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Friends of the Garden

You are invited to
The Friends of the Garden
3rd Annual Bluegrass & Blossoms

An event to be held at Close Memorial Park 2400 South Scenic just South of Nathanael Greene Park on Saturday July 19th from 2 to 5 P.M.

The performance area will be located near Drummond Lake so attendees are being asked to bring their own lawn chairs. Two different bluegrass bands will be featured during this free event. "Missouri Mountain Gang" with Larry Mayfield (traditional and contemporary bluegrass); and "Reel Greene" (traditional Irish and American music). The Bluegrass and Blossoms event is a fantastic opportunity to hear great bluegrass and traditional music and explore the gardens in their prime. Guided tours of the beautiful gardens in the park will also be provided during the afternoon.

This is a special awareness raising event sponsored by the Friends of the Garden, Inc., which is leading a fundraising effort to raise funds toward the construction of a Botanical Center at Close and Nathanael Greene Park. Members of the not-for-profit, Friends of the Garden in conjunction with the University of Missouri Extension are working hard to raise the final $475,000 needed toward the construction of this $4.3 million dollar building.

Susan Boswell, a master gardener and chair of the Friends of the Garden development committee has issued a special invitation to come out and see these beautiful gardens and see the new building plans that we will have on display. When the 12,700 square foot Botanical Center is completed in 2010, the office space will be shared by the University of Missouri Extension, Master Gardeners of Greene County, Friends of the Garden, and Springfield-Greene County Park Board. The Botanical Center will include space for educational classes and garden shows.
Jodie Adams, director of the Springfield-Greene County Park Board said " The Park Board staff members are excited to continue their partnership with Friends of the Garden on this particular event. We know the Botanical Center, when it is completed, will become a major regional destination for everyone, residents and visitors alike,"
For more information contact Susan Boswell at 417-860-1285 or the Greene County Extension Center at 417-862-9284.
Contributions to the Botanical Center are Tax Deductible. Make checks payable to the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, designated to the Springfield Greene County Botanical Center Fund. Receipt of all funds will be acknowledged. Please mail Contributions to Community Foundation of the Ozarks. 425 E. Trafficway Springfield, MO. 65806 417-864-6199

The Botanical Center & You

is a publication that Susan Boswell and her excellent team have put together. The booklet gives the history of where we've been, where we are now and where we are going with the new Botanical Center.

This is just the beginning of the final drive to raise the remaining funds to complete the Botanical Center. We need your assistance in order to meet our objective as soon as possible so construction can start on time in 2009. In addition to talking to people within your sphere of influence please forward the booklet to all of your contacts so they might have a chance to read the story of the Botanical Center and how important it will be to our community. The booklet is a tool to assist with providing information. Should you have any suggestions, need additional information or assistance please feel free to call on Susan Boswell or your officers Bob Kipfer, George Deatz, or Bob Childress.

The Booklet is available as a PDF file
click The Botanical Center & You for download.

The website www.ozarksgardens.com also has a wealth of information about Close Memorial Park with pictures of most the gardens from construction to completion. The websites author, Frank Shipe has also written and published articles in the Springfield Business Journal, Community Free Press and other publications.

For more information or to relay information on possible donors to the Botanical Center fund contact Susan Boswell at 417- 860-1285 and remember a contribution made to the Community Foundation of the Ozarks is tax deductible.

