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WE HAVE A POND!!!! Bethany Manor pond is just about completed, with some small details to be finished in the next couple of weeks. Larry and Denice Reisetter have done an excellent job of organizing everybody and keeping the project on track. There have been a lot of members working on it -- I do want to list them but I know I would miss a couple and I would not be able to live it down. We will list everybody that worked on the pond in our yearbook.
That pond has been the talk of the residents of the Manor. They follow the progress every day and, some of them, park in their wheelchairs to watch for hours. My Mom included.
It has been suggested that CIGWA members tour the Manor pond sometime this summer. Sounds like a winner to me -- I hope it does to you guys. There are a lot of members that have not had a chance to participate in the pond building process and have missed out on all the fun. This member tour will provide the chance for everybody to see it and admire our accomplishment. We'll keep you posted.
The Central Iowa Tour of Water Gardens is coming together nicely. Only one or two host gardens to finish lining up to round out the field of 24 gardens. Our timetable is to have the tickets done by the end of the first week of June. The committee of 13 has been busy and will be even busier the next few weeks. The dates of the tour are July 20 and 21. The Ames, Boone areas will be on Saturday and Altoona, East Des Moines, and Ankeny will be on Sunday. Lots of interest and I expect we will again beat our numbers from last year. We had over 800 people that toured between both Ames and Des Moines.
Volunteers will be needed on the day of the tour to assist each of the Hosts at their gardens. You do not need to be an "expert" on water gardening to be one of these volunteers. We are there to assist the Host and checking the tour tickets. Greg and Carolyn Knop are organizing the volunteers for the day. Please contact Greg or Carolyn (382-5685 in Nevada) to help out on this very important fund-raiser. You can get free tickets for the next day's tour or the previous day's (depending on which day your helping out on). We also organize a tour the next weekend for volunteers and hosts, so we can all see the gardens. Of course, you will need to be a volunteer to be able to participate in this special tour.
This month's meeting is our plant exchange (and White Fish Sale). We are looking forward to lots of water plants as well as other perennials to be available. Last year it was a big success for us and members were able to get great plants -- cheap. This year, I think that Kenn Outzen and Dean Koob (our Plant Exchange Cochairmen) are going to designate a buck from each sale to the Bethany Manor project.
This exchange will be a success if our membership brings plants and stuff. Any kind of plants will be welcome. An easy way to bring them is in plastic zip lock bags with the tops sticking out of the bag. Please label them to the best of your knowledge -- if you don't know, put as much info that you do know or you can even place a question mark on the plant. Dean and Kenn may be able to figure out what it is.
We also are accepting any kind of extra stuff that you have lying around collecting dust. We are calling this our White Fish Sale. Janet Craven suggested this idea and we think that it will be successful -- of course, you need to donate some stuff.
Please come to the Alliant Facility, Monday, May 13 at 6:00 with the plants and stuff, so that we can organize everything before we start selling at 7:00. If you can't make it to the meeting and you want to donate some items -- please give Greg Knop a call and we will arrange to pick up items.
Agghhhhh -- the Toads are singing again. A sure sign of spring. See everybody at the meeting!!
The Big Toad, Jamie