March 2023 meeting: Jennifer Filipiak , Exec Dir of the Driftless Area Land Conservancy

 

Jennifer Filipiak, Executive Director of the Driftless Area Land Conservancy (DALC), spoke with us about the work the DALC works on in the driftless area. They have three focus areas which are land protection, land care, and land connection. 8000 acres have been protected with their help so far. This is done through conservation easements and their Ambassador lands. 

Easements allow the landowners to keep the land in private ownership, but protects the land from being developed in the future. Ambassador lands are lands DALC own and are open to the public to enjoy. Check out their Ambassador lands, all of them are within an hour drive! Land care and protection are done with work parties on their Ambassador lands and educational programs. 

 To find out more, visit their website at https://www.driftlessconservancy.org/.

Jennifer Filipiak to speak at Uplands Garden Club

 

February 2023 Meeting: Curt Meine on "Aldo Leopold's Connections to the Driftless Area"

Curt Meine with UGC program chair Nancy Frost

Curt Meine was the speaker at the Garden Club's February meeting.

Curt is a conservation biologist, environmental historian, and writer who lives near Spring Green. Curt is a Senior Fellow withthe Aldo Leopold Foundation in Baraboo. 

In his talk, Curt explored renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold’s connections to the Driftless Area, and the lessons his experience holds for conservation in our time. He emphasized that we have it within ourselves to be mindful stewards of the land and that we do not own it in the sense that others will become stewards in turn. Curt outlined 10 lessons learned from Leopold's life. Perhaps we can think of examples of lessons learned and see how they can be applied to what and how we choose to engage in the garden club.

Curt Meine to speak at the Uplands February Meeting

 Join us for our February meeting:

November 2022 Meeting: Dr. Steve Carpenter, "Resilient Thinking in the Driftless Area"

Our first inside, in person, garden club meeting since March 2021 took place on November 2 at the Iowa County Law Enforcement Center in Dodgeville. Dr. Steve Carpenter's topic was "Resilient Thinking in the Driftless Area."

Dr. Steve Carpenter, is a professor of limnology at UW-Madison. Limnology is the science of the biological, chemical, physical and geological characteristics of inland water. Dr. Carpenter also has a Masters Degree in Botany and PHD in Oceanography.

Dr. Carpenter holds the Driftless Area near and dear to his heart as he and his wife, Dr. Susan Carpenter, have a Grant County property where they are implementing the principles of resilience and working to improve the ability of their property to recover from some difficult conditions.

A standing-room only group was captivated by his talk and graphics taking us back in time as we learned more about the history of our area, its present status and hope for an adapting future. We also learned how we can make sustainable changes to promote a resilient environment.

Trip to Olbrich Gardens for the Gleam Exhibit

For our October meeting, the Garden Club visited the Gleam exhibit at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison featuring large scale light installations created by local, regional and international designers. 

It was chilly and we had to dress warmly but luckily the rain held off and the exhibit was well worth the effort. We enjoyed a lovely walk through the creatively lighted gardens and conservatory. We had fun interacting with the lights and making the colors change.

 
Thanks to Mary Mayo and Nina for organizing and to Roger for driving the bus.

September 2022 Meeting: Garden Visit

We again had great weather for our September meeting – a visit to club member Connie Tibbits’ gardens. We toured her landscape to see both her flower gardens and vegetable gardens (Connie even welcomed members to help themselves to her abundance of cukes!). 

Dahlias of all shapes and color were in full bloom in Connie’s gardens. Although dahlias can be grown from seed, buying tubers is quicker. The plants need to be dug and stored over winter. They can be divided in fall or spring. Each division needs to have a "neck, body and eye." 

After the tour Connie explained how she uses plants for bouquets. Foliage is the basis of an arrangement, including ferns, hosta, rose canes and even what we consider weeds from fence lines. She cut flowers with a long stems and strips all leaves off their stems so the bouquet will last longer. She also advised using only 3 colors in an arrangement to increase the impact of the flowers. 

We always enjoy touring a member's gardens - thanks, Connie, for a very enjoyable meeting and evening.