/ February 2008 July 2015

INSIDE: Local Master Gardener News - 2 Upcoming Events - 4 Bits and Pieces -5 Bi -7

Mondovi Garden Club Hosts ECAMGA and Company On June 25 the Eau Claire Area Master Gardeners (ECAMGA) and friends met and drove down to Mondovi to tour the gardens established and maintained by the Mondovi Garden Club. In addition, those in attendance also got to tour the Mary Clarice Tanner Memorial Garden located in a courtyard at the American Lutheran Homes in Mondovi and the private garden of Alice Annibas. It was a lovely evening and all the gardens were a delight. The Mary Clarice Tanner Memorial Garden is a part of the nursing home facility and is a really good example of excellence in landscape design and is very well maintained. Although small it is an area that certainly must delight many who live at the home.

It was also amazing to see all that the Mondovi Garden Club has managed to

do and do so well. They maintain, not only the beautiful flower bed that you pass as you

come into Mondovi on Hwy 37, but also all the other public gardens in Mondovi including the hanging baskets that are

found along Main street in Mondovi. And they do it in style and with excellence.

Those in attendance were also told that the City has just purchased some additional property to add to the Rural Museum and the Mondovi Garden Club will also be planting and maintaining that. They are now going to be working with a local 4-H club having them join with the Garden Club in helping with the planting and maintenance. That is a great way to interest the next generation of gardeners.

The last stop was at the home and garden of Alice Anibas. A major feature of her garden is the filled in swimming pool plantings. The patio setting around the old swimming pool and her artfully arranged and landscaped garden was a delightful way to end the evening. Better yet those in attendance were “wined and dined” with treats twice that evening – first with some delicious bars and refreshments provided by the Mondovi Garden Club members and then the treats and refreshments provided at Alice’s garden.

What a delightful evening. If you missed it you missed the treat of seeing all the gardens (including at Mirror Lake and the Rural Museum) and the great camaraderie of the evening.

A

All but one picture by Jo-Ann Clark

Group photo taken by Barb Wright

Page 2 Eau Claire Area Master Gardener New July 2015

NOTE: The ECAMGA Board minutes no longer appears in the newsletter. You may access them by going to the website at

eauclairemastergardeners.weebly.com

Changing e-mail? Moving If you do, please remember to notify the ECAMG and the newsletter editor of your new e-mail address and/or mailing address so you don’t miss any Eau Claire Area Master Gardener happenings! Email your new Information to Carol Cox at c7w6c2200@charter.net or notify her by snail mail at 1908 Hogeboom Ave., Eau Claire, WI 54701 (or call her at 715-861-4495).

ECAMGA Board ECAMGA BOARD MEMBER CONTACT INFO

NAME/TITLE E-mail address Phone number

Erin LaFaive Erin.lafaive@ces.uwex.edu 715-839-4712

Cindy Ferver cferver@charter.net 715-606-0006

Gary Mathis Garym5811@live.com 715-878-4031

Ede Strand edestrand@aol.com 715-8326775

Amy Boetcher myamybird@aol.com 715-577-9085

Deb Spickler

Nancy Spak nancyspak@gmail.com 715-835-6546

Nina Logan ninalogan@centurylink.net 715-878-4585

Lori Kempen lorikempen@charter.net 715-832-8088

MGV

Bulletin Board Postings Stories and Opportunities!!!! Bulletin Board Postings

Jennifer Roetter to Present on “Healthy Soils” Jennifer Roetter will be the guest speaker at the July 21st Eau Claire Area Master Gardener Association (ECAMGA) monthly educational meeting. Her topic will be “Healthy Soils.” A 2000 graduate of UW-River Falls, with a degree in Broad Area Agriculture with minors in Conservation and Agronomy, Roetter is currently the District Conservationist with USDA-NRCS (Natural Resource Conservation Service) for Eau Claire County and has been working in the area of soil and water conservation for 15 years and for NRCS for the past 10 years. She grew up in Eau Claire County on a dairy farm In addition. Roetter and her husband, Dave, own and operate a farm where they have been doing 100% no-till for over 10 years and also keep a diverse rotation on their land and manage the land using good soil health practices. They raise corn, soybeans and hay on their farm and run 20 beef cow/calf pairs as well. The couple also has a five-year-old son, Trent. According to Jennifer, “Healthy, fully functioning soil provides an environment that sustains and nourishes plants, soil microbes and beneficial insects. Managing for soil health is one of the easiest and most effective ways for landowners to increase crop productivity and profitability while improving the environment. My soil health talk and demonstrations will show you how it can be accomplished and the benefits you will receive from having healthy productive soils.” While such soil management is highly important for the agricultural community as a whole, it is also extremely important for the home gardener. Our soil is the basis for all that we are about and without good soil our plants will not flourish. Come and join the discussion with Jennifer Roetter at the Eau Claire County UW-Extension Office in Altoona at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 21. The public is welcome – come and bring a friend. Treats will be served and door prizes will be given out so come and enjoy the evening!

