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Coming meetings for the group will be: March 26 and April 29 programs to be announced but hopefully one of these will be on waterfall construction; and in May we will attend the Ames group's plant sale. We have nothing definite for the summer months but hope to have some meetings/tours of member's ponds in the Des Moines area.
The ISU Extension Office in Mason City was the meeting place for our February 17, 2003 Top of Iowa Water Garden meeting.
President Ed Schroeder opened the meeting for business. There was no treasurer's report and previous minutes were not read.
Under Old Business Ed stated that Deb Spencer gave a great presentation on Aquatic Plants at the February 10 CIWGA meeting.
Bart Pals said he could get a 40% discount from Lilly Blooms if we sent in a group order. Ed stated the CIWGA organization supported ordering from a local dealer, and that Debbie was still trying to contact Happy Acres in Osage to see if we could order in bulk from that nursery.
We talked about the difficulty of finding presenters. It was suggested we ask speakers to narrow their topics and perhaps this would allow the same speaker to return to present a different program while not overwhelming us with too much information at one time. There was also discussion on how long a program should be.
The majority of the evening was spent discussing this years meeting dates, programs, locations and fundraising. We talked the possibility of having a meeting and taking a tour in the same month, or foregoing the meeting and just taking a tour. Possible programs were discussed. Mary will check about having someone speak on bogs. Logan stated he would like to hear someone speak on Koi.
Fund raising ideas included having a plant and/or fish sale, making and selling veggie filters, and hosting a pond tour. During our April meeting, we will make veggie filters for our own use and to sell. Specific details will be in next month's newsletter. In May we plan on hosting a plant/fish sale and in July, Ed stated he would like to see our club have their first pond tour.
Programs for this year: March -- Central Gardens; April -- Making Veggie Filters; May -- Plant and/or Fish Sale; June -- Tour Stan Fitz Gardens; July -- Top of Iowa Water Garden Pond Tour; August -- Open; September -- 7B Ranch
New business brought the subject of working with other organizations as a means of promoting our club. Julie Wright, chairperson for Central Gardens in Clear Lake, will be presenting next month, and it was suggested we may be able to help them establishing a water feature.
Our next meeting will be at the Lakeside Room in Clear Lake on March 17 at 7:00 p.m. Julie Wright's program on Central Gardens will delight us all. Ed stated he and Cathy will call or send postcards to people who have expressed an interest in water gardens, or have attended one of our meetings, but are not yet members. He encouraged everyone to attend next month's meeting.
We hope to see you there. As always, please call or e-mail Ed Schroeder if you have any questions, or are interested in joining us, 641-923-3512 or krafty@ncn.net.
Submitted by Mary Schultz, secretary