What is so special about this place in the middle of what some would consider “nowhere”

According to an article in a-z-central, a publication of the USA Today network, our culture is more than ever one in which we and our children spend the bulk of our time indoors. To quote from the article:

“While there are many fine, educational websites and television programs, allowing a child too much time with electronics may cause problems in the long run. Computers, tablets and smartphones can make life more convenient, but physical health, language acquisition and social skills may suffer if time using electronics isn't tempered with time in the real world.”

“Children from the ages of eight to 18 spend an average of seven-and-a-half hours each day interacting with an electronic device -- not including the hour-and-a-half children at these ages text or the time they spend talking on the phone, according to a January 2010 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation. By interacting with friends, family members and instructors over electronic devices instead of in person, the child may be isolated and fail to develop normal social skills, like conversation abilities and etiquette. The same study pointed out that children may avoid social interaction or extracurricular activities to have more time to spend on the computer or a game console.”

Contrast this rather grim picture with what we have to offer:

The mission of the Cedar Valley Arboretum & Botanic Gardens is to enhance the quality of life for all individuals through horticulture. We seek to enrich life by nourishing and sharing the beauty of the natural world, the joy of gardening, knowledge of plants, and the diversity of our world.

The vision of the Cedar Valley Arboretum & Botanic Gardens is to serve as a compelling public resource for the study of plants, a leader in environmental stewardship, a cultural center for the community, and a showcase of Iowa's rich heritage with the land.

THIS

OR THIS

We exist to provide the Cedar Valley with an opportunity to connect with the wonderous nature that surrounds us?

Will our hectic-electronic lifestyle keep us from enjoying the peace and beauty that is available, if we take the time to find it?

This story will let us know if we succeeded and it covers the 12-month period of 2019.

JANUARY

Right now, it is January 8 and we rest, waiting. On this day the sun is bright, and the landscape looks stark. Even so, there is a certain muted loveliness that is all about me as I look around through the lens of my camera. The Welcome Center is a bit on the drab side.

The gnomes know when the snow will come!

FEBRUARY

It is now the middle of February and the winter just gets more intense: only 35 days to spring and we can’t wait to see this place come alive again. 

Behind all that snow are people who are planning what we are going to do with this year’s story.

MARCH

It is now early March and we have had several days of melting snow. Our collective pulse quickens as we envision another growing season. Et Voila’ we get a peek of what is to come.

APRIL

We have high hopes that spring is on the way at last!

We always have a day when we gather to officially wake up the gardens even though they pretty much do that on their own.

It may take a village to raise a child but it takes a small army of faithful volunteers to run a public garden and we are blessed with some terrific folks.

And away we go!

MAY

We had some exciting news this year: Hawkeye asked us to partner with them in applying for a DOT grant that would supply funding for projects that would help students acquire special skills and experience. The funding would provide four people to work in the gardens and do the projects as well as money for materials. We also had funding in our budget for a garden intern.

A huge welcome to our helpers for this year.

The DOT grant students, Dawn and Zoe

Christian and Cody

And our garden intern: Tate

Time to pick up the pace mother nature

Our friends from Aspro joined us for their workday again this year; thanks for all you got accomplished

These ladies from Ocwen Loan also spent the day working with us

Our season’s events usually start with the plant sale.

Our first educational event was on how to grow Hops, some pretty torrential rains made for a small crowd, but the brave presenter made it out.

We are well aware of the importance of our volunteers and apparently the cedar valley knows that too. The Arboretum connection shows up at the mayor’s volunteer award program. Front row 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th from the right are Marissa Dolan-Penny Popp-and Mary Meir.

By now Spring-time was well on its way

JUNE

We are into it now and I have witnessed the miracle for a number of years but the extraordinary beauty still chokes me up.

It should be apparent to everyone that this place doesn’t look this good all by itself and as the season is now rolling along, time for a shout-out to some of our wonderful volunteers.

