Enabling Garden
INTERNS, INACTIVE VOLUNTEERS, LOVERS OF GARDENING: If you haven’t yet paid a visit to the Enabling Garden, please do so soon. You’ll receive a very warm welcome if you decide to visit on a Tuesday evening worknight. Volunteers arrive around 4:00; you’ll be encouraged to stick around and join us for a potluck supper at 6:00. Like a bouquet of assorted flowers hanging out in a vase together, we’re a mix of all ages, backgrounds, and years of experience. Whether bright sunny extroverts or shade blooming introverts, we bring out the best in each other. Come bloom alongside the rest of us.
STEPPING UP OUR EFFORTS: Because of the late cool spring, the arrival of annuals this year was spread out over three weeks. We are so appreciative of all those who diligently showed up week after week to get these colorful beauties into the ground, container pots and raised beds. Please take a look at one of the wooden raised beds; the annuals were arranged and planted by residents from Hope Agency. They are a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting special needs children and adults with developmental disabilities.
CHILDREN’S ART IN THE GARDEN: Tuesday, 6:00-8:00 pm, July 26th is the date. Attendance at this event has always exceeded the previous year; 173 children participated last year. Seven stations will feature nature inspired arts and crafts. Two more will involve music, one at each end of the garden. Sharing their talents with the kids will be master gardener Teri Weeks, and Jim Dunn, husband of master gardener, Audrey Dunn.
In addition, last year’s very popular Extension’s StoryWalk, THE COLOR MONSTER will be on display again. There is an added dimension this year, children will have the opportunity to make monsters based on the emotion they are feeling.
Nature stations are Leaf Critters, Painted Wooden Animals, Light Catcher Bookmarks, Nature Collage, Grass Heads, Mandalas, and Rock Painting. A number of gardeners have been busy making wooden animals and prepping materials for various stations. Please note additional assignments which we all can begin immediately in readiness for these stations. Two stations need dried and pressed flowers and leaves. For the Leaf Critter station, we need not ony dried flowers and leaves but twigs, feathers, seeds, and pressed seed heads of grasses. We are also looking for flower vases. Fresh flower arrangements will be available for a donation to help cover costs of supplies and materials. It will be helpful if you can bring these items on a Tuesday evening prior to the 26th.
EDUCATIONAL TALKS: Mark these dates on your calendar. Tuesdays at 6:00 pm at the garden. There is no potluck on these evenings; you might wish to pack a snack.
July 12 – Awesome Perennials by Derek McKay, staffer from Ted Lare Design Build.
August 23 – Shade Gardening (basics for amateurs and great plants for shade), by Aaron Steil, Iowa Public Television show host, “Gardening with Steil”.
To stay current and receive emails of Enabling Garden announcements and notices, please send your email address to Rosie Surber [email protected]
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RECENT GIFTS TO THE GARDEN: Donations and memorials are a testimony to how many families and visitors appreciate the Enabling Garden. A long time resident of Altoona, Lauri Merkle Nelson was a Master Gardener volunteer in the early years at the Enabling Garden. She died on April 3rd, 2022 at the age of 65. Her family has donated funds for a picnic table in her memory. The donation of a table couldn’t have come at a better time; the turn-out of volunteers on Tuesday nights is outgrowing the present table space for our potluck meals.
GIVING OPPORTUNITY: While on the subject of potluck meals, if you have yet to sign up to contribute on 2 or 3 evenings throughout the season, please do so. With 20-25 volunteers staying for the meal, it helps if at least three people team up to provide part of the meal. The sign-up sheet is posted on the inside of the door of the north shed.
ARTISTS IN THE GARDEN: It was a comfortable late May morning when I walked into the garden and introduced myself to Danna, an artist sitting at a picnic table working with paint and brushes. Three others were set up in different parts of the garden. I visited with all four; one was completing a large composition done with pastel. The Enabling Garden is one of their favorite sites.
Danna Fruetel is from Newton, Iowa. She is president of Iowa Artists (iowaartists.us), and treasurer of the International Society of Scratchboard. (scratchboardsociety.org). Totally new to me, she shared information about En Plein Air Painters. (iowapleinairevents.com)
What is En Plein Air? It is a term derived from the French, literally it means, ‘in the open air’. It is a familiar concept today and has become a popular painting competition in Iowa. It was quite revolutionary in the late 1800s when the Impressionists ventured out of their studios to investigate and capture the effects of sunlight during different times of day on a subject they painted. Central Iowa Plein Air Painters can also be found on Facebook. If you choose to become a member, you will receive notices of when and where others are gathering for special events.
Danna gave me two business cards. A self taught artist, she also has her own business called Danna’s Designs Artist. Feel free to check out her many talents at dannasdesigns.com.
I happened onto a website listing 25 functions of art that make us better human beings. I’ll share a few. Art makes you think, takes you places, makes you feel something, makes you laugh, makes you realize people are fundamentally the same around the world and throughout all time, and you don’t need language to understand art. Art shows us things that words can’t say: What pain looks like. What heartache looks like. What desire looks like. What love looks like. What the world did look like and what it could look like. Do a slow read through those again. Let them be a reminder to take time to pull away from tasks and appreciate the many forms of art displayed throughout the garden and the world around you.
Submitted by Ruth O’Connor