ECAMGA 2015

Calendar All meetings at UW-Extension Office unless otherwise noted

July 2015 – Healthy Soil, Jennifer Roetter guest speaker. July 31 – August 1, 2015 – WIMGA Annual Conference, La Crosse, WI August 8, 2015 – Annual Plant

Sale at the Expo Center September 2015 – TBA September 30, 2015 – Volunteer

hours due in October & November 2015 – TBA December 2015 – Annual Potluck and Election of Officers

Local Master Gardener News

We have a little garden, A garden of our own, And every day we water there The seeds that we have sown. We love our little garden, And tend it with such care, You will not find a faded leaf Or blighted blossom there.

Poem by Beatrix Potter. Picture by Jo-Ann Clark her granddaughter).

Page 3 Eau Claire Area Master Gardener News July 2015

Speakers Present New Options For Disposal Of Organic Waste in Eau Claire!

On June 16, 2015, Jamie and Zacharious Pappas, of Earthbound Environmental Solutions, discussed some exciting options they bring to the Chippewa Valley relative to trash

disposal in that their service will also be providing for the pick up of organic wastes – both kitchen and yard. They will then also be composting this material and will, ultimately, offer it for sale to the public. This is a first in the area. Earthbound will be providing biodegradable bags for subscribers to place kitchen wastes and yard wastes. These bags will then be placed in the subscriber’s garbage can with the material being retrieved by them at their site. The bags, made from special resins, were created for their needs and had to meet certain standards. This is a 1.8 – 2 mil bag that breaks down in 6-8 weeks time in their composting system. The two went through a detailed description of the composting process. The same general principals are applicable whether one is composting on the scale they will be or on the home garden level. They cited the fact that in 2009 1,992,766,000 pounds (that is right, 1 billion…..) of organic waste material was generated by Wisconsinites. An easier figure to comprehend is 26 pounds of weekly organic waste generated by the average Eau Claire County resident. Obviously when we are talking about waste management there are oodles of permits and miles of red tape to jump through. Earthbound began the process of creating their infrastructure in 2012. They started siting of the facility in 2014. They had to deal with regulations under some 31 different sections of the Wisconsin statutes and that was just for the composting part of the operation so this was not a quick process. Earthbound Environmental Solutions is located on 52 acres along Highway 12 just out side of Eau Claire. They are hoping to start accepting organic materials and doing trash pickup this fall and hope to have the composted product available for sale to the public by sometime in 2016. At this point they have a waiting list of about 250 people and, initially, will only be able to handle about 100 subscribers. For more information on the composting process go to: www.earthboundenviro.com. Those in attendance got to ask questions after the presentation. Treats were served and door prizes awarded. All in all it was a very informative evening.

Photo by Jo-Ann Clark

REMEMBER!!! August and the

ECAMGA Plant Sale Are Coming -

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Divide and save those plants!!

For more information and to volunteer call Susan Merten at 715-271-1259 or email susmerten@wwt.net.

An idea off of Pinterest to reduce watering of hanging baskets. Another idea is to line the basket liner with a plastic bag.

Page 4 Eau Claire Area Master Gardener News July 2015

Upcoming Events

Garden Walk and Ice Cream Social Minocqua, WI July 18, 2015

10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Featuring the Seasons of Life Garden

and a variety of home gardens.

Sponsored by the Lakeland Gardeners and Ministry Home Care,

Tickets are $15 and available at Minocqua garden centers and the

Minocqua Area Chamber of Commerce. For more information

contact Dr. Kate Hospice at (715) 356-8805.

