The
Butterfield Cottage garden has a new white fence all across
the back
and a fine fence it is too. It is
part of the garden club's
grant from Principal Financial Group but the grant money important
as it was, was only the beginning.
The
actual construction of the fence was done by Ernie Palmrose.
He
planed and cut each
picket, sunk the posts and then built the fence. After a time
to settle and dry, that fine fence needed to be primed and
painted so with a little gentle persuasion, my husband, Stewart
Berry, donned his painter's cap and did the job.Now Gertrude
Stein always said, "Silent
gratitude isn't very much use to anyone." With that
in mind, let me shout it from the rooftops: THANK YOU Ernie
and Stewart for
donating your time and labor. The fence looks wonderful!
While
I'm on the subject of gratitude, let me
include Doris Snodgrass who has donated to the garden a very
special bearded iris "Ice
Blue Secret." Doris's father, Charles W. Hungerford
was a Plant Pathologist at the University of Idaho. Irises
were his favorite flowers and he experimented with crossing
them to develop new ones. Developing new flowers is a long
and tedious process and his system went like this. First
he used
a small watercolor brush to transfer pollen from one iris
onto another. Next he covered those blossoms so the bees
would not interfere doing what bees do. When those seeds
formed, he would plant them (maybe as many as fifty), then
the next year take the best and repeat the process. It might
take thirty years to develop an outstanding bloom and Ice
Blue Secret (a pale blue five footer) is one of them. We
are grateful to have this as part of the garden.
THANK YOU
Doris. And THANKS to an energetic group of garden club
volunteers, the new beds on the west and north sides have been
dug out and are ready to receive their plants. When they are
planted, our grant work will be finished.
Speaking of gratitude,
come and visit the garden this spring, sit
on the bench, smell the herbs, enjoy the flowers, admire
that fine fence. I think you will appreciate what we have
been able to accomplish with the grant funds and will join
the garden
club in heartfelt THANKS to National Garden Clubs, Inc. and
Principal Financial Group.
|
