PIE?????? WHERE??????

At Ben's house. The first ever MHA "PIE in the Garden" night will commence on May 27 (Friday) at 7:30. You need to belong to MHA and RSVP is required since parking will be limited and they need to know how much PIE. Its just a chance to go and see someone's garden--and Ben's will be filled with a ton of new plants from Northwind Gardens.
To join MHA go to www.michianahort.org and sign up. Its free.
This event comes one week before the much anticipated appearance at Fernwood of Piet Oudolf--the world famous (and I am not being hyperbolic by using that term) landscape designer. You can go if you are not a Fernwood member--but you need to register and soon. This event begins at 6:30 with a wine and cheese "do" and then a talk by Piet. Roy Diblik will also be present, so you will have the chance to meet this legendarily (is that a word?) terrific person as well. There will also be a book signing. This may be your one chance to have a chance to actually meet these two people who are a huge part of a real sea change in American landscape design. Hopefully I will see you there!!!!
HTTD
fearless

North Liberty Garden Party

Hey everyone--I just heard about this Garden Event in North Liberty!
On Thurs. May 19 at 6:30 pm there will be a Garden Presentation by the Purdue extension service "Take your Garden to the Next Level". This event will be held at Dogwood Designs in Liberty and is sponsored by the Liberty Merchants and Chamber of Commerce. There will be some light refreshements and they will announce details about a garden contest.
Way to go North Liberty!

Daffy Michael eats PIE

Hows that for a header title? Was last nights meeting AWSOME or what?????
Michael--we know you are not daffy--but its the only way I could fit everything we did last night into one sentence. Just try to rearrange the words Michael, Pie and Daffy and you come up with some very strange mental images.

Tons of thank you's to Bobbi, Dave and Michael--if you want the poster children for a tranquil and beautiful home and life you have to look no further than the little brick schoolhouse on Kenilworth to find it. Martha Stewart may have her chows and himalayans, but Bobbi and Dave have Bud D, Lady and Chrome, a wealth of antiques that are full of meaning and love to them, a yard and land full of beautiful trees and flowering plants and all the ecosystem that comes along with it, and the icing on the cake is Michael, who raises it all to the level of the sublime.
And we had PIE.
OH SO MUCH PIE. And guests--Debbie and Gerry Brown , Wanda came again with Kathy, and Carol Line, the director of Fernwood also stopped by. Thanks so much to all of you for coming--you are always welcome.

To start off with we all arrived early, put on boots of various and sundry types (mine were pink equestrian numbers) and headed off through the wildlife area. Bobbi and Dave put a lot of time and energy into developing this area, and it is maturing and becoming a real sanctuary for animal, vegetable, and people alike. We all got to view Bobbi's infamous "oar-house", the pond, the woods, the daffodils and all the young trees as they were budding out. Michael was quick to identify and clarify any plant mysteries that cropped up, and Dave and Bobbi told us the story of how the area has evolved over time. From the migratory narcissus that came from Bobbi's dad, to the white pines that were foraged from the property to become a large screen on the side yard, every part of their property reflects their love and care for the place they call home.

Then it was back to the "yard", time to pat Lady and feed her some grass and then gather round as we learned the story of the Dosmann trees as only Michael could tell it. Starting with the history of the gigantic Dawn Redwood (and having met it, we had to say we liked it) , he walked us through the yard and taught us a great many things. The different Katsuras--whether carefully raised from seed, or rescued from a neglected spot at Fernwood or relocated here from China, each one of these diecious (only one gender on each plant) beauties was exceptionally lovely. Katsura is one of those trees that should has as a field mark the fact that whenever you see one you say "WOW--what kind of tree is that???"

He showed us Bottlebrush buckeye and we marveled at how those huge leaves came out of small buds, he told us the story of the journey of Kolkwitzia to this country and how all the plants of this species in cultivation are descended from a single line that emigrated here in the early 1900's. Pictured here is the reason why this somewhat humble (yes--"quietly interesting") bush earns its rightful place in the garden:

If anyone would like a baby Kolkwitzia there are many at my house to share. Just ask.

As we worked our way around the house, we learned about Golden Rain tree, which differs from Golden Chain tree--on the Rain version the yellow flowers orient upward, like the Bottlebrush, where the Golden Chain flowers hang down.

