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November 2017

Muscatine County

2017 Gardening Memories

Zoo Garden at Muscatine Weed Park

Newsletter Contents for a quick perusal

Upcoming Gardening Events: see page 2

Krista’s News/Update: see page 3

Master Gardener Training Schedule: see page 4

Random Thoughts from Lynn: see page 5

Zoo Garden Update: see page 6

Gardening Photos & Memories — 2017: see pages 7-10

Gardens Increase Physical Activities: see page 10

Update from Laura McGinnis: see pages 11-12

Quotes from the Gardeners: see page 12

Native Prairie Plant Identification app: see page 13

Perennial Vines: see page 14-16

Fall Gardening Seminar: see page 16

November Gardening Guide: see page 17

Master Gardeners Committees & Mentors: see page 18

Note: Master Gardener General Meeting Minutes will be distributed separately

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Upcoming General

Meetings and Special Events

Coordinated by Jane Hodge Master Gardener

Future Events include:

November 14, 6:30 pm — MG Board Meeting — Muscatine County Extension Office

December 12, 6:00 pm — MG Annual Meet-ing — New Hope Church

February 13, 2018, 6:30 pm — General Meet-ing — Muscatine County Extension Office — Program: Glorious Ferns: Bob Bryant, former director of the Wapsi Environmental Center in Dixon, Illinois knows plants in our region but his specialty is ferns. He will give us his re-searched presentation of ferns in our area in-cluding those found in Wild Cat Den State Park. In July he will take us on a walking tour to see where these ferns are located.

Additional Upcoming Events Hosted

by Master Gardeners in Iowa

What: Explore Gardening in Cooler Seasons When: November 4; 9:00am—2:30pm Where: Westminster Presbyterian Church, Waterloo, IA

What: Seed Starting Class When: November 16; 6pm Where: 402 E North St., Bloomfield, IA

See ISU Website for many more opportuni-

ties: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/

mastergardener/events

Need Volunteer or Education Hours?

Your participation in most of the events listed on this page will count toward either volunteer or education hours so you can be-come or remain certified as an Iowa Master Gardener. Please take advantage of these events or volunteer to help with a donation garden or qualifying activity.

Other Local Activities:

March 17, 2018 — Save the date for our own Art of Gardening at Muscatine Commu-nity College. The planning committee has booked several quality speakers with topics that are pertinent to our local gardening en-vironment. Don’t miss it!

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Director’s Input By Krista Regennitter , Muscatine County Extension Director,

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach

Telephone 563-263-5701

Hello Master Gardeners, Wow- the weather has turned!!! As we prepare for winter I look forward to seeing you all on December 12th for our Annual Meeting. Please get your hours in by December 1st so that I have time to get stickers, pins and certificates ready. If you need help in getting hour inputted contact me at kristar@iastate.edu or call 563-263-5701. Anyone interested in learning more about the Master Gardener Growing Together mini grants for 2018 is encouraged to attend our meeting on Tuesday, November 14th, 5:30 at the Extension office. These are the grants we utilize to do donation gardening in Muscatine County. Learn more at: www.extension.iastate.edu/mastergardener/files/page/files/2018%20MG%20food%20security%20Mini%20Grant%20Guidance.pdf If you haven’t yet, I encourage you to follow the Muscatine County Master Gardeners on Facebook: www.facebook.com/muscatinecountymastergardeners/ and follow the Muscatine County Extension office too: www.facebook.com/MuscatineExtension.

See you on December 12th! Krista

PS from Lynn: See the information at the right for a new book “Garden Insects of North America” authored by Cranshaw, W. and Shetlar, D. It has just been published and is available with an initial 30% Early Order discount offer through December 15. It is listed for $35 but I have checked the website to see how to order this and to see what the cost would be with the discount. I entered the Princeton University Press website and found where the book is being featured at: https://press.princeton.edu/titles/11145.html Using the Promotion Number EX213 at checkout lowers the price to about $22 if you are willing to use slow boat shipping as I did. Lynn P

Here is a note from Dr.

Donald R. Lewis, Exten-

sion Entomologist, ISU:

Since 2004, one of the

most useful and effective

reference books on in-

sects in the home garden

and landscape has been

“Garden Insects of North

America” by Whitney

Cranshaw. At last, the

second edition is ready!

See the message below.

The second edition has

over 3,300 color photos

with detailed descriptions

of the insects and their

associated plants.

