But our army of volunteers and our great staff are hard at work preparing for this year at our annual retreat

As has become our custom we gathered in January.

We enjoyed a brief report by Rob Pruitt our Executive Director

This year we concentrated on the Fall Harvest Festival and broke up into small groups to brainstorm ideas to improve this important event. We discussed four main topics seeking to improve on what we do.

·        Children’s Activities

·        How to better draw the public to the event

·        Small Scale Entertainment

·        How to improve visitor help

The breakout sessions produced much valuable input. 

Another part of what we always do at CVABG is have fun (which a lot of times involves food)

FEBRUARY

Revved up by our recent planning session and encouraged because the weather is not bad, we become optimistic of an early Spring

MARCH

Our rosy plans are coming unraveled

The gnomes are bundled up and frosty has invaded the gardens

A Mink chewed through our screen on the pond and ate all the fish

There is a small event planned for the 25^th and though the weather is not cooperating, meaning the attendance is small: we have it anyway

We are required to have an annual open board meeting and get a decent turnout.

We have an educational program followed by an overview from Rob our director on what is planned for this year.

APRIL

Time to get started, the landscape is changing, things are happening, early risers are peeking at us, the Prairie has been burned so let’s go!

Let’s wake up the gardens. The call goes out and here come our usual suspects, the wonderful group of volunteers.

Paul; you thought all I do is write this stuff

I am always excited to see new volunteers, just sorry that I don’t always get a name

Jan Guthrie and Janet Ludolph

Kathy Sadler

Yvonne Duggan

Bonnie Wetzel

Rob helps too, Tim Spengler in the background

Sara Jansen and Yvonne

These two folks from Khole’s come out to help every year (I apologize for not knowing your names)

Al Hays and Vaugh Griffith

Warren George

Maurine Crisp

We love all the volunteers and want to honor you even if I don’t get your names

Beth was here and fed us when we finished

Later in April we also had some help from a group from Valley Lutheran School

MAY

This is when our garden interns for the year usually start

Laura on the left and Kira on the right

For the past couple of years, we have had a plant sale but this year we decided to combine our sale with our longtime friend and partner.

The sale was held at the Cattle Congress grounds

There were events in May

This particular event is to present our tree collection to our visitors in order to showcase how different types of trees enhance the landscape. In the Spring our ornamental trees move front and center

Here are some of our ornamentals

Frost Free Day is May 15 and that is when we plant trees and our annual display. It is also this time of year when we often get help from local businesses when they send some folks our way for a work day. WE REALLLY APPRECIATE THIS!!!

This is the group from Agra Pro

We had a group from Viking Pump

The Master Gardens planted trees in the orchard this month

I met this gentleman this year and promptly forgot his name (sorry) the lady is Judy Griffith

Karen Acton and Tom Pounds

Vaughn Griffith Randy Robison and Time Spengler

Kathy Sadler Warren George Pat Hoeppner Robin Darling

The whole gang

The gardens are off to another great start

JUNE

School is out and we get to start

Story Time

Once again, this year we had an outstanding line-up with some great individual readers 

Fun in the gardens all summer long with an old favorite

And another old friend

June is a good time to watch things mature, how beautiful it all is:

JULY

Those lazy hazy days of Summer

Fun at the Arboretum

One of our great volunteers-Penny Popp taught a series of events this month about how to create yard art from concrete

A MAJOR NEW EVENT FOR THE SUMMER WAS A GOOD OLD-FASHIONED PICNIC

AUGUST

The dog days of Summer are here and it just keeps getting better

WHAT COULD BE MORE COMPATABLE THAN GARDENING AND ART?

September

That means it’s time for the Fall Harvest Festival

The unusual weather continued to provide challenges, IT RAINED, AND IT RAINED, AND IT RAINED, as a result we had extremely soggy grounds well into the Autumn. This caused us to adjust for the festival, we had to re-direct the path from the parking lot to the Arboretum.

We also had to move some of the venues to other spots, however the more compact grouping got some favorable comments. The skies cleared and turned blue, the rain held off and the festival was a huge success.

This month saw the beginning of a project that will carry over into next year.

We were contacted by a local resident, Greg Boom, who had constructed a cairn for his yard. He indicated that since he was moving, he would like to donate it to us.

According to the dictionary:

“In simple terms, a rock cairn is just a pile of stones or rocks. Cairns have been used for thousands of years. In ancient times, they served as an intricate form of art, as small rocks were precariously balanced on top of smaller rocks, artfully constructed with no tools or mortar to hold them together.”

An intrepid group of our volunteers: Vaughn Griffith, Howard Craven, Steve Buckles, Randy Robinson, and Gary Blonigan took on the project of dismantling the cairn, cataloging how it goes together and transporting it to the Arboretum. It is resting here in the barn until next growing season when these guys will re-assemble it in a location designated for it.

These next photos are of the cairn on Mr. Boom’s property:

As we move toward the last few months of the year, the gardens give one last display.

OCTOBER-NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER

Another year has come and gone, my love for this place increases as the years roll by.

My desire is to help you understand what a precious resource we have right here in the Cedar Valley. In order to keep getting better we need to raise funds, so when the growing season winds down we send out our annual appeal literature. Won’t you help us ensure the continuation of this most wonderful place?

The year ends and the Arboretum rests and it looks very much like it did when we started this year

Until next season, dream on