We admired the lovely Pagoda Dogwoods, the regal Stewartia, the fascinating color of the Maackia leaves just emerging, the fabulous blooms on the saucer and star magnolias--at their beautiful peak right now--including the Easter eggs that were blooming on the Star mag.


Michael told us the ways and mysteries of Hydrangeas, how to correctly prune viburnums (thanks for that one, Michael--I now know I have been doing it wrong!) The gender issues of Ginkgo (I go you go we all go for Gink go--and PIE) and the amorous adventures of the Katsuras in their yard. Well--what with the oarhouse being there, who is surprised????

We learned how to "coppice" woody plants like willow and dogwood to keep the brightly colored bark at its best, how to distinguish and deal with rootstock growth on grafted plants, and how to tell boy larch parts from girl larch parts.

It was so instructing and informative, and a real pleasure to watch someone in the process of doing exactly what they were born to do.

Then we went inside to warm up and eat the epic amounts of PIE that were scattered across the kitchen. Did anyone count how many there were? Without thinking too hard I count 7 pies with the wonderful bread that Kathy brought. Whatever the number, it was a PIE fest to rival all gastronomic events in the state. How many places do you get to go where you are encouraged not to have A dessert, but ALL OF THEM. So we scarfed on PIE and had our meeting. Here is the rundown of what we talked about:

(First of all I apologize if the meeting was run in an even more haphazard way than usual--I was running on the last reserves of my energy and coherence for the day).

Marianne read the Secretary's report--and Shirley didn't have anything to report. No news from the contact Czarinas.
We will be at Thyme of Grace this Friday at noon. Menu choices were made and a head count taken. Mary Ann will take care of getting in touch with Michelle.
Once again--remember our next meeting is on a WEDNESDAY (June 7) at Rosies. More on this later.
Rosie and I attended the State Convention on the final day. We went to the scholarship and awards luncheon and had a very nice day. I gave Joyce the pin that Patrick made on behalf of all of us and she was very touched by such a lovely handmade keepsake.

Our job tor the upcoming national convention in Middlebury has been chosen. Thanks to Rosie for stepping up--we will be in charge of the program book. We discussed ways for all of us to get involved so Rosie won't have to bear the entire burden herself. Among jobs that need to be done are proofreading, and there may be other ways we can help.


The Indiana Gardens Magazine will no longer be available in print--only as an emailed PDF. For those who have difficulty retrieving files this way, a buddy system was put into place and members will be responsible for printing one copy of the publication to give to one person--the breakdown is this:

Kathy will print a copy for Marianne
Shirley will print a copy for Buscia
Maggie will print a copy for Patrick
I will print a copy for Cindy.


With all that blah-blah out of the way, we got on to announcements. Rosie and Cindy's current situations were brought up, and people encouraged to drop notes to both of them. Private mail me if you need their contact info. www.robfraney@aol.com

Hayden gave us an update on events impending for the MHA. Its free to join--go to http://www.michianahort.org/ and sign up. Lots of fun stuff happening, and they are considering a second luncheon, since the first one was such a huge hit.

If you haven't subscribed to Indiana Gardens, you might want to consider it. They have a 10% off card you can present to participating sellers (Rosie and I both participate) and its a lovely publication, full of information specific to Indiana. Subscriptions are 19.95/year and you can get in touch with them at http://www.indianagardeningmag.com/
or call: 1-888 265-3600.

There are some upcoming events at Fernwood--Mothers Day is iminent which means their wonderful plant sale, as well as the chance to just spend the day soaking up the magic that is Fernwood.


The New Kitchen Store in Walkerton is still sponsoring cooking classes--now in Laporte. I will get a schedule of classes and post it here.

Debbie's daughter Kirsten is going to be spearheading the new Unity Garden in North Liberty. We hopefully will be able to act as a resource for her. As needs and issues arise Debbie will get in touch with me and we can put them up on the blog and/or take them up at a meeting--whichever is more expedient. We also briefly discussed the idea of the group becoming involved in some garden maintenence at Bluebird House. More on that later.

In nature news--there is a frost warning out for tonight and now IS the time to go to Potato Creek and view the ephemeral wildflowers.
With that we all dragged our Pie infused carcasses to our cars--and TRIED to head home--no thanks to me and my fabulous driving. Poor Kathy got blocked in and then attacked by the same shrub that had ambushed my car. (I AM BUSH--I KILL YOU).
A great time was had BY ALL. THANKS EVERYBODY!!!!!!

HTTD!