July event - Whitewater Garden Tour With a PHA

The morning of Thursday, July 7, we’re taking a short jaunt to the northeast and visiting the homes of three master gardener volunteers in the Whitewater area. We’ll have plant health advisor (PHA) Barb Converse with us to answer questions (or explain how she’d look for answers) about anything we find -- bugs, diseases, environmental issues. It’ll be a great hands-on way to get insight into how PHAs operate.

Flesher - artichoke

Flescher - Romano beans

Though all the gardens have common elements, the main focus of each is different.

• Carol and David Cartwright have a collection of conifers--all sizes and shapes.
• Barb and Jerry Converse have a shady retreat filled with perennial flowers, shrubs and ornamentals.
• Ruth & Larry Flescher have sunny, raised-bed vegetable gardens on the remnant of an old farm.

To cap the tour, we’ll make a stop at the Whitewater Public Library to investigate their free seed library and how it works.  Should be lots to learn, and a lot of fun.

Hope you can make it!

Schedule:

• 9:30 -- the Flescher home, N9655 Old Hwy 12, on the northwest side of Whitewater.
• 10:30 — the Cartwright home, W7646 Hackett Road, southeast of Whitewater on the east side of Whitewater Lake
• 11:30 — the Converse home, W8339 R/W Townline Road, southeast of Whitewater on the west side of Whitewater Lake
• 12:30 or 12:45 — Whitewater Public Library, downtown Whitewater

To carpool, meet at 8:50 a.m. in front of Kohl’s at the Janesville Mall. It’s a half hour drive from there to the first location.

This is an approved continuing education program that will award Master Gardener Volunteers 1 Continuing Education Unit (CEU) per hour.