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IOWA MASTER GARDENER 2017 TRAINING SCHEDULE – MUSCATINE

Each Tuesday class is 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Muscatine office,

1514 Isett Avenue, Muscatine, Iowa.

Saturday campus class is held 8:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. at Iowa State University, Horticulture Building, Ames, Iowa.

SCHEDULE

DATE TOPIC PRESENTER(S)

Tuesday, September 19 Orientation Krista Regennitter & Kathy

Haltmeyer

Tuesday, September 26 Weeds, Integrated Pest

Management and Pesticides

Kristine Schaefer

Laura Jesse Iles

Tuesday, October 3 Plant Pathology and

Entomology

Lina Rodriguez-Salamanca

Donald Lewis

Saturday, October 7 or 21 Class on Campus at Iowa State

University

Numerous

Tuesday, October 10 Soils and

Botany

Lee Burras

Denny Schrock

Thursday, October 12 Herbaceous Ornamentals @

Muscatine Arboretum

Charles Rickey

Tuesday, October 17 Fruit Culture Diana Cochran

Tuesday, October 24 Landscape Trees and Shrubs Jeff Iles

Thursday, October 26 House Plants and Propagation @

Location TBD

Kathy Haltmeyer

Tuesday, October 31 Animal Ecology Adam Janke

Tuesday, November 7 Sustainable Home Landscape

Design

Lisa Orgler

Thursday, November 9 Vegetables & Herbs @ Location

TBD

Kathy Haltmeyer

Tuesday, November 14 Turfgrass Management Adam Thoms

Tuesday, December 12 Muscatine County Master

Gardener Annual Meeting

Location: New Hope

Church, Muscatine

Dear Master Gardener Friends, Good bye summer and the extended warm fall weather! Tempera-tures are projected to drop to the mid-20’s as I write this. Some are even talking about spitting snow. We have cut back our perennials; dug up some remaining pesky weeds; deep-watered shrubs and smaller trees; and gathered up most of our garden ornaments. Still have to empty up potted annuals but thought it would be easier (emotionally) to do this after a killing frost/freeze. October was a fun month for our Master Gardeners. We had an excel-lent general meeting presentation by Paul Crosser, Environmental Ser-vices Manager for Bridgestone Bandag. He enthusiastically provided information on the Muscatine Pollinator Project, a grassroots effort to restore biodiversity and sustain our food supply. Many thanks to Charles “Rick” Rickey, with assistance from Dennis Latimer, for leading about 20 members and guests on an Arboretum tour. We were able to see first hand what’s described as a “living tree museum”. Rick ably fielded many questions and provided interesting tidbits as we enjoyed the beautiful scenery and the mild fall weather. Take a close look to page 2 for some educational opportunities in the region, and especially note March 17, 2018 for our own Art of Gar-dening program. Susan Cradick and her committee have been busy selecting an exciting educational program with quality speakers. Also please set aside December 12 for our Master Gardener Annual Meeting. It is always a fun evening so bring along a spouse or guest. In addition to the food and prizes, we will be honoring many of our members who have reached volunteer hour plateaus. We will also be congratulating and welcoming our new interns who will have finished their Master Gardening training. Hope to see you there! Happy Gardening! Lynn

Random Thoughts

By Lynn Pruitt, Chair Master Gardener

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These events both qualify for education hours:

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Zoo Garden Update From Maryrose Peterschmidt, Master Gardener

Guest article by Chris Sample, Intern Master Gardener During the September Coffee at the Zoo Garden, Candi Whitmer and I demonstrated how we tag Monarch but-terflies. That morning, we brought several butterflies that had just hatched the day before, and also some chrysalises that were ready to “pop”. We talked about how to tell the sex of each butterfly and then the group helped us tag and release 7 butterflies. Later that morn-ing one of the chrysalis hatched so everyone got to watch its wings unfold and flatten out to a beautiful Monarch.

Candi and I have been raising Monarchs for 3 years. It all started with a single caterpillar found in Candi’s yard. Since that time, we have learned to attract Monarchs and gather eggs from milkweed plants. We have each established “Monarch Waystations” (butterfly/pollinator gardens) at our homes using mainly native plants. This year the milkweed in our gardens yielded hundreds of eggs. The eggs were brought indoors and as they hatched, we picked milkweed and fed it to the caterpil-lars’ daily. After about 14 days, they pupated, and then 10-14 days later they became butterflies.

