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Green Valley Gardeners A Service Club Made Up of Gardeners

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE – Chuck Parsons Our club has three sources of income. These include membership dues, the Spring Garden Tour ticket sales and the plant sales. The income pie-chart at the right shows the ratio these represent. I think it is obvious from the diagram that we rely heavily upon both our garden tour and our plant sales. Both require many volunteers for success. We will be starting sign-ups for the spring plant sale.

The second pie-chart shows our 2013 budget as approved by the board in January. The Community Garden is receiving more funds this year for an expansion that is to include raised beds. I am excited about the activities and projects we have funded for 2013. You will be getting regular updates in Sand ‘n’ Seeds. If you have questions or

comments, please ask one of your board members.

SAND ‘N’ SEEDS February 2013

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SPRING PLANT SALE – Chuck Parsons

The Spring Plant Sale will take place March 7, 8 and 9th from 9 am to 5 pm on the sidewalk in front of Wells Fargo Financial and Coldwell Banker in the Continental Shopping Plaza. Sign-up sheets will be available at the seminars in February. Also Chuck Parsons will be sending an email to those that indicated an interest in working the sale on your membership application. In addition to 2 hour shifts for the sale, we will be asking for volunteers to help prepare the plants for the sale on Wednesday afternoon, March 6th.

SPRING FAIR – Chuck Parsons

The Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society is planning to join us in a repeat of the event we did last year. We will invite a variety of vendors to sell plants, pots, and garden art. In addition there will be 4 seminars—two in the morning and two in the afternoon. This event is held in the Courtyard and 2nd floor meeting room at the Continental Shopping Plaza. It will be held Sunday, March 24th from 9 am to 3 pm. More information will be made available in the next issue of Sand ‘n’ Seeds. Please make a note on your calendar.

GARDEN TOUR – Co-Chairs, Peggy Cederstrom

and Kathy Haught

The Green Valley Gardeners' 33rd annual Garden Tour will be held on Saturday, April 6. Five gardens have been identified and the homeowners are excited to be on the Tour. All gardens will be south of Continental and relatively close to one another, which will make visiting the gardens easy for guests. Peggy Cederstrom and Kathy Haught are co-chairs of this year's tour. The core Garden Tour Committee met to outline activities and

deadlines. However, we still need volunteers to host gardens and volunteers to be day-of-tour greeters and/or sell tickets at the booth at Desert Hills GVR. If you are interested in participating, please

contact Kathy Haught at khaught@cox.net or 393-0379.

CANOA RANCH – Jack Davis

As part of Phase 1 of the project, planting of the kitchen and cactus gardens for the Sr. Manning house was completed before Christmas. Until a permanent drip irrigation system can be installed, volunteers have been watering by hand. During the recent freezes only a few plants were lost. Green Valley Gardeners leaders reviewed possible future projects with Robert Vaughn, Canoa Ranch Project Manager for Pima County. Projects being considered include rose plantings and a new site for a 35'x57' community garden adjacent to the Grijalva house. Whether or not to move forward with these projects will become a decision of the GVG Board. We urgently need help in designing a public accessible garden for the Jr. Manning house. Plans call for 30'x30' of Spanish mixed plantings kitchen garden with paths and some seating on the west side of the house. If you would like to help design, contact Jack

Davis at jlaytond@mtdig.net or phone 520-393-8700.

The good news is that dedication of the Canoa Ranch-Raul M. Grijalva Conservation Park has been rescheduled to March 2. Public tours will be offered on Tuesdays and Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. and 12 noon beginning on March 5. If you are interested in docent training or

signing up for a tour, call 520-877-6004 or access www.pima.gov/nrpr/parks/canoa .

