The Garden Club of America is a national leader in the fields of horticulture

[Frankswats]

Among the GCH plants, many grown from seeds for the club’s Nine Natives booth at the fundraiser, were aquatic and green milkweed, Lanceleaf coreopsis, inland sea oats, Texas coneflower, and Winecup. The club began the Nine Natives project three years ago to provide mixed flats of Texas native plants for small urban pocket gardens to help birds, butterflies, bees, and animals survive in an urban environment. Non-native plants were removed from the park beds prior to the GCH planting day, in keeping with Memorial Park Conservancy’s long range focus to transition many of the park’s plantings to native species. Although the pandemic prevented GCH from selling their Texas plants, members were happy to donate them to benefit all park users. GCH also funds a pollinator garden in Memorial Park, planted with many of their seedlings and propagated plants. https://www.gcamerica.org/ On August 10, a derecho storm producing extremely destructive, 100 mph straight-line winds ripped across Iowa. Within its path was the Iowa Arboretum. The storm twisted, shredded, and uprooted more than 200 of the arboretum’s trees. Responding to a Restoration Initiative grant request from the Des Moines Founders Garden Club, The Garden Club of America has awarded $10,000 to support the cost of replanting many of the trees lost to the storm. Mark Schneider, executive director of the Iowa Arboretum, was working on site when the storm hit. Stepping outside once the storm passed, he described the scene as "heartbreaking." Of the more than 200 trees badly damaged in the storm, 133 of them would require removal. Many of these trees were valuable showcase trees that had taken forty to fifty years to grow, and were beloved by the arboretum’s members.