Our Bedrock
Mission Statement: Gardens and programs that inspire, educate and enrich our lives and our community.
Purpose Statement: To educate and encourage citizens on the importance of developing, restoring, maintaining and conserving wildlife habitat and the native plants that comprise that habitat.
Welcome new members–we hope to see you at our monthly classes and upcoming events.
And to those who have renewed–thank you so much! Memberships help support our organization and our gardens!
Note: We can now accept memberships and renewals online with this link: Membership/Renewals.
However, to help us cover our processing costs for the convenience of using online payments, it is necessary to include those costs in our online membership fees. Amounts remain the same as before for checks/cash.
Separate donations can also be transacted online!
October Class
Saturday October 21st at 10:00am ~ entitled Plant Propagation ~ conducted by Julie Carlsen, NatureScaping Coordinator and Tour Guide, Perennial Princess & Master Gardener extraordinaire.
It’s plant dividing/propagation time of the year for certain plants! Learn the various techniques and timing for different perennials.
September Class-Recap
One of our favorite presenters, Brandon Burger, from Backyard Bird Shop (www.backyardbirdshop.com) conducted a very informative class all about bats. Apparently there are a lot of bat lovers out there! (a good thing). He answered many questions and we learned (among other many things) that it may take a (maybe long) while for your neighborhood bats to embrace a bat house you may have erected for them–don’t despair!
Saturday Morning Work Parties
This is the last month to sign up to volunteer at the gardens for our Saturday morning work parties from 9:00am to noon. Volunteers are guided by one of our garden coordinators. To sign up, here is the link: SignUpGenius
Volunteer side note: At the end of August, a small wedding was held in the Cottage Garden. The groom signed up to spend a morning in September volunteering at the gardens. The Coordinator of that garden said: “It was fun to hear how much they enjoyed using the gardens as a venue for their wedding! He took some rose bush cuttings home to try to replicate the plant in his own yard, since that is where they stood to say their vows! So sweet!”
Perennial, Bulb & Seed Swap (& More)
October 7th 10am – 1pm
Partnering with the Master Gardeners of Clark County to conduct our 7th annual event. Bring your excess plants, bulbs and seeds and see what others may have brought to share–there may be some surprises.
Bulletin Board
Fall is here and so is our display ushering in the season. Find it mounted on the front of our small shed when you come to visit or see pic. Thank you Rosemarie!
Tours/Talks/Events
The gardens are used in many different ways by many different folks! Here are a few from September….
Julie led a group of what turned out to be a fairly large group of homeschoolers with about a third of them under the age of 6 years old. Good to get the kiddos loving nature early on but have you ever heard the one about “herding cats”? They did seem to have a great time.
A group from the Jane Weber Evergreen Arboretum came out to tour the gardens. They were very interested in our gardens and our organization. Their arboretum is very different from our gardens (much larger for one thing) and invited some of us for a reciprocal visit.
The Clark County Master Gardeners held their annual Scavenger Hunt at the gardens.
CASEE had a 30 year anniversary celebration which included tours of their grounds, various speakers (including a former CASEE student and NatureScaping Co-Coordinator) and many displays of student projects. As one of their partners, we were represented by one of our displays and our flyers.
Looks like the gardens will also host several events (weddings) in October….find out next month!
Did you notice….
Ever wonder about the various benches, tables, arbors, bird baths and other items found tucked away in various spots? What is the history behind some of them? Though some items are more obvious than others (they have plaques), in the following months we will occasionally share some of the “stories”. Here is one of them….
On Earth Day, Friday April 21, 2017 The Lewis River Rotary Club of Battle Ground, along with the Jubitz Family Foundation, dedicated a “Peace Pole” in the Water Wise Garden. Several languages are represented on the inscriptions on the four sides: Russian, Ukrainian, Spanish and of course English. With slight variations between languages the saying is: “May Peace Prevail On Earth”
A little history….
The first Peace Pole was planted in Japan by Masahisa Goi in the mid-1950s. Mr. Goi, whose family was greatly affected by World War II, dedicated his life to spreading the message, “May peace prevail on Earth.” The original Peace Poles were meant to cause people to reflect on the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. Today, there are over 200,000 others installed worldwide.
If you’ve been to the gardens lately, you may have seen the ongoing transformation in the Flying Flowers Garden Expansion. What progress! The Commemorative Plaque has been placed (again, thank you Ann) – come see it for yourself but in the meantime.
We Were Mentioned….
Inspired by our August class (Easier Gardening for Everyone) we were contacted by The Reflector which led to a feature story in one of their issues. A plug for us!
Sharing……
Always striving to best share information, our standard flyers in display boxes at the gardens are now on our website. Find them referenced on the following pages:
https://naturescaping.org/the-gardens/
https://naturescaping.org/the-gardens/flying-flowers-garden/
https://naturescaping.org/the-gardens/hummingbird-place/
Once again for our new members…..
For anyone interested….
Booklet
With funding from a Washington Native Plant Society (WNPS) grant and with many volunteer hours from committee members (you know who you are) a longtime dream has been fulfilled.
We have created a free 52-page booklet as an educational tool that includes dozens of high-quality photos, descriptions and other information regarding native plants found at The Wildlife Botanical Gardens and reasons to incorporate them in your landscape. Here is the link to finding it on our website:
https://naturescaping.org/resources/free-booklet/
Recent Comments
Many visitors who took the time to give us a review (some with comments) and/or share pictures:
From Business Google
Cheasanee–5 star review, photos & comments: “Gorgeous little botanical garden with well kept pathways and lots of seating. Completely free, and volunteers maintain the grounds. There are classes available on a variety of outdoor subjects!”
From Comment Cards:
Glenda–Excellent rating & comment: “Lovely Experience”
Bob–Excellent rating
Unidentified–Excellent rating & comment: “It’s lovely to visit here. Appreciate all your work”
Nature Related Quote of the Month
From Isaac Bashevis Singer: “What nature delivers to us is never stale. Because what nature creates has eternity in it.”
Enjoy!