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It's now upon us - water gardening season!! I do believe we are ready - most of us have our water pumps up and running. If you are one of those that don't, I would be thinking along those lines. Remember, that the pond that gets great circulation is the one that looks the best.
We had a fantastic water garden symposium last month. For those that missed it we should have a video that will have the whole day captured. I have not seen the video yet nor have heard how it came out but I am hoping that it did. Stay tuned for an update on this at our meeting on Monday April 11. This video will only be available to our members at no charge.
Everyone that attended the symposium had a superb time and we all came away with a lot of information about water gardening, the keeping of Koi, and aquatic insect critters. This is one of the goals of CIWGA, to bring in great presenters and we DID!! Right now we are thinking of doing another symposium next March. What do you want as members? If I hear that you want another - we will do it.
Our new line up of officers and directors are in place and already doing a great job of running the organization. Carol Scheid, our new membership secretary, has been sending out membership renewals and getting those books updated. It is a big job and I am so pleased with how she has tackled it. Thank you Carol!! She also has our new name badges completed and they are very professional. When you come to our meetings you will be given your name badge. You then are responsible for it and, of course, bring it with you to our meetings.
Jill Rose, our new Treasurer, has been handed the money and she is now in the position of writing checks and receiving dollars. The books were audited by Russ Buechler before Jill took over. Russ did a great job of going over these. It took some time by Russ and he wrote up a detailed report. Thank you Russ!!
We are so lucky to have such talented and dedicated people to help our group prosper and grow. I am reminded and humbled almost every day of these volunteers and am deeply grateful that they want to help you, our members.
Our next meeting will be at 7:00 PM on Monday April 11 at Reiman Gardens. The meeting will be located in the Speer Room. You will be directed by the Receptionist to where the meeting is. I will be conducting a hands-on presentation of Repotting of Your Water Lilies and Marginal Plants. I have done this presentation a couple of years ago but I am changing it some this year to include Marginals (Miniature Cattails is the plant I am going to divide). This is an opportunity for all members to have a chance to win a start of a great water lily or a start of miniature cattail. I will be giving a lot of plant starts away. They will be given as door prizes. I also have some great handouts so that you do not need to be taking notes while the repotting is demonstrated.
As an added attraction to the meeting, I will have Barley Straw available to our members. This will only be for members. Believe me the stuff works on the control of string algae.
This a great time of the year to welcome guests, new members and to see some of our established members. Members from all three chapters are welcome, as usual. I hope to see everybody there.
The Big Toad, Jamie