The migration for the Monarch butterfly is in September and October. That is the time period in which we tag our butterflies for their trip to Mexico. The purpose of tag-ging is to monitor the migration of the Monarch. Last year two of Candi’s tagged butterflies were found in the mountains of Mexico where the Monarchs hibernate. They traveled nearly 2,000 miles!! During our first year (2015) raising Monarchs, we release 69 butterflies. This year, Candi and I raised nearly 450 Monarchs! We tagged about 275 of those. So……like my t-shirt says….”If You Plant Milkweed, They Will Come”!

This summer, we planted several milkweed and nectar plants in the Weed Park Zoo Garden. After doing this

(continued to the lower right of this page)

Thanks to Chris Sample and Candi Whitmer for their expertise, teach-ing us about monarch butterflies. Maryrose Peterschmidt

———————————————

the Butterfly garden was desig-nated at a “Monarch Waystation” with the Monarch Watch organiza-tion at Kansas State University. KSU studies the decline of the Monarch population and is dedi-cated their conservation through education and the tagging initia-tive.

Chris Sample

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Gardening Photos & Memories — 2017

These pictures show the last glimpse of fall color at the Zoo Garden provided by Maryrose Peterschmidt. The staghorn sumac in the Reptile Garden, along with the fall mum's, pine-apple sage and salvia are a fine example of fall color. As we say goodbye to another year at the Zoo Garden we wish to thank all the volunteers who helped make 2017 a success.

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Gardening Photos & Memories — 2017

Here’s some produce photos — homegrown pumpkins, patty pan gourd, acorn and but-ternut squash — pro-vided by Jane Hodge.

She says the deer fence also serves as a trellis for the volunteer pumpkins to climb.

Below: Mexican sun-flower

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Gardening Photos & Memories — 2017

We have selected sev-eral flower photos from our yard this summer. Enjoy!

Lynn & Emma Mae Pruitt

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Gardening Photos & Memories 2017

Asters

Gardens Increase Physical Activity Mowing the lawn with a push mower, raking leaves and gardening are three outdoor tasks that can help meet requirements for moder-ate physical activity. The Surgeon General and other leading health professionals recom-mend that all adults accumulate 30 minutes of moderate physical activity on most days of the week. Children and adolescents should accu-mulate 60 minutes of moderate physical activ-ity on most days of the week in order to im-prove or maintain optimal health. Osteoporo-sis, or porous bone, is a common condition

from Bill & Jan Koellner

Sweet Autumn Clematis

among older Americans, especially women.

Physical activity, especially weight bearing activity, can help slow the loss of bone mass that naturally occurs with aging.5 As people age, they may experience dimin-ished physical strength, arthritis, limited mobility, or other physical challenges to gardening activities. Careful garden plan-ning can help ensure continued accessibil-ity for people of all ages and physical abili-ties. Excerpt from Elder-Accessible Gardening from US EPA

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Shaved Brussels Sprout & Apple Slaw

Ingredients:

2 c packed shaved Brussels sprouts 1 granny smith apple 1 gala apple ½ c golden raisins ¼ cup corn oil 1 ½ Tbsp apple cider vinegar 1 Tbsp honey 1 Tbsp honey Dijon mustard ¼ tsp salt ½ tsp liquid off jarred minced garlic, if available

Instructions: Shred the sprouts: clean them well,

cut off the tough ends and slice as thin as possible.

Chop apples about the same size as the shredded Brussels sprouts.

Add the apples and raisins to shred-ded sprouts.

Thoroughly whisk together the oil, vinegar, honey, mustard, salt and garlic liquid.

Pour the dressing over the sprouts,

apples and raisins. Toss to coat

well. Serve

Delicious!

Update from Laura McGinnis Master Gardener

The Hy-Vee gardens at Main Street were a great success

this year! 18 children from Flickinger Learning Center

were engaged with planting and harvesting veggies and

fruits. The majority of the children were new to garden-

ing. Nancy Dew from Hy-Vee nutritional dept. was great

to work with. One tomato plant the kids picked out was

called Delicious. What a plant -- 1-2 pound tomatoes and

the plant itself was huge. I would say at least 6ft tall (see

photo below). A real low number of seeds for such a

spectacular tomato! I certainly enjoyed watching it grow!

Nancy made Brussels sprout salad and stone soup -- all

but two children ate the salad (see recipe at right).

