Fun rules at garden club meeting

Lots of groups make this a better place to live. But three clubs, all


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Photo by NICK MANNING/Special to the Herald


Lisa Cobb models her recycled outfit that features a grass skirt decorated with soda cans at the Southwest District of the Federated Women’s Clubs of Colorado annual meeting held Wednesday at Christ the King Lutheran Church. Cobb is a member of the Durango High Country Gardeners.


members of the Federated Garden Clubs of Colorado, make it a more beautiful place to live.


Click image to enlarge

Photo by NICK MANNING/Special to the Herald


Lisa Cobb models her recycled outfit that features a grass skirt decorated with soda cans at the Southwest District of the Federated Women’s Clubs of Colorado annual meeting held Wednesday at Christ the King Lutheran Church. Cobb is a member of the Durango High Country Gardeners.



The Durango High Country Gardeners hosted the Animas Valley Garden Club and the Garden Club of Durango at the annual meeting of the Southwest District of the Federated Women's Clubs of Colorado on Wednesday at Christ the King Lutheran Church.

The hostesses had decorated the room with centerpieces featuring the best of spring flowers such as tulips, daffodils and hyacinths. They also created a number of delicious salads. No one went home without a taste, or two, or three, of the yummy desserts.

Nancy Andrews, one of four master gardeners who are members of the host club, is, in her work incarnation, the recycling guru for the city of Durango. She inspired her fellow club members to create a small fashion show using almost all recycled materials. The women set it to "Dancing Queen" and she narrated with humor and grace.

DHCG President Heidi Ochsner Mugler sported an outfit that's black and white and read all over - The Durango Herald as a skirt and bib using color pages and the comics.

Jan Bowler converted a couple of white Wal-Mart bags into a tank top and paired it with a skirt made of colorful pages from a seed catalogue. Georgeann Reitz enjoyed modeling the outfit created by fellow member Sherry Johnson that used crushed glass mulch from the Durango Recycling Center to create designs.

Lisa Cobb got her Hawaiian on in a grass skirt embellished with myriad soda cans. Cheryl Hobby was a bag lady, sporting reusable shopping bags to remind everyone that "Plastic or paper?" should be replaced by "Thank you for bringing your own bags."

All three garden clubs presented their annual reports. Helen Winfrey, the president of the GCD, reported on the group's project of the last 10 years, the gardens at Santa Rita Park. Members finally had completed the original design when the Colorado Department of Transportation began its redo of the highway corridor through Bodo Park. A water main was accidentally hit during construction, and the garden sustained a lot of damage.

The club will hold its annual plant sale to help raise money for repairs beginning first thing in the morning May 9 at Christ the King. The plants they sell thrive at our altitude.

DHCGs are gearing up to plant at least one garden on the grounds of the Discovery Museum at the Powerhouse and a butterfly garden at the Columbine Christian School. They have learned a lot from programs presented by Marilee White and Rick Plese of Cliffrose High Desert Gardens.

President Jenn Wheeling of the Animas Valley Garden Club, which was founded 52 years ago, said her club has beautified the fence line by the Animas Valley Grange with copper rose trees and is buying a gate for the gardens at Animas Valley Elementary School.

Colorado President Marge Koerner was on hand to hear the reports, install new officers for the district and update the attendees on what's happening in the state.

b b bLetting the wind blow out their birthday candles and making a wish that it would stop are Katy Freiberger, Joe Wade Plunk, Jan Postler, Steve Parker, Larry Day, Laura Lewis Marchino, Evan Krispin, Shirley Gale, Dolores Jaye, Ryan Smith, Deon Mertz, Nick Skahill, Collin Jackson, Frank Anesi, Kim Buffalo, Phyllis Tucker, Jerry Hanes, Travis VonTersch, James McKenzie, Amelia Best, Charles McMillan, Elnora Wells, Jamie Nelson, Cora Landgren and Darlene Cheesewright.

b b b"Food is a weapon. Don't waste it."