Summer Wild Edibles July 30, 2015 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 pm | Wise Nature Center

Join a Beaver Creek Naturalist for a taste of some summer wild edibles. We'll take a hike and look for some common, easily identified, wild edible plants. We'll nibble a few things as we hike, and then sample some cooked greens and a wild beverage or two! A list of some plants to try and their use will be provided. Come and join us for a taste of summer from the wild! There are 6 spots available. Cost is $5 for Friends, $8 for Nonmembers. Registration and full payment required by July 28.

Beaver Creek Reserve S1 County Road K, Fall Creek, WI 54742

bcr@beavercreekreserve.org Phone: 715-877-2212

Garden Open House and Farm Tour

Hancock Research Station

August 4, 2015 Hancock, WI

beginning at 4:00 p.m.

For more information contact Peggy Moran by email at:

peggym6152@yahoo.com or by phone at: (715) 335-6641.

14th Annual Garden Walk Wausau, WI

July 10-11, 2015 1:00 to 7:00 p.m. Friday

9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Saturday.

Sponsored by the North Central Wisconsin MGA featuring 5 beautiful private gardens and one

community garden These gardens range from a bountiful flower and vegetable garden that fills

every available space in a small city lot to a rambling full shade garden built around a

spectacular water feature.

Tickets are $10. Advance ticket will be available after June 1 at the Marathon County UW-

Extension, 212 River Drive, Suite 3, Wausau.

Tickets are also available at any of the private gardens during the event. For more

information, http://fyi.uwex.edu/gardenwalk/ or contact Linda Peterson by email at:

lindaksp@aol.com or call (715) 573-4866 or contact Kris Weirauch by email at:

kweirauch@charter.net (715) 574-4010.

"True&that&a&plant&may&not&think;&neither&will&the&profoundest&of&men&ever&put&

forth&a&flower"&!!!!!Donald!Culross!Peattie!(189651964)!!! !botanist!and!author!

16th Annual Garden Walk Wisconsin Rapids and Pittsville July 18, 2015

Sponsored by Wood County MGVs,

Tour 6 beautiful gardens ranging from a community garden to several large “country”

gardens to an in-town historical property, and one with a front-yard prairie.

Also there will be a chef’s demonstration at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. in one of the gardens; artists

will be present in several of the sites and a musician will be playing at one garden

along the Yellow River. Cost: $8 ($10 day of walk). Tickets available at Wood County UW-Extension Office, 400 Market St, Wisconsin Rapids, at (715) 421-8440, or Daly

Drug in Wis. Rapids, Baum’s Mercantile or the library in Pittsville or any Wood Co. MGV. For

more information contact Barb Herreid at (715) 325-2075.

Page 5 Eau Claire Area Master Gardener News July 2015

Don’t Forget Your Camera No w A nd Then When You Go To The Garden.

Submit Your Garden For The ECAM GA 3 rd

Annual Photo Co ntest For more information and the rules check out the June 2015 issue of the ECAMGA Newsletter on page 5. Photo entries must be submitted no later than October 7, 2015 via email to Carol Cox at c7w6c2200@charter.net.

Bits and Pieces

What a

difference

a little

contrast

makes!

Above items from Stumble Upon.com

(On left) Spray paint along with chicken wire will create amazing garden decorations (and no deadheading!). (To the right) – use an old stump for a mini-garden! (Bottom left) Cute concrete garden critters. (Right) What a unique way to do clean out on a bird house. (Far right) And, talk about doing topiary with your plants!!!!

Page 6 Eau Claire Area Master Gardener News July 2015

21

Trip to Rock Landscaping in Baldwin and the Sculpture Gardens of Riana de Raad – by Jo-Ann Clark (all pictures unless otherwise noted are taken by Jo-Ann Clark) On Friday, June 19, 2015 the Eau Claire Garden Club and their guests (ECAMGA members also were invited) toured two gardens. The first was Rock Landscape in Baldwin WI. The word that comes to mind when touring this business is ~ Large ~ Colossal! It is acres of large rocks, boulders, many kinds of perennials, and HOSTAS ! Rick Rock knows his hostas and features over 1,000 varieties. Those in attendance had a chance to purchase plants. We bought! He dug them up! And we brought them home. You can get an idea from the photos below the size of it all; the large boulders, the plantings in the acres of land, and the size of his hostas. Many of his hostas grow in the sun. He has new varieties that are very heavy textured that can tolerate more sun. (You really must feel the thickness of the leaf to believe it.) Visit to feel the “colossalness” of it all! Check out their website at www.rocklandscapeinc.com.

