A magical day in Ames, Iowa

    

This is Elwood, the largest gnome in the world.
He's watching over Reiman Gardens in Ames, Iowa.

    Have you heard of Reiman Gardens in Ames, Iowa?

    It's a 17-acre set of gardens, which includes buildings designed in the tradition of Frank Lloyd Wright and a Butterfly Wing, located just south of Jack Trice Stadium.

    My alma matar, which is a leading educational source of information on all things related to food, gardening and agriculture, hosted an event recently for those of us who are in the state's Master Gardener program.

    I was able to attend, rather easily, as I have a place to stay overnight at daughter Kirstin's home in Ankeny, Iowa, about 25 minutes from the university.

    It was quite the day! We attended five classes, all headed up by professors, department heads, and doctoral or master's degree individuals in Iowa State's horticulture program. 

    There were three of us from Scott County and we spent the day together. Our first class was in landscape design, led by the head of that program. She spent about half the class time explaining concepts, and then had us draw up designs. Yours truly is not the greatest artist in town, but the concepts are certainly sound, and interesting.

    Another favorite class was Entomology -- it was a hoot. I didn't expect bugs to be fun; I absolutely hate Japanese beetles as they bedevil me each and every summer.

    The class room had several sets of desks. In the middle of each configuration was a glass box filled with insect examples, pinned to the back. Included was their Latin and common names.

    Class leaders were extremely knowledgeable and made the topic interesting and informative. The second half of the class was an online quiz, which got to be very competitive! We loaded the quiz onto our cell phones and the entire class competed to get the top score. (Not me: I ended up 24th out of 25 students!).

    As the day ended we students were invited to explore the gardens, and I certainly enjoyed that part of the day!

    Reiman Gardens are well worth visiting. According to its website, the tradition of gardening at Iowa State dates back to 1914. Roy Reiman, an alum, provided the seed money in the early 1990s, and the site opened in 1995 with five acres of property established.

    It's certainly grown! Significant additions, according to the website:

    2001: Home Demonstration gardens.

    2002: Hughes Conservatory

    2002: Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing

    2010: Elwood, the World's Largest Garden Gnome, is established

    2017: Hillside Water-Wise Garden

    2022: Sycamore Falls

    This is also an award-winning travel location in Iowa. There's a small lake on site and several paved walking trails. Time is valuable to all of us; but Reiman Gardens is a treat.


The Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing

Three giant moths on a leaf at the
Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing








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