The Thursday night gang

The Gentle Gardeners

It just keeps getting better from here

This month also had some fun events:

Of course, none of these activities can happen without preparation and, as always, our volunteers are there behind the scenes doing the work.

Mary Meir drills tea cups

Marisa Dolan and Pat Higby working on that same event

A huge part of the story for this year began to unfold this month. It consisted of two major happenings.

One of them actually started last year when we were offered the opportunity to acquire a work of art created by a resident of the Cedar Valley who was looking for a place to relocate it. Greg Boom had built a Cairn as a feature in his garden at his home in Denver. When he planned to move, he decided not to leave it behind. Again, thanks to Arboretum volunteers we were able to offer him a place for his masterpiece.

A cairn is a man-made pile of stones and they have been used since the prehistoric era throughout the world as markers. They indicate trails, mark borders, protect buried caches, and in the highlands of Scotland represent the warriors of a clan.

According to an article published in The Journal magazine of the Western Home Communities, the limestone used to create Mr. Boom’s sculpture is from Stone City, a mining operation near Anamosa, Iowa. He hand-cut each piece of the 308 stones. When stacked the egg-shaped cairn stands 5 feet 1 inch tall and weighs about 4 tons.

Obviously for us to move this piece to our grounds, it needed to be taken apart and painstakingly labeled and then re-assembled. One interesting thing about the process was that the disassembly happened in October of 2018 and the re-assembly took place in June of this year.

 It started with Mr. Boom and a team of our volunteers: Gary Blonigan, Steve Buckles, Vaughn Griffith, Howard Craven, and Randy Robinson. 

Once the team had it taken apart, the pieces were stacked on-site at the Arboretum, and a concrete base was poured for it.

We then had to wait for this year’s growing season to put it back together. 

Once the cairn had been re-assembled; we held a grand unveiling ceremony.

JULY

Summer is in full swing; it is hot and humid and we are busy. The gardens are maturing and we continue to be enchanted.

This month’s line-up of events and classes is a full one.

This is what the rain barrel class looked like

And this is the Sweet Corn Shindig

The DOT grant projects were to build a bridge over the wet area West of the Labyrinth and to repurpose the main loop trails with gravel. They will do the tails first.

By this time into the growing season the gardens and grounds look stunning!

AUGUST

The DOT gang have completed the main loop trail and this is so much better than the mulch surface

The bridge was finished up this month as well

It is now high Summer and the gardens are flourishing!

SEPTEMBER

We are winding down our growing season as Fall approaches. We have been preparing for our major event, the Fall Harvest Festival which is synonymous with scare-crows. For a change of pace, we will bring in some of them early and leave some later on in the form of groupings for people to enjoy as they stroll the grounds.

The Master Gardener Orchard continues to mature and this year we had enough to pick our first small crop for the Food Bank

Time for the Fall Harvest Festival. As with any outdoor event, the weather dictates everything. For several years we have had perfect conditions. Which means that we probably were due for something different, and the rains came.

Saturday was not too bad. As you will see, the volunteers showed up for their usual stellar work making sure we were ready.

Bonnie

Janet, Linda, and Karen

Melinda and Carol

Beth and Judy

At first the rain was not too bad it was just kind of gray and damp

On Sunday it RAINED!!!

AND IT RAINED!

After the vendors all packed up and left, we decided to close.

OCTOBER

This month began just like last month ended. It rained!

However, with all the political nonsense in full swing and all the discouraging news in the Cedar Valley there is still an escape into nature for all of us right here. The beauty changes from season to season but the peace and calm stay the same.

We had enough money donated to begin the Gardens of Seasons and our wonderful volunteer group came out to plant it.

It is now late October and our season is about over as far as having visitors is concerned. But there is one last hurrah, the magnificent foliage of the trees!

One more task we planted tulip bulbs for next year’s display

NOVEMBER and December

The season is over for another year, winter approaches and the gardens rest and wait.