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This is a pretty exciting time of the year for us. The ice is starting to weaken and, in some ponds, it may already be gone. Keep those air pumps running even after the ice is melted. I usually leave mine running until I start up the main water pump(s). I start these pumps up as soon as we have nighttime temperatures above freezing on a regular basis. Remember, it is always important to keep your circulation high.
As soon as ice is out, get your barley straw in the pond. You want to do this before the string algae starts to grow.
Our Super Water Garden Symposium is coming up on March 14. The CIWGA membership is getting an excellent deal on the registration costs. Instead of the normal $75 cost, our membership gets the registration cost knocked down to $45. This is because the CIWGA is defraying some of the costs of getting the presenters here. This is a great deal.
Do not delay in signing up. The deadline to register is March 4. However, if there are still openings after this date I believe you will still be able to register.
Please note that we have a new Membership Secretary, Carol Scheid. She is just now getting renewals out. You do not have to wait to get your renewal notice to renew. Check your mailing label to determine if you have expired and if so, mail your dues to Carol. This saves Carol a lot of effort plus it saves CIWGA dollars in the notification process.
Over the last 3 years Greg Knop has been doing this job and because of his job he has had to resign. So with much regret, the CIWGA has accepted the fact that he can no longer do this and Carol has agreed to do the job. Thank you Greg for a job well done and we really do appreciate Carol stepping forward. If you get a chance to thank both of them - please do.
We also have a new Treasurer - Jill Rose from Jefferson. She is taking over the job that was vacated by Denice Reisetter. I can't thank Denice enough for the three years of dedicated volunteering for our group. She is great and to have Jill to replace her is even more humbling. Jill and her husband Jim are taking on more volunteer positions, which is great for our membership. Again, thank them when you have a chance.
Planning for the Tenth Annual Central Iowa Water Garden tour is well underway. I am currently lining up gardens for the tour so if your garden is one that you want on the tour please get a hold of me ASAP. (515-433-0194) The tour will be in the Ames, Nevada, Collins and surrounding areas on Saturday July 16th, and in the Des Moines, Johnston, Ankeny and Alleman areas on Sunday July 17th. There is more information in this newsletter. We have a first class committee that is truly dedicated to make sure that we pull off the largest garden tour in the state. That's right - the largest!!!!
Rod and Kate Mulder and myself are serving as co chairs of the tour committee. We will be asking for volunteers to sit at a garden on the tour days. So if you are interested in helping please let me know. As an early signup - you will be able to pick and choose the garden that you can sit at. There will not be as much of a choice later on.
As for our meeting on the evening of Monday March 14, we will be having a round table discussion with Deb Spencer, Tom Graham and Nathan Brockman. These people are the extremely talented ponderers that will have presented during the day. I hated to ask them to do another talk but they did agree to do this roundtable idea. It will start at 7:00 PM on the 14th and will be in the new Hughes Auditorium. To have this kind of talent in a roundtable is very unusual. We will be talking about their topics from their talks earlier in the day. What an opportunity to be able to talk one on one with these very talented people.
That's it for this month - hope to see everybody at the Symposium and meeting the same evening.
The Big Toad, Jamie