Wednesday, January 26, 2011

A Trip To Los Angeles?

Cold temperatures may have you thinking about warmer climates. Many of our volunteers travel to Florida and Arizona for some of the winter to get some sunshine and warmth. I occassionally experience some envy about getting away but would not want to miss out on our four seasons in WI. The next best thing next to actual travel is "virtual travel". On February 17th we'll be having our next volunteer soup dinner (5 pm - 7 pm) at the Parker Education Center. Our first one on January 18th was very well attended with close to 90 people! We hope for even a larger crowd this time. I'll be talking about some of our upcoming events and garden collections and will then do a presentation on the gardens I saw this past July in the Los Angeles area. I was able to attend the American Horticultural Society's National Youth Garden Symposium in Pasadena and had some time to explore some of the gardens in that area. The conference was very informative and organized. My only previous trips (2) to CA were to San Diego so I was able to experience the sprawling metropolis of Los Angeles which is quite staggering in terms of size and population. Anyway, I did enjoy the gardens I visited and am looking forward to the presentation. The intent of these "soup dinners" is threefold. We want to get our volunteers together in a social setting and provide information on the upcoming year so we can hit the ground running in spring. The third reason is to entice potential volunteers to come and see what we're all about and connect with staff and other volunteers. Please RSVP with Lori at (608) 752-3885 (ext. 20) if you are coming and do consider bringing some potential(s) that might be interested in getting involved at the gardens. There are so many opportunities.It was a smaller crowd today with Dr. Gredler continuing his commitment to obelisk conversion. I believe he stained many of the wood tone obelisks and has moved on to more painting. Bill came in and helped tidy up around the horticulture center and headed out to the entrance garden to haul back lights, cords and displays. He collected quite a bit of event stuff that we'll process tomorrow. Marianne was in and we continued going thru historic photographs and choosing those that will be scanned in to a digital format for easier retrieval (and longer life!). It's very interesting seeing older photos and how much the garden has developed over the last 22 years. Marianne is doing a dynamite job of organizing our historic information so it is safe and accessible. Previously, most of these materials were collecting dust in boxes. We also saw Gary, Big John, Mary, Jim H., Dave, Dorothy, Christine and Sue. I was able to finish two more seed orders and continue preparations regarding the details of our spring tree sale (with the Golden Kiwanis club), workshops and other activities. Tonight I do my first talk of twelve over the next 30 days or so. I'll be presenting ot the Milton Garden Club the topic of "Exciting Annuals." Back to seed ordering and presentaton prep tomorrow (and our little appreciation party for Little Jerry).

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