Garden Notables

Today would be a wonderful day to take in the gardens at Close Memorial Park. The Lily Garden filled with both Asiatic and Oriental lilies are blooming beautifully. You can enjoy not only the exquisite beauty of the lilies but also the Orientals blossoms wonderful fragrance that will delight garden visitors. The garden was constructed as a joint venture with the Ozarks Regional Lily Society. Asiatic lilies typically bloom the month of June and Oriental lilies bloom the month of July with a short period of overlap. Take advantage of the opportunity and visit today!
Just to the South of the Lily Garden is a Daylily (hemerocallis) Garden. A walk through this garden will introduce you to more than 800 varieties and over 3000 plants many of which are in bloom now. This garden is a cooperative effort between the Friends of the Garden and the Ozark Daylily Society. While the garden is young it is progressing nicely and will surely reward you with some beautiful blossoms for the next four to six weeks. There is a gazebo on the east edge of the garden backed by a newly planted arborvitae hedge. Stop, sit, and relax for a few minutes. Enjoy the view and listen to nature you will be glad you did.
On the path from the parking lot you will encounter the Hosta Garden built and maintained by the Greater Ozarks Hosta Society, The White Garden, a garden filled with all white flowers, The English Cottage Garden, designed and installed by Peter Longley filled with flowers, trees, and shrubs in a style reminiscent of the European Castle Gardens. An Ornamental Grass Garden is overflowing with hundreds of varieties of ornamental grasses, perennial and annual flowers. You can travel the nation and not find a garden as well appointed and displayed with grasses as this garden designed by Dr. Bill Roston.
The newest Garden to be installed and still under construction is the Flowering Shrub Garden. In the fall of 2007 a new asphalt path was built leading from the walkway just north of the White Garden to the North edge of the vista. This path will connect to pathways leading from the new Botanical Center building upon its completion. Along this new pathway are new gardens being filled with flowering shrubs. The Viburnum section has been completed with 54 varieties of flowering viburnums. They are being labeled and that task should be completed in the next month. Along with the viburnums there are 97 other flowering shrubs planted and many more to come. These gardens may be immature now but will soon grow to flowering size. There will be something blooming throughout the growing season and many of the shrubs planted are attractive to bird populations both as a food source and nesting sights. In years to come you can travel this path and see shrubs that you might consider for your own landscaping purposes. One of the goals of the Friends of the Garden is to provide both recreational and educational gardens for the publics enjoyment. Plant material will be labeled for easy identification. Not only will there be beauty but it will become an outdoor classroom for young and old alike.
The Friends of the Garden would like to emphasize that you may also purchase a brick for the Memorial Walk in the English White Garden. These bricks can be inscribed to create a lasting memorial. Funds can be donated for Memorial Trees or to help finance a Memorial Garden to someone you choose. Please contact our Garden Chairman, Bob Childress at 417-838-9454

Ozarks Community Technical College Students Give Back!
The Landscape and Turf Management students at Ozarks Community Technical College use Close Memorial Park as an outside classroom. There is nowhere else in the Ozarks that students can learn to identify such a large variety of plant material in one place. Instructor John McKenzie leads field trips weekly incorporating the visual in the park along with the textbook to give students a well rounded course on woody shrubs and trees. The students after a few trips to the park have become fascinated with their experiences there and wanted to give back and participate in the parks design and maintenance.
The students are members of an organization affiliated with PLANET, the Professional Landcare Network, which is an international association serving lawn care professionals, landscape management contractors, design/build/installation professionals, and interior plantscapers. They as a group offered to provide their services as an opportunity to give back to the community. This spring a group met with FOG members to plant several flats of flowers in the West portion of the Hosta Garden. We salute their service and hope to maintain an ongoing relationship with their group.
The Friends of the Garden in a cooperative effort with the Ozark Community Technical College Construction Technology Department asked the students to design and build an eight by twelve storage shed to be used at the park for equipment storage. The building was built for the cost of materials and was placed east of the gazebo in the Daylily Garden. It provides a secure place to store hand tools used by FOG volunteer maintenance workers.
The Friends of the Garden will continue to utilize avenues of community support to enhance the park, the gardens, and to increase the cooperation among the many organizations that have built and maintain specific gardens in the park. We are always looking for more volunteer help. If you would like to come share your expertise or would just like to learn about or develop skills in a particular garden please contact our Garden Chairman, Bob Childress at 417-838-9454. If you have special skills in fund raising, photography, writing and editing, or anything garden related and would like to share those skills contact George Deatz at 417-840-5472.
Special Thanks
The Friends of the Garden Board of Directors would like to recognize our Treasurer, Paula Melton, Certified Public Accountant with Roberts, McKenzie, Mangan & Cummings P.C. for her dedication and superior service to this organization. Under her direction the Friends of the Garden financial bookkeeping and statements have been handled in a manner which complies with Federal Government standards for a 501 C-3 organization. We as an organization benefit greatly from her timely submission of documents to the proper agencies.