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ARID GARDEN UPDATE – Mary Kidnocker The three nights of sub-freezing temperatures caused a bit of damage in the garden, some expected and some surprising. Other than cactus with their Styrofoam caps, the only plants protected were the six new African daisies (actually annuals) and they survived. What were blooming aloes are slowly turning to gelatin, but will endure. For surprises, only the centers of the Octopus and Variegated Americana Agaves were undamaged. The Mesquites, Acacias, Texas Olive and Ebony trees have dropped all their leaves (what a mess!). Thanks to Byron Hinton's super blower, neighbor Fran King's electricity, and astute raking by Larry Prall and Jeanette Hinton, approximately 236 cubic feet of tree litter was gathered on February 1! The new Sensory Garden Raised Bed has been laid out and construction has begun. The interlocking Yukon blocks are being put in place by Carl Conney and Russ Symes, and should be ready for planting by mid-March. If you have a favorite scented or textured plant that you suggest, let us hear from you. Garden visitor numbers have continued to increase. Many new residents stop by to identify the plants they now have, learn more about their new garden challenges, and currently to ask if their cold-damaged plants will survive. All of our volunteers are helpful and enjoy talking with these new desert gardeners.

OGDEN COMMUNITY GARDEN – George Stone

2013 is starting out right on plan. The Ogdeners are grateful to the Board for approving our three-phase plan, which will maximize the use of the newly annexed garden space. Phase 1 has a target completion date of March 1, 2013. The principal new feature to the garden is the introduction of the extension of the garden on the south side. We will build raised beds, which will be an attractive addition for gardeners who are not able to work a ground-level garden. As of this date, we’ve cleared the land and installed two gates. We plan to install the irrigation lines in mid-February. The gardeners are harvesting their winter crops. Crops that were covered during the January freezes managed to survive. We’re managing our irrigation by turning off the water during the freezing weather. Many of us have planted onions and are getting ready to prepare our plots for the spring.

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS

Jim Barnes Roger & Janice Boe Kathy Broussard Mike Cox Bernie & Vicki Ferringer Kathy Fox Nina Hansen Julie Rupert & Jerry Meigs Royden & Yolanda Reed Brenda Sawchuk Alma Sychuk

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SAND ‘N’ SEEDS PRINT EDITION IN B/W

While the board was developing the 2013 budget, we discovered that the membership dues no longer covered the actual cost of mailing a hardcopy of Sand ‘n’ Seeds, let alone the other mailings each year for ballots, membership renewal, etc. We have decided beginning this issue to use B&W to contain cost. The electronic version includes fuller coverage of events and is in color. If you receive a hardcopy in the mail but are

able to receive an email version, let us know and we will email you the electronic version of Sand ‘n’ Seeds and take your name off the hardcopy list.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR o February 7 Seminar Cactus and care, especially

if you are gone for the summer Mark Sitter from B&B Cactus at Desert Hills from 9:30 – 10:30 am (Free)

o February 12 Luxury Coach Tour to Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix from 8:30 am – 5:30 pm ($93/person) Contact Mary Kidnocker

o February 14 Seminar Effective Low Water Irrigation for Desert Landscapes Moises Ramos from True Value Manager at Desert Hills from 9:30 – 10:30 am (Free)

o February 21 Seminar University of Arizona Arboretum Tanya Quist Director, U of A Arboretum at West Center from 9:30 – 10:30 am (Free)

o February 28 Seminar Native Grasses Jim Verrier from Desert Survivors at Desert Hills from 9:30 – 10:30 am (Free)

o March 7 - 9 Spring Plant Sale at Continental Mall from 9 am to 5 pm

o March 7 Seminar Discussion of GV Gardeners Plant Sale Items & Care Civano Nursery at Desert Hills from 9:30 – 10:30 am (Free)

o March 14 Seminar Evolution of the FICO Orchards Roger Hooper Pecan Orchard Manager at Desert Hills from 9:30 – 10:30 am (Free)

o March 21 U of A Arboretum Member Tour Tanya Quist Director, U of A Arboretum (No Seminar) Details to come.

o March 24 Gardeners' Spring Fair with Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society featuring demonstrations, lectures, and garden-related sales at The Courtyard at Continental Mall (Free)

o March 28 Seminar Butterflies Pricilla Brodkin author of Butterflies of Arizona at Desert Hills from 9:30 – 10:30 am (Free) Book sales/signing at 10:45 in the Arid Garden

o April 4 Seminar Soil Mixtures Kevin Callaghan from El Toro/Triple A Landscape Materials at Desert Hills from 9:30 – 10:30 am (Free)

o April 6 Spring Garden Tour Self-guided tour showcasing 5 gardens in the Green Valley area ($8/member, $10/non-member)

o April 11 Seminar Sky Islands & Madera Canyon Sarah Williams from Sky Island Alliance of Tucson at Desert Hills from 9:30 – 10:30 am (Free)

o April 18 Members Event Carpool to Patagonia, Ariz. with visits at Paton’s Hummingbird Haven and Native Seeds/SEARCH Farm (Details to come)

o May 5 Sunday in the Garden (Details to come)

