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The tour was a huge success. I do not have the numbers yet (The committee's report may appear elsewhere in this newsletter) but I can assure you that by all indications the tour was well attended. The weather cooperated with us and the Des Moines Register ran an excellent article the Sunday before the tour. You cannot buy that kind of advertising and it was evident by seeing all the people.
Kudos to the committee. Super job with everything seeming to flow smoothly. This is the largest garden tour in the state as far as number of gardens. It is a huge task to put it together without any hitches. For those of you that volunteered -- thank you very much. For those that simply bought tickets and toured -- thanks are also in order. Now for those of you that did neither -- well -- you missed a great one. Wonderful gardens!! Everybody was walking around with smiles on their face.
I do want to mention that without the volunteers the tour would not have happened. We have to have you!!
Speaking of wonderful gardens we have some of the best that Fort Dodge and Algona can offer for us to tour on August 7. Harvey Hilpipre has lined up some very nice gardens in Fort Dodge. His directions on how to get to the gardens are also in this newsletter. We are planning on seeing the gardens in Fort Dodge starting at 9:00 AM. So go to the first garden that Harvey lists and we will caravan to the rest. If we start at 9:00 we will be able to see all three gardens in FD and then be in Algona by 1:00 PM. You will need to eat at a restaurant in that time frame also.
Now, I do want to talk about the Algona garden. The owners' names are Don and Sharon Schiltz. They have agreed to allow us to tour -- this will be a huge treat for us. This is the first time that the Schiltz's have opened their garden to the public to tour. I know for a fact this will not happen again for quite some time.
They have the most beautiful water garden I have ever seen or have been associated with. Believe me the garden could not look better. I was there last Friday (July 23) working with a photographer taking pics of their garden. Absolutely stunning. The plants were blooming nice and everything was in tiptop shape. The photographer was a very very happy guy. Lots of great pics to take.
This garden rivals any top-notch garden in the state. Lots of unusual plant material and it will be learning experience for us as to how to plant a garden. The water garden is situated perfectly off the back of the house. It is about 4000 gallons in size but this is misleading. The water garden measures about 15 feet by 55 feet. Lots of holy boulders that were brought in from Wisconsin. A waterfall of about 18,000 GPH and two others that are 2000 GPH each. Very unique and you will not see anything like it anywhere else.
The rest of the gardens is also very well done and the whole garden is what I call eye candy.
To get there take Hwy 169 from Fort Dodge. You will go through Humbolt and then go all the way through Algona. You will come to Hwy 18 on the North side of town. Take a right (East) onto Hwy 18 and then take a left at the first chance (100 yards maybe). You are turning into a huge parking lot that is associated with a service station but if you look to the right you will see the entrance to their garden. It is very important that you park in this huge parking lot. It is an easy walk up to their beautiful home but as you go there is lot to see along the way. It is maybe a 300-yard walk and for those of you that can't walk that far there will be a golf cart to transport you to the house.
It will be worth the trip and believe me it is pleasure to announce this fantastic tour. We have all three chapters of the Water Garden Association invited at the same time as well as the Master Gardeners of Story County. I am expecting maybe 50 to 60 people to tour but the garden is huge and can accommodate this many.
Hope to see everybody there and have fun water gardening.
The Big Toad, Jamie