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Canning and Jam Session

Sponsored by Laura McGinnis, Master Gardener

and Guest Speaker Kristin Bognonas from University of Illinois Extension

All participants were given educational material. And they prepared homemade red rasp-

berry jam! Many that attended were first timers to the process! A great evening for all! I

promoted gardening and encouraged all to reap the benefits of canning and preserving!

Quotes from the Gardeners at the Nationalities Service Center

“The garden makes me very happy. Each time I am out here I just want to come out and do

more and more planting.”

“I like the fact that we grow many different things in the beds. This way we can grow things

for ourselves and also share with other seniors.”

“I feel that I am really a part of something important.”

“I am very happy to be outside growing something. I want to continue growing more so that I

can share with others.”

“I want to be able to grow more food so that I can cook and share my cultural foods with oth-

ers.”

Excerpt from Elder-Accessible Gardening from US EPA

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Native Prairie Plant Identification app

Recommendations from Seth Appelgate, Agricultural Specialist III ISU Monarch Research Team

iNaturalist app (download the app or go to: https://www.inaturalist.org) Primarily used as an app due to utilization of cell phone pictures.

Uses artificial intelligence and/or crowd-sourced identification. You can ID almost anything!

1. Excellent app. User friendly. Free.

2. Artificial intelligence (AI) can identify almost any plant species, in-sect species, or fungi.

3. Take a quality picture of the specimen on your phone and use it's "What did you see? View Suggestions" option.

4. AI system is almost always correct on assigning the correct genus and usually has the correct species listed first. It seems to be right about 95% of the time on the most common prairie plants.

5. If the artificial intelligence doesn't know what the specimen is or you want to confirm the ID, submit the picture and the online com-munity will ID it for you.

6. Requires almost no knowledge of the specimen being observed.

7. Database has 500,000 species of organisms and 154,000 species of plants.

Minnesota Wildflowers Info app and website are basically the same product (download the app or go to https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/page/search)

1. Traditional 'key it out' identification with physical characteristics approach.

2. Excellent app, mostly user friendly. $10 to download.

3. Contains 1333 species and 11,000 images

4. Very accurate.

“I would advocate for us-

ing the iNaturalist app be-

cause it's artificial intelli-

gence (AI) is fast and accu-

rate most of the time. If

iNaturalist appears wrong

or can't figure it out I

would use the Minnesota

Wildflowers app or web-

site, or you can submit

your iNaturalist photo and

wait for a real person to ID

it.”

“Let me know if you have

any questions or know of

any other good re-

sources!”

Seth

*Disclaimer: Discus-

sion of websites and

applications does not

constitute or imply en-

dorsement, approval,

sanction, or recom-

mendation by Iowa

State University. Opin-

ions expressed are

that of the author and

not necessarily that of

Iowa State University.

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Climbing Roses

Virginia Creeper

Perennial vines are too often forgotten as beautiful solutions to diffi-cult gardening situations. Perennial vines offer good solutions for many landscape design challenges. They can screen for privacy and they can hide an unsightly utility area. Vines can serve as attractive “walls” to separate different sections of your garden. When grown on an arbor, they can create a cool shady oasis. Vines can cover an ugly shed or camouflage an architectural feature that you dislike. Vines also can serve as groundcover on a steep slope.

Climbing roses are really ascending shrubs that usually need to be tied to their supports. True vines climb by means of tendrils, by twin-ing or by clinging. Tendril-type vines include grapes. They have string-like side shoots that wraparound and grasp their supports. The twin-ing vines, like big-flowered clematis and bittersweet, wrap their stems around their supports. Clinging vines like the ivies and trumpet vine climb by means of small aerial roots that cling to rough surfaces.

Tendril and twining climbers require supports such as arbors, trellises and wires. Perennial vines are long-lived so make the supports of sturdy materials. Use plastic, or aluminum rather than other metals because they won’t rust. Use woods such as cedar, redwood or cy-press that are known to last longer under outdoor stress. Treat wooden structures with preservative to extend their lives even fur-ther.

Plant the clingers against stone or brick walls, not against wooden walls. They can damage wood by holding moisture under their aerial rootlets, causing it to rot. You can grow clinging vines against frame buildings if you grow them on trellises that are far enough away from the wall to allow good air circulation. These trellises should be hinged so that they can be folded down when the wall needs painting.