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SAND ‘N ’ SEEDS ‘N’ MORE

ROOT STOCK

Welcome our newest column. Thanks to Edy Alderson, we have the history of Green Valley Gardeners as compiled by George Gries and updated by Ken Bichl. We’ll provide excerpts of our history. It’s called Root Stock since the club has grown on the stock provided by our founders. – Editors

It had its roots in an informal conversation between Louis Zale and Allen Ogden in 1979. Both were gardeners and the possibility of forming a Men’s Garden Club was discussed. They resolved to recruit other enthusiasts among their circle of friends. Their efforts paid off and on January 31, 1980, 40 men attended an open meeting to discuss the possibility of founding a club affiliated with the “Men’s Garden Clubs of America”. Ogden was elected President and took the lead in preparing an application with help from several members of the Tucson Club. Winston Mani headed up the development of by-laws and articles of incorporation. They called it The Men’s Garden Club of Green Valley. Meetings were held throughout the year and a seminar program initiated in October with the help of George Brookbank, U of A/Pima County Urban Horticulturist. The seminars were held for several years on the sidewalk in front of Pat’s Place in Continental Plaza. Attendees had to bring their own chairs. Charter Night was held on November 13, 1980 with approximately ninety persons in attendance: 42 charter members, their spouses, George and Rose Brookbank, and several members of the Tucson Club. The Charter was presented by Jeff Collier, President-elect of the “Men’s Garden Clubs of America” and the following officers were installed: Allen Ogden, President: Louis Zale, Vice President; Ken Stuhmer, Secretary and John King, Treasurer. Board members were Gordon Betts, Norman Gibson, Winston Mani, George Merton, Vernon Seely and Alvin Vande Ven. Jim Michael was editor of “Sand ‘n’ Seeds”.

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Is there a cactiphile in the house? By Vicki and Ron Sullivan

A southern Arizona homeowner walks into a bar. He says to the bartender, “I’ve got a thorny problem and I don’t know how to solve it.” The bartender replies, “Do you cherish the cactus in your yard?” “Yes!” replied the homeowner. “But I’m not from these parts. I don’t understand why I love these plants so much.” “That makes you a cactophile”, replied the bartender. “You should go to the Green Valley Gardeners seminar on February 7. Mark Sitter, owner of B&B Cactus in east Tucson, has cactophilia too. He can answer all your questions.” Sitter will share his landscape design and horticulture experiences. His talk will feature care of cacti and succulents, especially if you are gone for the summer. The seminar is at Desert Hills Recreation Center in Green Valley on Thursday February 7. Doors open at 9 a.m. for coffee and socializing. Pima County master gardeners are always on hand to answer questions, identify plants, and offer solutions to your gardening problems. Seminars begin at 9:30 a.m. and last

approximately an hour. All seminars are open to the public and free of charge. Sitter grew up in Portland, Oregon where his parents were business owners. “My parents were self-employed their entire lives. I was entrepreneurial from my youngest years.” In 1984 he moved to southern Arizona. “At the time I was interested in the entomological aspect of southern Arizona. Insects and plants are closely aligned. I was particularly intrigued by the cacti and succulents. Tucson is where I developed cactipholia, my love for cactus.” His early career in the airline industry suddenly ended with the outbreak of the Gulf War. “My wife and I finished flying the 13th of January 1991. Two days later the Gulf War began. Pan Am was a major terrorist target. Lockerbie happened a few years before. We finished our month, took an extended leave of absence, and finally decided to resign.” A position as a horticulturalist with the Arizona State Desert Museum lasted ten years. It was during this period that Sitter formed a relationship with Bob and Bev White, co-founders of B&B Cactus Farm. “Bob was getting ready to sell the business. We negotiated. About five months later in December 2003 we purchased B&B Cactus Farm.”