That is a quote from a poster encouraging Victory Gardens during World War II. Another poster said, "Sow the Seeds of Victory."

Darrin Parmenter, the La Plata County extension agent, kicked off a fascinating program at the Southwest District of the Colorado Federated Clubs on Wednesday with those posters.

Victory (or vegetable) Gardens are making a comeback, he said, probably because of the economy and/or the local-food movement. In the last six weeks, he's averaging 15 to 20 calls a week from people who are starting vegetable gardens for the first time. Local seed merchants have had to reorder for the first time in a long time.

During WWII, Americans grew about 40 percent of our own produce. The percentage now? Around 5 percent. Study after study shows homegrown produce is more delicious and usually eaten while its nutrients are at their peak. And in a world where energy is something to be conserved, local veggies are an investment in our future.

Gardening in our area, with its microclimates and short growing season, does require some knowledge, and Parmenter and area nursery owners are the place to go for information. Other challenges include wildlife, the altitude and climate, limited water resources and the time and physical labor required to be a gardener.

A dedicated gardener starts the year in January and February with seed catalogues, planning the year's garden. (Parmenter said the catalogues are "gardeners' porn.")Old-timers say one shouldn't plant anything until the snow is off Smelter Mountain. And while that is one harbinger of spring, the best way to decide is by using soil temperatures.

I'm one of those folks with a black thumb, but as my friend Barbara Conrad once said, those who create need an audience to appreciate. And I do love a garden promising a bountiful harvest or one full of blooms.

So here's to tomatoes fresh off the vine, lettuce that goes from garden to table in a flash and crisp snap beans.

b b bMany have said a society should be judged by how it takes care of its most fragile members: children, the elderly and those with special needs.

Members of the Durango Police Department and other individuals gathered at Old Tymer's Café on Tuesday for a delicious meal and spirited bidding on a wide variety of items to benefit Special Olympics.

The event was created by DPD Officer Trish Hutchens in response to a dare from Capt. Jim Spratlen as to who could raise the most money for the cause. Spratlen was selling Special Olympics T-shirts for his fundraiser, and had to surrender to Hutchens' highly successful event, which brought in $10,000 this year alone.

He is a gracious loser. Spratlen, more than anyone, got into the spirit of the evening by anteing up some big bucks for items in the auction.

Chef Steve Gould and the crew at the restaurant served calamari with roasted tomato salsa, bacon-wrapped scallops and chicken satay with peanut sauce for appetizers and pork tenderloin with gorgonzola sauce. A luscious cheesecake completed the repast.

There were two guests of honor. Nate Nugent, whose family summers in Durango and winters in St. George, Utah, made a trip over with his father for the event. He is the only Olympic gold medalist I have ever met. Nugent won his gold in the Nagano, Japan, Special Olympics as a member of the 4 by 100 snowshoe relay team. Nugent got a well-deserved standing ovation, and he and his dad donated a round of golf at Dalton Ranch, where Nugent will drive the cart.

T.J. Trump brought his own fan club. Trump, who participates in basketball, volleyball, softball, swimming, golf and snowshoeing, has made a lot of friends since he and his family - Tina and Jim Trump - moved to Durango 11 years ago.

Those friends attend this event every year, with many of them donating items and others briskly bidding. T.J. had his own bidding number and won the bottle of Don Julio tequila from 1942 that came out of Stan Crapo's personal collection. T.J. is underage, so his parents will hold a sip or two in trust for him for his 21st birthday.

This event reminds me how proud I am of Durango and its residents. No matter how tough times are, we all pull together, especially for such a great cause.

b b bMay is a bonanza for anniversaries and here are the first folks to be wished the best - Bill and Jan Postler, Clark and Caroline Kinser, Roy and LaBerta McLaughlin, Scott and Trish Sohlé, Andy and Cyd Peterson, Joe and Daphne D'Agostino, Don and Ann Briscoe, Joe and Dianne Milarch and Kevin Jones and Donna Suggs.

b b bFor information about upcoming events and fundraisers, check Local Briefs.