|
|
It is tour time!! Greg Knop and his committee have put the final touches on the biggest garden tour in the state of Iowa. It is THE Central Iowa Tour of Water Gardens. Remember the dates of Saturday, July 17th and Sunday, July 18th. Saturday is the day everyone will be touring the Ames, Cambridge and Huxley areas. Sunday the tour will be in the Des Moines, Norwalk, Indianola areas.
We have a total of 24 gardens that will be open for the public to tour. There are 12 in each area. All have a water feature in their landscape -- some very large and extensive water gardens and some that have more of a smaller feature. All sizes are represented and believe me -- size really does not matter. What does matter is how the water feature improves the landscape and enjoyment of it. This is a self-guided tour and you can go at your own pace and see all the gardens or only a select few.
Our Association is devoted to promoting water gardening and what better way to do this than to organize and promote this tour. It is interesting how popular adding water features has become over the years and one of the reasons has been because of the tour. Only recently has the Des Moines area been added to the tour but before that the tour was only in the Ames area. It would be interesting to determine how many water gardens/household there are in each area but I am confidant that the Ames area is quite a bit higher. It will not be long before the Des Moines and surrounding communities will catch up to the Ames area. The Des Moines area has some very nice gardens and guess what? Those gardens are on our tour.
Tickets for the tour can be bought at local greenhouses and nurseries in both Des Moines and Ames. You can purchase a ticket for either day or both days, if you prefer. Now for you guys reading this newsletter, you can go on the tour for free, if you choose to volunteer and help out during part of the tour. We are looking for volunteers to assist the host gardeners during the two days of the tour. You do not have to be an expert on water gardening to help the host. We need these volunteers to check to make sure that people have their tickets and to assist the tour attendees in any way.
You can volunteer for 4 to 5 hours on one of the days and then you can tour for free the rest of the time. Of course, you can volunteer for a whole day if you choose. Contact Greg Knop at 382-5685 or gknop@sauer-danfoss.com to volunteer. This is a great way to help out your Association.
Before I leave this subject I want to encourage everyone to invite friends and relatives to go on the tour. I know they will not be disappointed.
Now for our meeting this month. Carol Scheid and Tonnee and Dennis Wilkening have graciously opened their gardens for us to tour for our meeting. Carol attends most of our meetings on a regular basis and I know I always look forward to seeing her at the meetings. Tonnee and Dennis' garden was on our 2000 Water Garden Tour and is a very nice garden. What I remember about the garden is the really really nice stone that they have. You will "lust" after those rocks -- believe me. I have not had a chance to see Carol's garden yet but will that night. I know it must be pretty nice cause when she talks about it -- it's like talking about a family member. It is heaven to her -- I am sure that it will be very nice.
Since the drive to their places is about 1/2 hour, we decided to have the meeting start at 7:00PM on Monday, July12. Meet at the Wilkening's first and then we will travel to Scheid's next. So to get there take I35 N from Ames and exit on E29 (190th St.). Go east a bunch of miles -- you will go past S-14 and S-27 County roads. Then cross a set of RR tracks and then cross Indian Creek. After the creek, Wilkening's house will be approx. one more mile. Their place is on both sides of the road with the pond by the house on the North side of the road. Their address is 68883 190th. Then after seeing their garden we will travel to the Scheid garden.
To get there, we will backtrack (west) a mile or so to 677th Ave.(gravel road) Turn north and go 1 mile, turn east or right at the T intersection. This is 180th St. Go a half a mile. Scheid's are on the corner of 180th and 680th. The address is 68065 180th. The pond is on the north side of the house. There are many dirt roads in the area -- do not use these roads. It will take about 30 minutes to travel from central Ames to the Wilkening's.
We will have a very short meeting at Carol's place so you can lawn chairs if you want. I can't see the meeting lasting more than 15 minutes.
Hope to see everybody there and on our tour.
The Big Toad, Jamie