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They Call Me Mo By Ron and Vicki Sullivan

Local hardware stores are the heart and soul for do-it-yourself fixer-uppers and for professionals who know what they need. True Value store manager Moises Ramos makes sure that you get what you need and offers advice if you are unsure. On Valentine’s Day Ramos will share his knowledge of effective low water irrigation for desert landscapes. Partnering with Ramos will be Desert Deals Landscaping consultant Carlos Villegas. They will be sharing practical and affordable water system ideas for our desert landscape at the Green Valley Gardeners’ seminar on February 14, 2013. The seminar is at Green Valley Recreation’s Desert Hills Center. Doors open at 9 a.m. for coffee and socializing. Pima County master gardeners are always on hand to answer questions, identify plants, and offer solutions to your gardening problems. Seminars begin at 9:30 a.m. and last approximately an hour. All seminars are open to the public and free of charge. “Moises is Spanish for Moses. It’s my Dad’s name. It’s my son’s name. Some call me Moses. Actually

most folks call me Mo. They call me Mo just so they don’t have to go through all the mispronunciations of Moises. Everyone in my family calls me Mo, including my sister.” Ramos is store manager at Green Valley’s True Value Hardware. He has been with the company for 13 years. “I’ve been in the retail hardware business since I was 19 and have been in the business for almost 22 years.” “I started out loading building materials and bags of cement, that kind of stuff. I slowly worked my way inside the store learning plumbing and electrical, a little of this, a little of that. Through the years I got into management.” “I really enjoy the building materials retail aspect of helping other people, even if they do not know how to change valves or whatever the problem may be. Unfortunately there are a lot of widows. They are uncertain about doing things but are interested in learning. I really enjoy teaching them so they can work out the problem and fix it on their own.”

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125 Years of Heritage on 400 Acres

By Ron and Vicki Sullivan

Southern Arizona is fortunate that Tanya Quist is addicted to science and loves working with students of all ages. She’ll share her knowledge of horticulture, the University of Arizona’s 125-year old, nearly 400 acre Campus Arboretum, and more at the Green Valley Gardeners’ seminar on February 21, 2013. The seminar is at Green Valley Recreation’s West Center. “I grew up in Nova Scotia and did my undergraduate work in Utah in the early nineties. The transition was a radical and welcome change in climate and culture. I was really interested in woody landscape plants and drought stress. Coming from Nova Scotia, Utah seemed like a desert.” After completing her doctorate at Purdue, she accepted an adjunct teaching position there. In 2010 Quist was offered a teaching position at the University of Arizona. The position included responsibility for the campus arboretum. “The position addressed my desire to work with people, to move away from basic science research,

and to communicate more directly with the public. There is a huge population in Arizona that loves plants. I think there is an audience for the kinds of things I believe in. It keeps me centered.” “All of the trees on campus represent the university history and commitment to discovery and experimentation. The campus landscape represents our mission as a land grant school that directs us to perform research and provide education specifically aimed at solving problems that are of interest to the state. The University of Arizona has this special separate responsibility to promote economic prosperity and community development tailored to the needs of our state in the southwest.” “The College of Agriculture has spent the last 125 years looking for plants that would be good cash crops. In the late nineteenth century Robert Forbes traveled around the world bringing back dates, olives, and citrus.” “In more recent years we were more focused in developing our landscape. There was a big push for discovery of landscape ornamental plants, especially new plants from arid regions around the world.” “In 1999 there were faculty and staff who realized that the landscape had really become something extraordinary. They organized to recognize it and do something to protect it. In 2002 the university designated all of main campus as an arboretum and that same year, The American Public Garden Association accepted us as a member. For 10 years we have officially been an arboretum.” “I am not sure that there is a universal phenomenon that everyone benefits from being in green spaces and working in the ground. From my experience it is so powerful. I think that it brings out something that is intuitive and deep rooted in our heritage. It is a kind of spiritual need to connect to our environment. In the center of Tucson, the Campus Arboretum represents a unique green space, an opportunity to connect both with the environment as well as our state’s heritage.” For more information about the arboretum, visit http://arboretum.arizona.edu/.