The next stop was at the home and Sculpture Gardens of Wouterina (Riana) De Raad located near Beldenville, Wisconsin. It is easy to see why her gardens and artwork have been featured in many magazines and newspapers with the bigger than life mosaic sculptures and furniture located throughout the gardens. Riana’s work is in the tradition of American outdoor folk art and her inspiration comes both from her past (she grew up on her parents rubber and coffee plantation in Indonesia) and also from her experiences living on an old farmstead in America’s dairy state. (Article continued on page 7.)

Page 7 Eau Claire Area Master Gardener News July 2015

HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD! by the Foxy Lady Do you ever wake up in the morning and think of all the things to be done today? I do. I think of grocery shopping, bills to pay, vacuuming, last nights dirty dishes still in the sink. But, before you know it, I’m pulling on my old jeans, stepping into my garden shoes and heading for the garden. I weed and dig and transplant and think about how the world should change. Things could change if our leaders would just see those small problems, which creep up and solve them before they develop into big ones, just like that little weed hiding there under my favorite plant. I just pluck it out—problem solved. The day progresses and suddenly it’s evening and the household chores remain undone. But let’s not panic. Let’s just think of an alternate plan. Aha, soup and sandwiches for supper; then we all pitch in and wash dishes and clean up the kitchen. The floor isn’t that dirty and vacuuming can wait. Instead, I’ll sit down and read a story to my grandkids—problems solved. In my opinion the world would be a better place if all heads of state all over the world would be required to tend a garden.

The first photo is Riana’s first sculpture and one of her favorites. One of the students living in the house before her had left a potters wheel and cement, so she decided to try it out and this is the result. The next photo is of a sculpture, which represents her granddaughter and her (interestingly she leaves the mouths of the statutes open now and the birds nest in them).

The third photo is of a Trollius in her garden, with the fourth being one of her roses. She gets her plants (unusual ones) wholesale from Rush Creek Growers in Spring Valley, Wisconsin. Her roses are from David Ziesak, University of Wisconsin at River Falls, Wisconsin. The fifth photo (taken by Nancy Spak) is just one more example of Riana’s creativity. The last photo is of the group that went on the tour, standing beneath an archway that was created by Riana. This stop was really an adventure! Where else would one ever experience a garden like this?? For more information on it visit her website at www.concretemosaicsculpture.com.

Page 8 Eau Claire Area Master Gardener Newsletter July 2015

EAU CLAIRE AREA MASTER GARDENER NEWSLETTER A newsletter for the Eau Claire Area Master Gardener Association members.

For more Eau Claire County UW Cooperative Extension information

go to our website: www.uwex.edu/ces/cty/eauclaire

Phone: 715-839-4712 Fax: 715-839-6277

M-F 8AM-5PM

Unless otherwise noted, articles for this newsletter are submitted and/or written by ECAMGA members or the newsletter editor, Carol W. Cox. Unless otherwise noted, graphics are from clipart. Newsletter layout by Carol W. Cox

The University of Wisconsin Extension provides affirmative action and equal opportunity in education, programming and employment for all qualified persons regardless of race, color, gender/sex, creed, disability, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy, marital or parental, arrest or conviction record or veteran status.” If you need an interpreter, materials in alternate formats or other accommodations to access this program, activity or service, please contact Erin LaFaive at 715-839-4712 as soon as possible preceding the scheduled event so that proper arrangements can be made in a timely fashion

Eau Claire County

Extension Office

227 First Street West

Altoona, WI 54720

REMEMBER…

July 31 – August 1, 2015 WIMGA Annual Conference

La Crosse, WI

(FOR MORE DETAILS GO TO: http://www.bluffcountrymastergardeners.org

Bartzella Itoh Hybrid Peony - This 'Intersectional' or 'Itoh' hybrid peony was derived from a cross of a tree peony and a herbaceous type. It's prized for its double blooms that can be up to 9 inches across. (Picture by Jo-Ann Clark)