gardens. Weeks 1 – 3 + Week 4 = 228 hours + 61 1/2 hours

= 289 1/2 hours for Project GREEN volunteer hours. Congratulations and many thanks for all you’ve accomplished in the month of May. I hope each and every one of you know how special you are.

Many thanks to Project GREEN’s project manager, Ed Rindenspacher, for dropping by the Gardens Tuesday. Ed was able to chat with volunteers about extra soil, mulch, and edging needed at the flowerbeds. I believe this work will be done by Ed before our week 5 work session.

Also thanks to Mary Lowder for donating her garden hoses to Project GREEN.

Here is week 4’s Picture of the Week. It shows a blooming white rhododendron and is spectacular! This shrub can be found in the pachysandra bed along the drive to the parking lot. It’s worth the drive to see it, 820 Park Rd:

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