If you buy bare-rooted perennial vines, for best results plant them early in the spring when they are still dormant. If they are in contain-ers, you can plant them any time you can work the soil. Fertile, well-

(Continued next page, PERENNIAL VINES)

Perennial Vines

By Bill Koellner, Lifetime Muscatine County Master Gardener

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Trumpet Creeper

Bittersweet

Clematis

English Ivy

(Continued from previous page, PERENNIAL VINES)

draining soil will result in vigorous vines. Train young plants in the pattern you want them to take. You may want to temporarily tie them to the supports with soft, removable ties such as soft strips of cloth.

Know the exposure the perennial vines require. For instance, clema-tis should have its foliage and vines in full sun, but its roots shaded for best results. Virginia creeper, on the other hand, will grow very well in quite a bit of shade. If vines are not growing well, feed them in early spring using a balanced slow-release fertilizer. The first year vines establish themselves and seem like they sleep, the second year they creep and begin to grow the third year they leap in height and width.

Here are some examples -

Trumpet Creeper - A robust vine that can reach a height of 25 to 40 feet, climbing strongly with both twining stems and aerial rootlets. This is a rangy plant with summer flowers of orange red. There are some yellow varieties available, too.

Bittersweet - The native American bittersweet is a vigorous twining vine with golden fall color and red and yellow berries. It grows 10 to 20 feet. A cousin, Oriental bittersweet is even more aggressive, and is considered an invasive species that outcompetes the native species in the wild.

Clematis - The queen of the vines is large-flowered clematis, twining

plants, growing up to 8 to 10 feet, in a wide range of species and cul-

tivars so that you could have bloom from early spring to frost with

careful planning. Full sun to partial shade, a loamy, well-draining soil

with a pH of 6.5 to 7.0 and constant soil moisture are the main re-

quirements. As I said before, hot heads and cool feet will suit these

beautiful vines. The sweet autumn clematis grows 20 to 30 feet and

bears masses of sweet-scented, cream-colored flowers in the fall.

They bloom with the day length.

English Ivy - This familiar and handsome evergreen vine grows 20 to

50 feet clings to rough surfaces and prefers shady locations with

(Continued next page, PERENNIAL VINES)

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Boston Ivy

Silver Fleece Flower

(Continued from previous page, PERENNIAL VINES)

highly organic, moist soil. It comes in a number of very hardy varieties, ‘Baltica’ and ‘Bulgaria’ among them.

Boston Ivy & Virginia Creeper - These clinging vines have sen-sational crimson color in the fall and both are vigorous growers, ideal for fast coverage of masonry or brick buildings. Both are tolerant of a variety of soils and will grow well in sun or shade.

Silver Fleece Flower - Also called silver-lace or silver fleece vine, this twining plant flowers abundantly in August and September with clusters of small white or greenish-white flowers that last a long time. An enthusiastic grower, it may attain 20 feet in one season. Full sun is needed but just about any soil will do. The bright-green foliage is dense and should have severe pruning in the spring to keep it from springing out of its chosen site.

These are just a few of many fine perennial vines. Climbing hy-drangea, grape, wintercreeper euonymus, wisteria, and Dutch-man’s pipe are also available.

Fall Gardening Seminar

by Des Moines County Master Gardeners

A few of us attended this Fall Gardening Seminar at Southeast

Community College in West Burlington. Excellent presentation!

Beth Botts from Chicago

made two inspiring presenta-

tions:

“Refreshing the Tired Gar-

den — and Gardener” and

“Thoughts for Landscapes to

Love”

She also made available for

purchase her book entitled:

Month-by-Month Gardening

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November Gardening Guide

(Courtesy of The Morton Arboretum)

Here is a checklist of gardening tasks that should be done in

November if you live in the Midwest:

Fall is a great time to prepare for a new flower bed. Turn soil and amend if necessary. Freezing and thawing over winter makes soil more friable.

Rake fallen leaves and compost or shred with lawn mower and place around landscape plants. Discard diseased leaves, twigs, and fruits.

Plant hardy, spring-flowering bulbs outside until the ground freezes.

Start spring bulbs in containers for inside forcing to enjoy a little bit of spring in February.

Water landscape plants deeply, especially evergreens, before the ground freezes.

Cut back foliage of perennials to the ground after a few hard freezes. Leave unusual seed heads and ornamental grasses for winter interest.

Apply winter mulch to perennials and roses after a hard frost and as ground begins to freeze.

Drain and store garden hoses.

Store garden chemicals in an area above 40°F. Keep out of reach of children and animals.

