Ogden Botanical Gardens, Dec 2022

December 2022

Dear Supporters of the Ogden Botanical Gardens, I hope this letter finds you well! It is that special time of year when we begin to look forward to a new year and think about the past year. Helen and I are very appreciative of all that you do for us and for the Ogden Botanical Gardens. As Garden Manager, I am incredibly pleased with all that we have accomplished in the past two years with you by our side. In 2022, we saw many of you take up my “call to arms”, planting 250,000 spring bulbs! This was a planting like the garden has not seen since its beginning. What a wonderful display of colors were added and we give special thanks to High Country Gardens for their donations. Along with all those bulbs, $20,000 in perennials were also given to the Gardens and we got those planted too. Thank you, High Country Gardens! In early February we began seeding one of our new garden areas, now known as The Heritage Garden. Our purpose is to showcase “old time agricultural crops”. We grew plants like cotton, okra, and artichokes. We also planted the “Three Sisters” technique to demonstrate the Native American tradition of growing corn, beans, and squash together symbiotically. Mary Milan, Deborah Turnbull, Susan Westergard, and LaVerne Kyed played key roles in helping with this garden. With the planting of 250,000 spring bulbs, we thought what better way to get people out in the garden then to host an event. Earth Day Birthday did just that in April and 1,600 people came out! There were games and activities including potato guns, garden classes, plants for sale by the community, community booths, vendors, and a tree-planting ceremony. What a fun day! I could not have done this alone so a big thanks goes to our Weber County Extension office: Helen Muntz, Neda Salcedo, Chery Pell, Naomi Brower, Sarah Bhattarai, Annette Cumins, David Widdison, and Heather Dunnifer (MG). We plan to host another event on April 29th of 2023. We put the final changes on our Asian Garden this year with two things happening. First, we added a memorial Pagoda honoring Bob Saunders, using donations made in his name (Thanks to help from Ardie Miller, the Pagoda is standing and theft-proof). What a wonderful way to honor our friend for his years of dedication and love of the garden. He will be missed! Second, the pagoda bench in the Asian Garden was adopted in honor of Gregory Phancenek. A group of his friends (only known to him on a message board for fantasy football) donated $3,680 in his honor. This donation was also used to finish the Asian Garden by adding more perennials, small trees, and shrubs. We express our deep thanks and appreciation to those kind friends of Gregory, aka Panda. During the summer, Helen and I decided to tackle the Trough Garden. This garden had been originally installed in 2009. Typically, a landscape is good for about 15 years before it needs revamping. With help from Master Gardeners, we changed out the rock to something new, not just adding gravel but also making some new troughs. Thanks go to Wendell Saunders who taught Master Gardeners a DIY way to build and construct the pots. I hope that we can continue designing around that area and adding more pots in the future. In the fall, Mary Milan donated a greenhouse to the Gardens! It is about 8‘x 8‘, in size and took us a couple of days to put it together. I helped just a little. Thanks go to David Merrill who oversaw the project and our helpful volunteers. The succulents I had grown out in the gardens went inside and we still had room to spare. The plan is to use this greenhouse to start vegetable plants for the Heritage Garden and the raised vegetable beds. Also, during the fall, 12 new signs were added to the garden using a $12,000 grant Helen received from Weber County RAMP. For the first time in 28 years, we have educational signs for the public! With some heavy equipment training from Kheley Woolworth, Helen and I dug the holes with an augur and our Master Gardeners helped finish the installation. The signs even feature dual languages (English and Spanish). Two Arboretum signs include my favorite feature: a QR code, bringing this garden into modern times! Using your smartphone, you can scan the QR code, and it takes you to an online digital map of the garden. That pinpoints trees around you and has an online database of tree information. This is all thanks to Tiana Miller, our 2021 garden intern. Stephanie Vaughn, our 2022 intern, created 6 brochures about common pollinators and beneficial insects found in the gardens and drafted a sustainability plan for the OBG. Grant funding to implement this plan is in the works. Stephanie was instrumental in the maintenance and expansion of the Edible and Herb Gardens. I appreciate all that has happened these past two years. The impact you are making on the garden collectively is making it bloom and blossom. I not only see growth in the garden but in each of you. As Helen and I mentor those of you who help us, you teach us new things and get us excited for new and better things. Because of my open-door policy on volunteering, we have had a significant increase in volunteer hours recorded - 3,283 for 2022! Compared to just a few years ago, that is double! This will drastically change the garden. People visiting are noticing the changes. I hear praises all the time and I tell them it is thanks to many volunteering hands. Thank you for all that you brought to 2022. 34 new trees were planted 250,000 bulbs planted 700 new perennials planted 3 new benches installed $7,660 Donation Tree’s adopted 3283 Volunteer hours recorded Mountains of mulch moved Donated: 8’x 8’ greenhouse worth $2,000 Northrop Grumman $2,400 Donation Vic Robite celebrated 27 years as Rosarian Helen and I hope to see you early next spring! Life’s a garden, DIG IT!-Nate Staker