Our first meeting of the 2021-2022 session was held on Tuesday, June 22, 2021, at the home of Bill and Jennifer Pospichal’s. I don’t think we all knew what a special treat was in store for us! Our meeting began with a tour of their amazing gardens and incredible grounds, along with Bill, Jennifer’s husband and a master gardener, giving us a program on raised bed vegetable gardening.

Bill is a civil engineer by degree and purchased 40+ acres back in the early 1990’s. This land used to be an old mink farm, yes, that is correct mink, as in fur. Bill and Jennifer have created a beautiful oasis lush with gardens galore from native plants, pollinators, quiet streams and loads of amazing vegetable beds. Over 2,000 shrubs and trees are planted on their property. Raised vegetable beds include cauliflower, broccoli, chick peas, strawberries just to name a few. Thank you to Jennifer and Bill for sharing your paradise with us!

“Every empty bottle is filled with a great story”

In 2020, the Horticulture Committee challenged the club to save our wine corks. With the pandemic, this challenged continued on till May of 2021, when we were finally able to gather for our Annual Meeting. Our club was busy over Covid, we collected over 8 pounds of wine corks! Anne Hall, Horticulture Chair, delivered the wine corks to WineStyles, at 10076 South 74th Plaza, who recycles them. Thank you to WineStyles for recycling and being good to Mother Earth! Another tidbit of information is that they also recycle wine bottles by giving them to the Smash Room. Evidently, people will pay to smash bottle and the broken glass is given to Metropolitan Community College Arts for projects. So if you are looking for a place to take your wine bottles or corks, along with purchasing wine, please keep WineStyles in mind. Thank you Anne for collecting the corks, finding a place that recycles them and delivering them for our group! 

We were so excited that we were finally able to gather “in person” for our Annual meeting which was held on Tuesday, May 25, 2021 at Happy Hollow Club. The theme was entitled Honoring Our Roots. Thank you to the Social Committee for planning such a wonderful event!

The 2020-2021 provisional class made and installed bee hotels at Pacific Preserve

Sandy Douglas from the The Crane Trust delivered a presentation to us viz Zoom on “A Place for Cranes.” Sandy opened with a video showing the Sandhill cranes in their habitat. The trust was formed in 1978, after an environmental crisis of the river habitat degraded: channels deepened, invasive species were present, gravel mining and agriculture greatly affected the environment. She also spoke about conservation strategies, science and research done on the the cranes, Sandhill & Whooping Crane facts and behavior. Due to the pandemic, a virtual crane experience for 2021 can be found at cranetrust.org.

The Horticulture Committee went to the Lauritzen Gardens on March 26, 2021 to view the thousands of daffodils beginning to bloom.

On March 10^th of this year, we lost Fran Dowd, a founding member of the Loveland Garden Club (LGC).  

She was a tireless worker, organizer, supporter and cheerleader for our garden club and Lauritzen Gardens. Fran was one of the driving forces for the club’s growth and its commitment to stimulating the love of gardening both at a private and public level.

In 1983-84 Fran was one of seven enthusiastic gardeners who founded the Loveland Garden Club.  One of the original goals of the club was to become a member of the Garden Club of America (GCA). Through Fran’s leadership, that goal was achieved in 1996. 

The GCA tasks it’s member clubs to offer ongoing educational programs with minimal cost to the general public. With that in mind, Fran, in 2005, organized a LGC committee to discuss with the Executive Director of Lauritzen Gardens, the establishment of an ongoing project for LGC at the Gardens. 

In 2007, the Loveland Garden Club Endowed Lecture Series became that ongoing project with a small start-up pledge of $25,000. 

The creation of the Lecture series was a way for the Gardens to generously recognize and honor Loveland Garden Club’s many years of involvement and steadfast support in the development of the Garden.

The club ensures the long life and future development of the LGC Lecture Series Endowment with a yearly contribution. Donations to this endowed lecture series have also been designated by individuals and memorials. 

Fran loved our club, she will always be remembered as a steadfast supporter of our Club & Lauritzen Gardens. 

Her presence & friendship will be truly missed. 

Our November guest speaker was Prairie Ecologist, Chris Helzer. Chris is the Nature Conservancy’s Director of Science in Nebraska. His main role is to evaluate and capture lessons from the Conservancy’s land managements and restoration work along with sharing those lessons with other land managers. Chris also works to raise awareness about the value of prairies and prairie conservation through photography, writing and presentations. He is the author of two books, the most recent being “Hidden Prairie” Photographing Life in One Square Meter”.

On January 30, 2018, at the Lincoln Creek Prairie in Aurora, Nebraska, Chris marked off one square meter of prairie. His goal was to educate people on how much life existed in that one square meter. During that year, he made forty-six visits, each lasting from fifteen to ninety minutes. The total number of species he recorded in 2018 were 113 different plants and animals, with the breakdown as follows: 15 different plants, different species of flies (15), beetles(22), bees (14) and 44 other plants, insects and animals. He is hoping this project will change people’s perceptions of prairies. In doing this project, Chris learned some powerful lessons; he discovered a new way to be quiet, sitting still and waiting for things to come to him. He stated that “a lot happens in a small area of prairie.”

In November, Co-Chairs Kathy & Cindy led a workshop for members, family and friends to create a centerpiece for Thanksgiving. Afterwards, they showed a few easy steps on how to transform the Thanksgiving piece into one for the holiday season. Thank you to Shelia Fitzgerald for the use of her fabulous barn to assemble the kits and hold the class via Zoom, as well as a thank you to all the members who helped assemble and deliver the kits to those participating!

Club members helped weed and divide plantings at Sheltering Tree. Sheltering Tree building apartment buildings for individuals with disabilities. Garden Club members assisted at a 10-unit property in Bellevue to obtain tree grants. Currently, there are 150 individuals on the waiting list. Sheltering Tree enables those with disabilities to “live independently, but not alone.” The founder, Shirley McNally, and executive director, Denise Gehringer are incredibly thankful for the all the ‘love’ Loveland Garden Club has showered on Sheltering Tree.