Construct a cylinder of hardware cloth, chicken wire, or fencing around plants to protect against rabbit, mice, and deer that damage the bark and twigs of plants.

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2017 Master Gardener Committees — Chair persons (There are still opportunities for volunteers)

Arboretum — Charles Rickey 563-260-5807

Art of Gardening – Susan Cradick 563-299-9114

Bucket Brigade -- Barb Woods 563-506-4506 and Linda Wells 563-263-0292

Community Donation Gardens – Krista Regennitter 563-263-5701

Fair Floral Hall — Bill Koellner 319-627-4545

Farmer’s Market Committee – Susan Cradick 563-299-9114

Helping Master Gardeners Enter Hours — Krista Regennitter 563-263-5701

Historian – Volunteer: Carol Gundrum

Hy-Vee — Mainstreet Garden — Laura McGinnis 309-791-0054

Manning Desk at Extension Office – Krista Regennitter 563-263-5701

Melpine School Garden — Sara Carroll 563-299-1809

Member’s Garden Tours — Jane Hodge 563-272-1638

Mulford Community Gardens – Heather Harroun 563-554-0028

Muscatine Branching Out – Kathy Chalupa 563-299-0887

Muscatine County Fair Office Garden – Bill Koellner 319-627-4545

Newsletter — Lynn Pruitt 319-723-4362

Newspaper Articles — (Volunteers needed)

Muscatine Bridge Entry Sign Area — Laura McGinnis 309-791-0054

Publicity — Ed Moreno 319-331-0713

Zoo Garden — Maryrose Peterschmidt 563-263-0846

Simple Tips for Gardening

Written and Compiled by Rachel Quillin

A man should never plant a garden larger than his wife can take care of — T.H. Everett

Confess yourself to heaven, repent what’s past, avoid what is to come, and do not spread the compost on the weeds to make them ranker — Shakespeare

Interns & Mentors

for 2017:

Intern / Mentor

Karen Steinke

Bonnie Reeb

Linda Steinke

Jane Hodge

Teresa McKillip

Chris Humrichouse

Ron Jensen

Ed Moreno

Gary Kaalberg

Lynn Pruitt

Roberta Holliday

Emma Mae Pruitt

Karen Broden

Charles Rickey

Candi Whitmer

Jo Ann Christofferson

Shelly Maharry

Maryrose Peterschmidt

Chrisanne Watts

Mary Danner

Richard Crooks

Bill Koellner

Chris Sample

Susan Cradick

A special thanks to of our Mentors. Interns are en-couraged to contact them for any Master Gardening assistance.

Muscatine County Extension Office 1514 Isett Avenue Muscatine, IA 52761-4629 563-263-5701 or 800-992-0894

Krista Regennitter Muscatine County Extension Director Master Gardener Liaison

. . and justice for all

Iowa State University Extension programs are available to all without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, or disability.

Iowa State University and U.S. Department of Agriculture coop-erating.

2017 Muscatine County Master Gardener Board

Board Members Lynn Pruitt (17) Chair Ed Moreno (18)* Vice Chair Kathy Haltmeyer (18)* Secretary Emma Mae Pruitt (17) Mary Danner (17)* Jane Hodge (17)* Heather Haroun (18)* Maryrose Peterschmidt (18)* Ron Jensen (Intern) Candi Whitmer (Intern) Bill Koellner (Past Chair Advisor) ( )Year term expires as of Dec. 31

* Going off Board Dec 31, 2017/2018

but eligible for re-election

Current Emails and Addresses As a reminder – keep both the Extension Office and Lynn Pruitt current on any changes of e-mail addresses, phone numbers, or mailing ad-dresses. These need to be current to keep you — our members — informed.

Simple Tips for Gardening

Written and Compiled by Rachel Quillin

COMPOST — Don’t let garden cleanup or fallen leaves go to waste. Create compost! It makes great fertilizer for your garden.

LITTLE WATER —If you want beautiful flowers but don’t want to spend a lot of time watering your garden, look for gor-geous plants that require little water.

GARDEN LAYOUT — The tags on your plants are there for a reason. Pay atten-tion to the height and spacing directions when you are planning the layout for your garden.

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Editorial Comments:

Please remember, this is YOUR newsletter. Your articles, photographs and other tidbits are welcome. Send them by the end of each month to pruitt.lynn@gmail.com or call 563.260.0234

— Lynn Pruitt, Editor —