What's Growing On?

Ever Growing; Ever Changing Perhaps this year our “catch phrase” is truer than any other time in my experience. For me it was a time of reflection as I stepped back from everything except mowing. That meant that I was passing on many of the things I have done for a number of years including the documentation of this historical record. However, as the year unfolded and rapid changes occurred, my love for this glorious space drew me back to a bit more involvement. People come and people move on for a myriad of reasons, but trees grow and flowers bloom, bees flit from plant to plant and butterflies wing on their majestic way. While people are at the heart of our wonderful garden, the steady pace of the natural world is what anchors all of us. Due to the fact that I began to work on the documentation for this year a while after the fact, this record will be a bit briefer than some. Here we go……. APRIL Tracy from our garden staff worked with a volunteer group on the Labyrinth- garden. .

What is there for fall color this year?

This week, the hunt at the Arboretum began.

What Type of Landscape Do I Want or Need?

The Importance of a Weed Patch

Summer is officially here.

As you probably know, the BotaniCat arrived at the Arboretum last month. I have been staking pallets around it and have been asked several times what I am doing? If you have not seen it, here is what it looks like.

For whatever reason, this seems like a pivotal year to me. I find myself wondering how valued the Arboretum is to the Cedar Valley. Do the majority of the people love it as much as I do? Just how much value does a Public Garden have in the overall scheme of things? While you ponder these questions, let me share some statistics taken from the recent issue of the Journal of the American Public Garden Association: In 2022 this is the collective impact of Public Gardens on communities: 6,200 Health and Wellness programs 600,000 pounds of produce donated 95,000 acres conserved 152 accredited plant collections Over 120,000,000 visitors; 10 million of whom were non-local and 1 million international. The takeaway from those astounding numbers is that we are truly blessed to have our small slice of that pie. My sincere hope is that as we move forward, we look to the future for all we still have to achieve. So away we go with this year. Let’s say hello to