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Civano, The Environment’s Ally

By Ron and Vicki Sullivan

In 15 years, Civano has grown from a solar community to the largest wholesale nursery in Southern Arizona. Civano supplies the plants for the Green Valley Gardeners semi-annual plant sales. The next sale is in Continental Plaza from March 7-9. Alex Shipley is a partner in Civano Nursery. He will share his knowledge of plants available at the sale at the Green Valley Gardeners’ seminar on March 7, 2013. The seminar is at Green Valley Recreation’s Desert Hills Center. Doors open at 9 a.m. for coffee and socializing. Pima County master gardeners are always on hand to answer questions, identify plants, and offer solutions to your gardening problems. Seminars begin at 9:30 a.m. and last approximately an hour. All seminars are open to the public and free of charge. “Our entire family was Canadian. My father was born in Egypt during World War II on a British military base.” “I was born in Nova Scotia. It is a great place for a kid to grow up. We lived on a lake. I had a canoe. We lived just outside of Halifax, the capital, in a beautiful community called Waverly. My family moved to Victoria, British Columbia when I was 14.”

“My father was a horticulturalist by trade. A next door neighbor of ours in Victoria was one of the owners of a solar community company called Civano in Tucson, Arizona. He offered my father some land to build a garden center.” “My father offered a 25 percent partnership of Civano to my brothers Chris and Nick and me. I didn’t have a dollar to my name so I said, ‘Sure I’ll do it’. I had never heard of Tucson. I looked at a globe and it looked like we were moving to Mexico.” “Civano started out as a solar community in southeast Tucson on Houghton Road. The plan was to make it the greenest community in America. In the early days we salvaged thousands of trees. In the beginning, my father had no idea how to rescue trees. Today, he has a 99 percent success rate. He does not believe in no. He just figures it out.” “Civano is a Hohokam term. It is a word that describes that Native Americans took nothing more than they needed. For example, when they killed a deer, they used every part of the animal for food, weaponry, and clothing. It was a waste-not want-not culture.” “We used reclaimed water and introduced solar paneling. The community has narrow streets with front porches. Out of this Civano Nursery was forged.” There were five of us that started the business. That was 15 years ago and now we have around 75 people. Some have been with us for the entire 15 years.” For more information about Civano Nursery, visit www.civanonursey.net.

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“Too Tough To Die” By Ron and Vicki Sullivan

You may be asking yourself, “What’s so special about a native plant nursery in Tucson?” Jim Verrier, Nursery Director for Desert Survivors, will be telling us about native grasses and the very special native plant nursery that he manages. If you aren’t familiar with Desert Survivors, you should be. Verrier will be at the Green Valley Gardeners’ seminar on February 28, 2013. The seminar is at Green Valley Recreation’s Desert Hills Center. Doors open at 9 a.m. for coffee and socializing. Pima County master gardeners are always on hand to answer questions, identify plants, and offer solutions to your gardening problems. Seminars begin at 9:30 a.m. and last approximately an hour. All seminars are open to the public and free of charge. In a 2011 article about Desert Survivors Karen Wilson, Director of Program Services for Desert Survivors, wrote, “This is my 26th year with Desert Survivors, and there is no place I would rather be. I am so proud of everything we do here and all the wonderful people that make it so. Visit us regularly, and be a part of this wonderful place that is simply ‘too tough to die.’”

“Desert Survivors grew out of the vision of Dr. Joseph Patterson, a Tucson psychologist who worked with adults with disabilities living in institutions during the 1970s. He recognized their need for meaningful activities and occupations to provide dignity and purpose in their lives.” “Sonoran Desert plants had been an admired element of early Tucson landscapes, and in the late 1970s, more and more residents were looking for attractive native plants to use in their yards to conserve water.” “Dr. Patterson was aware of that trend and recognized that many of his patients could work effectively in a plant nursery. They could provide valuable assistance to nursery operations, while simultaneously deriving income and purpose in their lives.” “Today Desert Survivors provides community-based work and developmental encouragement in homes and group settings for people with a wide range of abilities, toward realizing the full potential for each individual.” For more information about Desert Survivors, visit www.desertsurvivors.org.

The mission of The Green Valley Gardeners shall be to promote gardening education and related environmental issues to its membership and the gardening public through educational and charitable means.