Uplands Garden Club Bulb Sale

Uplands Garden Club members Harriet Ridnour and Reesha Wyman braved a very cold and blustery fall morning to sell bulbs at the Mineral Point Farmers Market at Watertower Park on October 20th.

A wide variety of colorful spring bulbs from the club's Fall Bulb Sale were available. 

Planting instructions included. 

The club is returning to the Farmers Market's final two weekends in the (much warmer!) greenhouse at Aspen Ridge Home and Garden Center in Mineral Point on October 27th and November 4th.

October 2018 Meeting: Planting Design With Perennials - Ben Futa, Director of Allen Centennial Garden

Ben Futa is Director of the Allen Centennial Garden at UW Madison. He is passionate about connecting people to plants, and one other, through public gardens. With a background in landscape architecture and sustainability studies from Purdue University and Indiana University South Bend, Ben has directed the operations of the Allen Centennial Garden and its programs for the last 3 years.


Ben's talk at the October, 2018 Uplands Garden Club meeting focused on Planting Design with Perennials. Ben made recommendations for well-behaved perennials for our gardens and shared tips such as taking photos of our gardens in full season to help with those puzzling spring planting decisions (brilliant!) and invaluable resources like the Plant Calculator on the Midwest Groundcovers website.

 During the snack break members perused donated gardening books brought in for the taking by generous garden club members.

August 2018 Meeting: Stewart Home Gardens and Potluck

In August Gayl and Roger Stewart hosted the Garden Club for a visit of their gardens and our annual late summer/fall potluck dinner. The gardens and grounds were lovely and, as always, the club members stepped up with delicious dishes.



Thank you to Gayl and Roger for their hospitality and thanks to all the club members for the wonderful food!

July 2018 Meeting: Rock Ridge Community and Stepping Stones

Rock Ridge Community

The July program was held at Rock Ridge Community where Uplands Garden Club member Judy Campbell lives.  Under the cool shade trees, Connie Larson from the Grant County Master Gardeners, taught us how to make garden stepping stones with cut glass. 

Raised garden beds

But first there was a short tour of the gardens and a viewing of the Potato Growing Research Project. 

Each garden club member got to make a stepping stone. Connie brought all the supplies with club members providing the creativity.


Everyone went home with grout (and instructions) to complete their stepping stone after the adhesive dries. Great summer fun!

Hard at work on stepping stone projects 

Ta-da! Beautiful. 

June 2018 Meeting: Visit to Aspen Ridge Home and Garden Center

On Wednesday, June 6 the Uplands Garden Club visited Aspen Ridge Home and Garden Center in Mineral Point.

After time to shop (yeah) Aspen Ridge owner Marsha Wyatt gave us a tour of the Center. Marsha related some of the history of the property, how they came to locate their new garden center on this site, showed us the extensive site restorations they have already done and explained future renovation plans.





The Aspen Ridge philosophy is embodied in this statement from their website - "Aspen Ridge Home & Garden has been a long-time dream as a destination garden center that inspires young and old alike to slow down in life and take in the beauty of the land and all things that grow. Where customers become friends." Marsha highlighted the many ways they are putting those goals into practice with a host of community involvement activities.

Kudos to Marsha et al on creating a lovely and inspiring gardening center.

May 2018 Meeting: Succulents with Jada Hooks

Succulents are all the rage in the plant work right now. At our May meeting we got to pot up our own succulents under the tutelage of Jada Hooks of Jada's Garden and Greenhouse in Mount Horeb.

We brought our own small containers and Jada brought a selection of succulent plants to choose from. Each member purchased two 2-inch plants with additional plants available for an additional charge. Jada also supplied soil, pea gravel and moss to finish off our creations.

Members went home with lovely arrangements in a variety of containers from hypertufa to tea cups and more. What fun!

Jada Hooks has a degree in horticulture from UW-Madison and has worked with plants her entire life. She grew up on a dairy and pig farm near Plain, gardening with her mother as a child. Jada's Garden started about 15 years ago as a personal gardening and seasonal container business.  Her retail greenhouse and garden center opened in 2017 in Blue Mounds and is a full service greenhouse.  Visit Jada's Garden and Greenhouse website for more information including the 2018 class schedule and listing of special events.  www.jadasgarden.com   

April 2018 Meeting: Exercises for Gardeners

Just in time to get us ready for a new gardening season, fitness instructor Eileen Smith taught us exercises and stretches specific to those very muscles and movements needed for gardening chores.  We learned techniques to strengthen our “gardening muscles” as well as movement and stretches to recover after a gardening session! 

Eileen Smith is a Registered Dietitian, Personal Trainer and Group Fitness Instructor.  She has a passion for helping people live their healthiest lives and teaches fitness classes at Upland Hills Health in Dodgeville WI.  Eileen and her husband Luther have a buffalo ranch near Jonesdale.  She loves spending time with her 3 adult daughters, friends, and family, traveling and attempting to garden.