March 2019 Meeting: Woody Evergreens for the Perennial Garden

Steve Lesch owns Landscape Designs, a landscape design company and nursery near McFarland WI. He provides spring nursery tours in which he introduces visitors to the new or unusual, with special emphasis on trees and shrubs that are suitable for our area. His website has a wide variety of How To guides as well as a nursery inventory.

Steve has designed some impressive private gardens, is a worldwide traveler and was one of the original organizers of the Garden Expo. 

Steve is an entertaining speaker who shared his wealth of knowledge on a wide variety of conifers. 

This was a great program for anyone interested in adding year around interest to their landscape.

An extra treat at the meeting was a "silent auction" for a wonderful cold frame that was hand made and donated by club member Everett Lindsey. Thank you to Everett!

February 2019 Meeting: Greater Sandhill Cranes with Stan Temple

What Have We Done to Deserve All These Cranes?

For the first Uplands Garden Club meeting of 2019, Stan Temple, Professor Emeritus in Conservation, UW-Madison, once again accepted an invitation to speak to our group, this time on the ever-growing numbers of Greater Sandhill Cranes. His presentation gave a fascinating history of how these birds have staged a comeback after coming close to extinction  Stan reviewed their remarkable recovery, described their migratory behavior and discussed some recent controversies such as crane hunting.

Stan had presented at a previous garden club meeting on Phenology and the Passenger Pigeon. As Senior Fellow at the Aldo Leopold Foundation, Stan and the topic of Sand Hill Cranes came highly recommended by Garden Club members Bill and Jayne Wisler who had the pleasure of participating in an event last Fall in which Stan spoke on cranes at the Aldo Leopold Foundation site in Baraboo Wisconsin. He guided the group on a trail walk and explored the Shack. An inspiring speaker, perhaps some of us will want to learn more and partake in this event at the Aldo Leopold Foundation next fall.

December 2018 Meeting: Annual Holiday Potluck

Our December meeting was the annual potluck Holiday Party at Stonefield Manor. Tables were decked out with beautiful poinsettias. The club provided two meats, punch, decaf coffee, and tableware, while club members brought their favorite holiday dish to share and a beverage if desired (guests welcome). A donation of checks to the Iowa County Food Pantry was collected as well.

Thanks to Glen Ridnour for once again organizing the party.

Happy holidays to all and best wishes for the new year!

November 2018 Meeting: Megan Cain - How to Extend the Gardening Season

Megan Cain, The Creative Vegetable Gardener, is a garden educator, writer and speaker. She developed one of the first youth gardening programs in Madison, has designed and installed gardens in many homeowners’ yards, managed a 1/4 acre youth farm, worked on CSA farms, created a series of gardening classes that often have waiting lists, and tends to a large home garden.  Megan says: “I know what works and what doesn’t…and I love to share it”.












At our November meeting Megan shared her insights on:

"Harvesting Fresh Veggies in the Snow: How to Extend the Gardening Season".



If you want to continue harvesting from your garden through the first frost and serve produce from your yard for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, August is the month to take action! Megan explained the best planting dates for fall vegetables, which varieties are best for cold weather, how to use simple season extension techniques like row cover, cold frames, and low tunnels, and how you can harvest from your garden all year round, even in Wisconsin!

And...for anyone who missed out on the club's 1st Bulb Sale, there were extra bulbs available for purchase!

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!