supplement to the park rapids enterprise
Mark your
JOIN US JULY 27, 2019 FOR A
Garden Stroll
OF THE HEARTLAND LAKES
calendar! THIS EVENT WILL BE HELD RAIN OR SHINE.
When summer is at its zenith, head out across prairie and forest for a tour of some of the area’s finest gardens. CHI St. Joseph’s Health Auxiliary, in partnership with the Hubbard County Master Gardeners, is hosting a Garden Stroll of the Heartland Lakes. The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, July 27. Ticket holders are invited to visit several residential gardens, with owners and Master Gardeners on hand to answer questions. A “passport” and site map will be issued to Strollers prior to the event. Pre-sale ticket holders will be served a gourmet box lunch mid-day, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Heartland Park – then head out for more festive foraging. The event will be held rain or shine. Ticket price is $25. To reserve tickets, contact St. Joseph’s Volunteer Services at 616-3197, credit cards accepted. The seasoned horticulturalists who
will be introducing their gardens include: Sharon Dobson describes her landscape as a park, “the most relaxing place in the world.” Come summer, indoors is merely a place to sleep. Daylight hours are spent in the gardens. The Master Gardener’s parents provided inspiration for the gardens that have been under development for 17 years. She continually moves her wide variety of plants from space to space “until they are happy.” Husband Jim joined in the endeavor, building split rail fences, a screened porch and a dining deck mid-gardens, with a full view of summer’s splendor. “We call this our paradise.” Bob and Jimmie Ginn’s garden surrounds a hand-built authentic log cabin. The winding driveway is lined with boulders and lush greenery, including pampas grass, spirea, hosta and amur maples.
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Bob built many features in the landscape, including a pizza oven, two firepits, a barbecue shed, a bridge, a water feature and a pergola. A fenced and terraced hillside contains raised vegetable beds. Jimmie plants numerous railing boxes, planters and pots with colorful annuals for the summer. A grassy lawn leading to 8th Crow Wing Lake is surrounded with more greenery and annual flowers. Mike Greene considers his vegetable and flower gardens a “perpetual beginner’s template.” He describes the country setting nestled in pine trees as “nature’s eye candy.” Garden Strollers will view the Master Gardener’s annual and perennial flower beds and raised vegetable beds, as well as the compost area. He enjoys sharing gardening stories with others. “Without spirit there is no humanity,
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patient experience
The event is presented in partnership by the Auxiliary and the Hubbard County Master Gardeners. Patients entering CHI St. Joseph’s Health directly experience benefits from these Auxiliary initiatives. Previous funds have been used for orthopedic clinic equipment, obstetric bathroom remodeling, an ultrasound machine, low beds and stretchers, a cardiac rehab telemetry monitoring system, surgical lights, mammography robes and warmers and a colonoscopy scope. Founded in 1947, the Auxiliary has now raised over $1 million in support of the pro-
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CALENDAR: Page 2
Plant physiologist
Auxiliary initiatives directly enhance
CHI St. Joseph’s Health Auxiliary is a program of Volunteer Services with a rich tradition of successful projects/fundraisers that support CHI St. Joseph’s Health. Volunteers with diverse backgrounds share energy and talents to raise funds to be used to enhance patient support. Throughout the year, Auxiliary volunteers host themed luncheons, dinners, coordinate a quilt raffle, put on their oven mitts for bake sales and pull out the craft supplies for hand-crafted gift items. This summer’s first-ever Garden Stroll will engage gardening enthusiasts on a jaunt around the area to view botanical wonderworks, produced by local horticulturalists.
without humanity, there is no gardening and without gardening, there is no life,” he states. Mary Jane Keller became an ardent gardener after retiring. Summers were spent hosting guests at the family’s resort; now she’s creating flora wonderworks. “I love to dig in the dirt and plant new varieties of annuals and perennials to see how they perform,” Mary Jane said. “I have both vegetable and flower gardens scattered around. My gardens are randomly placed around our yard to either hide an eyesore or brighten up a dull spot.” The Keller yard is predominately full-sun exposure “and can be a challenge,” she said. Two dozen pots bursting with colorful annuals are positioned about the
concerned with winter’s mercury dip By Jean Ruzicka
Bert Swanson stands with his Swiss stone pine and Colorado blue spruce.
In late April, Bert Swanson was eyeing his dormant garden with a measure of trepidation. January’s torturous cold snap may have sounded the death knell for some of his perennials. “It’s been a rough winter,” said the plant physiologist, who battles both deer and weather at his expansive yard overlooking Boot Lake. He points to his forsythia, which following a good winter would be solid gold, the blooms emerging before the leaves. After a bad winter - early cold before the ground hardens and there’s no snow cover - the roots freeze and the tops are in jeopardy, he explained. Last year, he saw no blooms. “Now I’m waiting to see…” Bert’s Northern Lights azaelas are also on his watch list. “Even after the bad winter of 2017 and ’18 they bloomed. The buds are hearty to -40 degrees. “This winter we had -48 degrees,” he said of late January. “The buds don’t look good,” he said of the crimson bloomers. Bert, who holds a PhD in plant physiology, was in the Navy for 31 years before returning to civilian life. He taught nursery management at Colorado State University for seven years before returning the University of Minnesota to share expertise for 18 years. He then headed to Park Rapids, where he managed a nursery and now has a consulting business, as well as serving as a USDA technical advisor for federal crop insurance.
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