105 Horticulture Hall, Ames, IA 50011
Iowa Master Gardener Program
Questions?James
Romer |
News Update March 23 2007
Announcements and news for ISU Extension staff, Master Gardeners, and faculty IN THIS ISSUE
BENTON COUNTY SPRING GARDEN EXTRAVAGANZA The third annual Spring Garden Extravaganza will be held on Saturday, April 28th. This event, sponsored by Iowa State University Extension in Benton County and local ISU Master Gardeners, will be held at the Benton County Fairgrounds. The event begins with registration at 8:00 AM and the program at 8:30 AM. Lee Zieke Lee, owner of Willowglen Nursery, a perennial flower nursery north of Decorah, will share her love of perennial flowers. She’ll include her experiences with which flowers are “hot” and how to use them in your landscapes as well as how to plan for effective color combinations. Every gardener will take something useful home from this session. Kathleen Ziemer, owner of Butterfliz of Iowa, will explain how to build a backyard butterfly habitat. She will include information about ideal plants and conditions to encourage butterflies to visit your garden. She will share her love of butterflies and how she started her commercial butterfly breeding and brokerage facility. Becky Johnson, ISU Master Gardener in Benton County will discuss roadside prairies. She will talk about efforts to restore prairies along Iowa’s roadways. As part of this workshop, participants will make two bottle growing systems to start prairie plants in their own backyard. In addition, plants will be for sale for participants in the program. Pre-registration is requested by April 20th. Registration fee is $20 per person and includes materials for the prairie workshop. For registration information, contact the Benton County Extension Office located at 501 1st Avenue in Vinton, at phone: 319-472-4739. Contact: Linda Engelken Fischer, Benton County Extension Education Director MADISON COUNTY LANDSCAPE DESIGN WORKSHOP The Madison County Master Gardeners has re-scheduled their Landscape Design Workshop for Saturday, April 7, 2007, 9:00 a.m. – Noon. The workshop will be held at the Winterset Community Church (113 N. 2nd Street) Winterset, Iowa. Guest speaker: Ann Marie VanDerZanden, ISU Horticulturist and Professor of Landscape Design. Please call the Madison County Extension Office to pre-register. You don’t want to miss FREE and very educational workshop! Central Gardens of North Iowa presents $5 members; $10 non-members CASS COUNTY EDIBLE LANDSCAPES PROGRAM Have you ever wanted to get more out of your garden? You can, by landscaping with edible plants. Edible landscaping, especially when paired with sustainable gardening practices, can enhance any yard, garden, or landscape. If you would like to learn more about edible landscaping, you will want to attend a presentation conducted by Dr. Eldon Everhart, Iowa State University Extension Horticulture Specialist. The program is scheduled for Tuesday, April 24 beginning at 7:00 p.m. at the Cass County Community Center located at 805 West 10th Street in Atlantic (this is on the Cass County Fairgrounds). If the idea of edible landscaping sounds a little far-fetched, you’re not alone. Until recently, such applications were limited to apple orchards and rows of raspberries. Yet, edible landscaping dates back to the gardens in ancient Egypt where flowers, grape arbors, and fruit trees were blended with places to sit and enjoy the scenery. Unfortunately, edible landscaping became a thing of the past, at least for a while. According to Everhart, “Edible landscaping is a great way to enhance the beauty of your landscape and also increase its use.” When you attend the program, you’ll discover how easy it is to combine shrubs and trees, groundcovers, and perennial and annual flowers that have edible parts with herbs, vegetables, and fruit-bearing plants. You'll learn how to put edible landscaping into practice, no matter what size garden you have. Everhart will also provide you with a list of ISU Extension publications, books, magazine articles, and other helpful Internet links and other resources. Everhart will also provide lists of plants that do double duty and are also hardy and adapted to Iowa. The Cass County Master Gardeners will provide refreshments following the presentation. Pre-registration is encouraged. Call the Cass County ISU Extension office at 712-243-1132 or send an email to jhering@iastate.edu Stop on over to the Madison County Extension Office on Saturday, March 24, 2007, for a FREE workshop on “Hostas.” Drew Featherstone, Madison County Master Gardener and Hostas Expert, is the speaker of this workshop that begins at 10:00 a.m. Please call to pre-register: 515-462-1001. Sunday, April 1 Project GREEN Garden Forum Appropriate for Master Gardener credit BENTON COUNTY WILD ABOUT BERRIES PROGRAM Iowa State University Master Gardeners in Benton County are sponsoring a program called, Wild About Berries on Thursday, April 12th. The program begins at 7:00 PM and will be held at the Belle Plaine Community Library located at the corner of 9th Avenue and 12th Street in Belle Plaine. Bob Mullens, berry grower from Toledo will discuss growing blue berries, raspberries, and strawberries. Mullens has been growing berries for many years and will share his knowledge and experiences. The program is free. Anyone interested in learning more about growing berries is invited to attend. For more information, contact Marvin Kucera, phone: 319-434-6388, Vicki Schwab, phone: 319-444-2086, and Richard Wells, phone: 319-434-3066. The Linnaeus Arboretum of Gustavus Adolphus College, Saint Peter, MN is celebrating the 300th birthday of Linnaeus. We invite you to join us in the celebration on April 25, 2007. For more information please follow this link: http://www.gustavus.edu/arboretum/linnaeus.cfm Master Gardener Update is stupendously published Friday by the Iowa Master Gardener Coordinator. Please send your news via email to James Romer. For questions, call (515) 294-2336.
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Iowa Master Gardener Program, 105 Horticulture Hall, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011.
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