This just in! from the City of Batavia’s April 23 Newsletter. I encourage all of our Plain Dirt Gardeners, and their friends, to complete the survey!(Note: you may need to copy and paste the links into a new window)

Fox River Corridor Survey and Plan

In partnership with the City of Batavia, the Batavia Park District has launched a comprehensive planning process for the Batavia Fox River Corridor that is intended to enhance recreational function, river ecology, cultural importance, and stewardship of Batavia’s most valuable natural resources for future generations. The Park District has engaged a consultant team of planning, design, and engineering professionals led by Hitchcock Design Group (HDG), to develop a compelling vision for a 2-mile section of the Fox River from Fabyan Parkway to Carlisle Road, giving special attention to evaluating the function, safety, and use of the Batavia Dam and Depot Pond.

Residents and valued community partners are always a priority when determining the future of the City of Batavia. We are looking for your survey feedback so that we can best plan what changes you would like to see implemented in this ongoing project.

If you would like to learn more about the Batavia Fox River Corridor Planning process, you can view the April 20 Committee of the Whole joint board meeting to observe discussion and a presentation with the Hitchcock Design Group, the Batavia Park District, and the City of Batavia found on the Batavia Access Television YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LflVIEn9x0Q

For more information on the process with the Hitchcock Design Group:

https://www.hitchcockdesigngroup.com/batavia-fox-river-corridor/?fbclid=IwAR1nPFW41UTq83EgRP_HIGFXe5Ox0rSV769cNYNFEgTtOv291JMlJ-vD900

Take the Fox River Corridor Survey:

https://www.hitchcockdesigngroup.com/batavia-fox-river-corridor/survey/?fbclid=IwAR2BzHd7T19Priy6EVCwSxNVmOOC_LeU5ipKbfXcw5vI7Y-Tci8sr6o6wZA

Tables, Wagons and Volunteers Needed

 Tables, Wagons, and More Volunteers

Our Batavia Plain Dirt Gardeners Plant Sale date (May 8, 2021) is fast approaching! Ten days and counting until we are selling all of the beautiful plants that you have donated to the plant sale. Let us know if you need help digging and potting, or if you need more pots for your plants.  

Keep those plant donations happy! We appreciate your generosity in sharing your beautiful plants and are eager to have our customers come to select plants for their own yards. As we get closer to the sale date, check your plants to be sure they have been potted with enough soil and are watered and staying healthy. Take some time to trim away any “straggling” debris, such as exposed root hairs or dried leaves. And please be sure to include an identification stick with each plant.

Tables and wagons are still needed at both locations of the plant sale. If you have either or both, please contact Doris. And if you have not gotten around to volunteering to help with set up or the sale, now is the time to let Doris know. Contact her as soon as possible at olgctrout@gmail.comor call (630) 482-2572. Thanks!!!

 

Hello Gardeners!

The calendar says spring, but we are having a little taste of summer this week. I hope you are able to get out and enjoy it at least a little bit.

Thank you to George and Fister Quarries for donating a truckload of quartz sand for use on our paths, and thank you to Mary and her truck for helping me haul it all to the WFS.

Thanks too, to Terri, Deb, Lindsay and Mary for all of your hard work last Friday, and to Kay, Dida and Jo for all of your work in between clean-up days. Please let me know if I left anyone out!

Our next work day will be on Friday, April 30 starting at 9:00. We will be moving over to the savannah area that is surrounded by the boardwalk to do some weeding and dead-heading. If you have them, please bring gardening gloves, clippers, weed diggers, drinking water, eye protection, and something to haul clippings in. If you cannot make it on Friday, but would like to help, we could use some dead-heading in the little prairie.

The photos below are of Deb and Lindsay putting in a new stepping stone path and the latest flower to open up at the WFS: woodland phlox (Phlox divaricata). Take a stroll along the Riverwalk to see if you can find them (both the path and the phlox).

Hope to see you Friday!

Sarah

Help Needed for the Plant Sale

Thanks to those who have already let Doris know you can help with the plant sale.  We need additional volunteers and Doris needs to know which house you would like to work at so she can be sure we have the coverage needed.  

The dates are set-up (Friday, May 7 afternoon) and the plant sale (Saturday, May 8 8:30 to noon) at both locations.  

If you have not already done so, please send Doris an email or give her a phone call. 

Doris phone: (630) 482-2572 and email: olgctrout@gmail.com

Thank you so much to Terri, Mary, Robbin, Deb, Jo, Amy and Wally for all of your hard work yesterday! The woods and sidewalk are looking a lot better.

I also want to Welcome Amy and Wally! We are glad you have joined our project, and appreciate some youthful energy.

Our battle against fig buttercups continues, and it sounds like we need to start earlier next year. Click here for more info: https://www.lfwa.org/updates/tips-controlling-lesser-celandine?rq=lesser%20celandine

We are expecting! See below for a photo of mama. They have chosen the perfect location for a nest because it is outside of the boardwalk railing near the gazebo, babies and passers-by will both be safe that way. The next photo is of False Rue Anemone (Enemion biternatum). This one is at the WFS, but there are some beautiful clumps of it along the Fox River Trail west of the river and south of Batavia. You can tell it from Rue Anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides) because Rue Anemone has 6 petals and the leaves are single and shaped like a duck's foot. False Rue Anemone has 5 petals and compound leaves. Full disclosure: that is a photo from the internet. I don't know of any Rue Anemone blooming around here.

Our next work day will be Friday, April 23 starting at 9:00. We will be spreading quartz sand between the rocks on the stepping stone paths, pulling fig buttercups and dead-heading near the dam and in the savannah surrounded by the boardwalk. If you have them, please bring gardening gloves, drinking water, eye protection, weed diggers, clippers, a bucket for toting and/or a broom. We will still need masks when close together, but not when spread out to work.

