Floral Art Study was one of the Clubs in the Northern Front Range District that hosted the CFGC Convention and received a Tree Grant of $125.00. We added some of our funds and picked out a beautiful Blue Spruce to be planted in Wolff Park in Arvada where we have previously put trees for past members.

The Arvada Parks and Recreation Dept., Ian MacDonald, Austin and crew helped us choose a spot, dig the hole and plant it on July 15, 2021. This will be a great memorial for our members that have passed in the last few years. We Miss You!!

Here are some of the photography contest submissions. There were three classes- Macro, Monochrome and Creative. Enjoy!

For a full list of of Awards, click here.

Photos by Eleaner:

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Planning a Butterfly Garden for a Senior Living Community

V-Esprit is a 14-acre 55+ Active Adult Community in Southeast Aurora, Colorado. The center’s manager, Cindy Wagner, attended one of our Dig and Dream Garden Club butterfly garden tours during the summer of 2018. This was the second year that the club provided adult and children’s tours at the Smoky Hill Library butterfly garden, a Community Outreach project that the club completed in 2017.

Cindy was intrigued by the club tour leader Victoria Schmidt’s presentation and inspired to create a similar garden at V-Esprit. She was delighted to learn that one of the club members, Susan Buckingham, was a resident. She contacted Susan in early July 2019 and Susan quickly assembled a member task force to work with Cindy to create a butterfly garden at the V-Esprit main entrance.

The site was perfect – low, sheltered, sunny with a clear aerial view visible to passing butterflies. Susan created the initial design that included a good mix of colorful host and nectar plants. Two sides of the garden mirror one another, a strategy suggested by Colorado’s Butterfly Pavilion. The plan was intended as a very basic design that could mature and be filled in over several seasons with similar butterfly-friendly perennials. One of the residents, Ron Cox, drew up a computer-drafted map detailing the plan.

V-Esprit had its grounds crew remove existing junipers and other overgrown ground covers to make room for the garden plants. Rows of mature salvia, some sedum and a juniper border were preserved since they provided nectar and shelter. The crew also amended the soil and mulched the area.

Cindy had a budget for the required perennials, and the funds went a long way thanks to club member James Pickering. James propagates all of the plants that the club sells at its annual Mother’s Day sale and summer fund-raisers. To jump start the project, he sold V-Esprit 32 recommended butterfly garden perennials far below the typical cost of these plants at retail garden centers. The plants included butterfly bushes, milkweed, day lilies, tall grass, aster, purple pincushion, and coreopsis.

V-Esprit placing plants – Cindy Wagner, Rose Seemann, Sal Carrera, resident and Lynn Stewart

From the start, Cindy and residents want to “own” the garden by planting and maintaining it themselves. Before planting began, club members Lynn Stewart and Rose Seemann positioned the perennials following Susan’s plan. Residents then installed the plants and began their maintenance regimen.

V-Esprit – first planting

Cindy reported that V-Esprit had approximately one dozen volunteers who helped. Eight residents spent three hours the first day digging holes, composting and planting the perennials about three hours the first day.  Two additional gardeners pitched for the second planting.  Three residents took turns watering throughout the summer.  They initially watered every day until mid-July, then twice a day through August and once a day through September.

When the days became cooler, V-Esprit purchased more plants from the club. Two additional gardeners pitched for the second planting.  By late summer the garden plantings were hearty and attracting painted ladies and cabbage whites.

The garden club worked with Cindy to obtain North American Butterfly Association certification and signage is now prominently posted at the center entrance. V-Esprit will continue to maintain the garden and add to plantings. Dig and Dream members will meet with volunteers in March 2020 to plan for enhancements that will include installing a puddling area for male butterflies.

Last month, five members of the Evergreen Moonlight Garden Club volunteered two hours each at Emerson House Headquarters gardens. They weeded and cleaned up both the front and back yard. Afterwards, the group treated themselves to a visit at the Denver Botanic Gardens. In the picture is left to right: Gail Fischer and Jan Greenwood (back row) and the front row is Joyce Cassidy, Tory Hurst, and Sydney Denius.

If you would like to learn more about gardening and make new friends, consider joining a garden club! Visit our Garden Club Page to find one near you!