2022

JANUARY

I got my first seed catalog last week and I am already excited for another year of growing things. That also means that my thoughts turn to our wonderful Arboretum.

 The staff is hard at work planning our next season, we volunteers are biding our time until we can get our hands back in the dirt.

However, mother nature continues on her own sedate pace and the gardens rest.

FEBRUARY

It seems like the last couple of years I have noted that we started out with a relatively mild Winter and then it changes, but this year it is just nasty. We have gone into the deep freeze with temperatures in the below zero category, which means the present layer of snow is not going to melt off anytime soon.  Today it is 1 degree and even though the sun is shinning brightly that is really cold.

Even if the weather is frigid, the excitement is already building at the Arboretum. Just this week the board of directors unanimously voted to approve the final version of the new Master Plan. The staff and the master plan advisory committee have been working on this since 2017, and with Confluence our professional Landscape company, since 2020. They have given us their final report. This is what we plan to look like in the near future.

Also, this month we won an award from a company in the Cedar Valley that held an on-line survey promotion to see who would garner the most votes in different categories and we won one of them.

MARCH

There is an old saying that if March comes in like a lamb it will go out like a lion; well, the sun is shining brightly and temperatures have been in the 50’s. Despite the old sayings I am willing to take my chances.

As I take my photos; nature is on the verge of another renewal and I can’t wait.

APRIL

Never scoff at old sayings, March went roaring out like a lion with cold, snow, and lots of wind.

So far April is not much better, there have been a couple of decent days but not a lot of them.

We start this season again with a three person staff, although, the third person has changed. Jackie has left us and we welcome our newest member of the team-Ben Christensen.

So here now is our staff, Beth, Rob, and Ben. Our gardener for this year is Roger Edmonds and our watering specialist is Addyson.

Perhaps, I am just too impatient, but nature continues to creep along and today on the 12^th day of this month a few things are peeking out and the grass is noticeably greener.

Today is windy and cloudy with rain in the forecast and our space is on the cusp of coming to life once more. The Tulips are up, there are peeks of shoots in the garden of seasons and in the herb garden 

We are into the last week of April and it is another gray and gloomy day with a cold wind blowing. The gnomes are cleaned up and ready to hide out in the gardens again. The Tulips continue to emerge and today I see more Daffodils in bloom in the Garden of Seasons, in Tim’s Garden and in the tall grass garden. We have cut back the grass as we wake up the gardens and Sparky has come out of hiding once more.

MAY

Spring seems to be a couple of weeks behind this year, but the gnomes are ready to be deployed and the gardens are waking up a bit.

We could never achieve what we need to do to get ready for our year without our group of great volunteers. That includes the wonderful companies that allow their employees to come out for a work day. Our friends from Rabo Agri-Finance came again this year and got a huge amount done.

We also could not survive without the financial partnership of all of our great donors and our business sponsors.

By the middle of May we are into the beginning of another great year. We are getting the patio garden in shape and we are manning the Welcome Center and the gardens are beginning to show their stuff!

A memorial gift in honor of Mark Franklin enabled us to purchase museum quality “instruments” for the music station in the Children’s Garden. Volunteers from the maintenance team; Randy Robinson, Pat McGivern and Vaugh Griffith are installing them today.

Towards the end of this month, it was time to pull up the Tulips and replant the beds with our annual display this included replanting the mosaic sculptures.

To round out this month’s projects, the maintenance crew gave the kitchen in the education center a refresh including a new sink, and added a little free library just outside.

JUNE

School is out and story time at the Arboretum has begun

Although the plants are a bit late in blooming this year, we are starting to get there.

We have a family giving a generous donation as a memorial that is going to be in the form of a section of paved pathway. It starts at the beginning of the shrub gardens and goes to the top of the hill.

This month we also did a butterfly release, always a fun time for the kids, I think Ben liked it too;

Our outreach team is making our presence known in the Cedar Valley, we are at the downtown urban market.

JULY

We have headed into the middle of Summer and some great things going on as the grounds move into full display mode.

First off for this month;

A very generous memorial gift for Bobby and Pat Huff has been donated from the Huff family and is specified to create a hard surface walk-way that begins at the entrance to the gardens and will go to the top of the hill. Today is July 12 and paving has begun

We changed this trail into a more interesting shape. Now that it is finished, we need to plant some grass along the old gravel section. The plan is to plant some decorative tress along this path.

Now that we have gotten toward the end of July, the gardens are strutting their stuff.

AUGUST

The dog days of Summer are upon us and the meadows are looking good.

We tried a new event this year., a BBQ contest.

We are moving toward the end of another season at the Arboretum and the Scare Crow Stroll is fast approaching but I wanted to pay a special highlight to one of our most endearing and longest running traditions. Of special interest to everyone who loves this place is the delight of children for all things related to nature and growing things and story time brings them out each and every year.

We had several guest story tellers including the ever-popular fire fighters and the mayors of Cedar Falls and Waterloo.

SEPTEMBER

Our biggest event of the year starts this week and we are getting ready

Today is Thursday the 15^th and the group from the Iowa Nursery and Landscape Association has arrived with a crew of their volunteers and donated equipment and materials to gift us with a wonderful project for our Children’s Garden.

The season is nearly over and the Scare Crow Stroll was a huge success.

It is October and the Scare Crow Stroll winds up and ends our season with a bang.  We pick fruit for the Food bank, We have several special days with a wide array of events including our first ever Witch's dance. All of this as our beautiful space puts on its magnificent fall array.

NOVEMBER

Time to put the gardens to bed for the season and the great group of Master Gardeners who tend the orchard are here to put up the fence to keep the Deer out.

Early and often, I have stated in our history, a motto for the Arboretum: “always growing always changing”. That holds true in all aspects. Our Executive Director Rob Pruitt is moving on. In his ten years with us he has helped us accomplish some wonderful growth. Under his steady guidance we have transformed into a more sustainable business model while remaining true to our initial vision of a serene green space that provides a connection with nature. Rob’s impact on the Arboretum is seen in what we have become and how we have thrived. With a new and forward-looking Master Plan we anticipate continuing in that direction.

It is the middle of the month and our first dusting of snow.

  The Bord of Directors have selected a new executive director. A Cedar Valley resident, Chelsey Bowermaster most recently served as the Associate Executive Director at the Family YMCA of Black Hawk County, where she served in various leadership roles for 6 years. She has more than a decade of experience in the non-profit sector and extensive experience in community health and wellness efforts. She is active in the community volunteering her time as a board member for the Mercy-One Health Trust Fund, Aldrich Elementary CARE PTO committee, and as a committee member and coach for Girls on the Run of Eastern Iowa. Bowermaster has been a long-time visitor to the arboretum with her family and is excited to lead progress, expansion, and vision for the organization. 

It is December and Winter has blown in and it is time to say let the gardens hibernate once again. Until next season, fairwell.