Hope to see you then!

Sarah Kimber

Wildflower Sanctuary Work Day Saturday!

 Hi All,

This is just a friendly reminder that we will be having a clean-up day on Saturday (April 17) starting at 9:00 am.  We will be meeting on the wooded (east) side of the Riverwalk to dead-head last year's perennials and pull fig buttercups/lesser celandine (Ficaria verna)  Fun fact: the "fig" in fig buttercup refers to the shape of the roots.   

If you have them, please bring gardening gloves, clippers, weed diggers, drinking water, eye protection, kneeling pad and a bucket to tote weeds and/or clippings. We will wear masks when close together, but can take them off when we are spread out to work.

Also,

We will be hosting walks through the WFS for the general public on May 22 at 9:00 and 1:00. Please let me know if you would be willing to help.

Thanks so much!

Sarah   

Plant Sale Volunteers Needed and Sticks for your pots!

 April 15, 2021

 

We are just three weeks away from our May 8, 2021 plant sale! Hopefully, you have had a chance to look around your yard and are finding some plants that you can donate to the sale. 

If you are ready to use some identification sticks for your plant donations, let me know. Thanks to Bonnie and Jim, I have some sticks ready for your use now. 

We are in need of more volunteers to help with set-up (Friday, May 7) and the plant sale (Saturday, May 8) at both locations. Many thanks to all who have already let me know you can help. If you are available to help and have not already contacted me, please send an email or give me a phone call me. Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you! 

Doris phone: (630) 482-2572 and email: olgctrout@gmail.com

Batavia Plain Dirt Gardeners April 20 Meeting

 Join us for the 6:45 April 20 BPDG meeting on Zoom.  We will have a short business meeting to discuss final plans for the plant sale (coming May 7 set up and May 8 sales at Linda’s and Nancy’s), get a quick update on the Garden Walk planning, and enjoy a presentation by Linda Sonner and Lorayne Hrejsa.  Their presentation will focus on the effects of climate change that are evident worldwide, including in our gardens.  The reality of climate change will be explained as well as what we as gardeners can do to address the challenge and lessen our carbon footprint with good gardening practices.

Time: Apr 20, 2021 06:45 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting using this internet link any time after 6:30 pm on 4/20/21.  Meeting starts at 6:45 pm.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84207529730?pwd=MDZIRGczeFc3L0VsRFB4aitGazNyUT09

If prompted, here is the meeting ID and password:
Meeting ID: 842 0752 9730
Passcode: 474701

Or, if you do not want to join by computer, you can listen to the meeting by phone

       +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

If prompted, here is the meeting ID and password:
Meeting ID: 842 0752 9730
Passcode: 474701

  

For more information contact Diana Sharp (630) 879-7578

Sent from my iPad

Wildflower Sanctuary Update - April 10 Clean-Up Day Planned

 Hello Gardeners!

Our weather has been gorgeous lately, so take a stroll around the Riverwalk and see if you can find Cutleaf Toothwort (Dentaria laciniata), Spring Beauties (Claytonia virginica) and Dutchman's Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria).

Thank you so much to Nancy and Terri for all of your help last week! 

Our next clean-up day will be on Saturday, April 10th starting at 9:00 am. We will be meeting on the east (wooded) side to work on dead-heading and pulling weeds, especially fig buttercups/lesser celandine (Ranunculus ficaria).  If you have them, bring gardening gloves, clippers, weed diggers, knee pads, eye protection and something to haul the clippings in.  Please do not come if it is raining.

Hope to see you then!

Plant Sale Information and Call for Volunteers

 Batavia Plain Dirt Gardeners, we are getting ready for our 2021 Plant Sale, to be held in two locations, one on the east side of Batavia, and one on the west side of Batavia. Our plant sale will be on Saturday, May 8 from 9:00 AM - noon, and set up will be on Friday, May 7.  Please let Doris know when you are available to help and at which location you will be helping. Give her a call at (630) 482-2572 or send an email to olgctrout@gmail.com

Our two locations are: 

East Side: 1168 Pine Street, Batavia — Linda Sonner’s home

West Side: 415 Maple Lane, Batavia - Nancy Hollmeier’s home

Of course, we are hoping you have some plants to donate to our sale. Now is the time to check your garden to see what you might be able to donate. As always, please pot your donations with enough soil and keep them watered so they are in good shape for the sale. Include plant identification sticks in your pots so our customers know what they are buying. 

Remember, we are looking for a variety of plants, so please limit donations to no more than 10 plants of any one variety. If you are in need of pots for your donations, several of our members have them available. You may contact Diana Sharp (630) 879-7578 for empty potsand she will let you know where you can get them.

A few more things about the plant sale…
Do you need help digging and potting your plants?
Do you need help getting your plants to the sale locations?
Do you have wagons that we can use to help our customers get their plants to their vehicles?
If your answer to any of these questions is YES, please contact Doris at (630) 482-2572 or send an email to olgctrout@gmail.com

We need your plants.....

 Have you noticed all the great things already popping up in your garden?  Will you have a few extras that need a new home?  It is time to start thinking about what you will donate to the Batavia Plain Dirt Gardeners’ plant sale.  We are looking for donations of sun and shade perennials, ferns, hosta, iris, small shrubs and small trees, ground covers, bulbs, and especially native plants.  We look forward to your donations arriving on Friday, May 7 at one or both of the two houses where we are holding the sale and we hope you will volunteer to help with the sale on May 8.  Please mark your calendars and get your trowels ready.  If you need pots, contact Diana Sharp (630) 879-7578.