October 2022
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 6:00 PM, POTLUCK MEETING
Location: 830 South Avenue West, Immanuel Lutheran Church
We will have a program plus a short business meeting.
Directions:
Coming from the South on Brooks Street:
Turn east, right, onto South Avenue at the stop light by the fair grounds, go past the fair grounds, and the church is just across from Sentinel High School. Parking is behind the church on Sussex. Turn left onto Bow Street from South Avenue and go one block to Sussex, turn left and the church is the second church on the left. Go to the parking lot at the rear of the church. Use the church entrance from the parking lot on Sussex.
Coming from the North, East or West:
Turn off Brooks onto Stephens Avenue, go past CVS and Walgreens on either side of Stephens. Turn left on Central at the Missoula Manor. Go one block and turn right on Holburn Street. Proceed one block to Sussex and there is the church and its parking lot. It is the first church on the west end. Use the church entrance from the parking lot on Sussex.
Take the elevator to the Parish Hall. Someone will be at the door to welcome you!
You might also Google the address for reference. Call Betty Ann at 406.370.1696 if you have questions or get lost.
Fall is here and it is time once again for our Missoula Iris Society meetings after a brief respite from the busy spring and summer full of iris events.
Have you been by the Missoula Iris Society Fort Garden recently? You will notice that the signs in the garden and the kiosk have been refinished and painted. Their new clean look certainly makes the garden look great. A big thank you to Judy Blunt in taking on this task.
Work party to winterize the garden: There will probably be a work party in October to put the iris to bed for the winter. The asphalt walkway will also be installed in October so we will be working around that project. We will notify you when a work party will be scheduled.
Be thinking about when and how often you would like to meet for iris meetings. I will be passing out a questionnaire at the meeting to make plans for next year. Your thoughts on times, which day of the month, do we want to meet in January and February during the winter months, etc. You can also email me, Betty Ann, at swedeandba@gmail.com, with your input.
TREASURER’S AND GARDEN REPORT
Betty Ann is well on her way to recovery from her accidental fall which occurred in July just before the rhizome sale. It became a life threatening situation with hospitalization. I am sure happy I convinced her to go to the hospital for treatment the day of the rhizome digging/cutting party at the fort garden. Because of this problem we did not publish a July or August report and have been super busy for September but I am going to write about information for these three months’ activities.
So I will begin with the rhizome sale which was a great success. We had lots of varieties and rhizomes so purchases were steady and abundant. Not quite as fruitful as 2021 but still a good year. We had large amounts of rhizomes gathered from Elloie Jeter of Florence, Fred Frey of Missoula, and of course a large number of rhizomes came from the Fort Missoula gardens dug by Judy Blunt and her crew of 1 or 2. Betty Ann's incident also cropped up on this day so I was in a dither on how to get all the sale work done. Even though Missoula was under the influence of 90+ degree days, you MIS people just got after the work and got these rhizomes washed, trimmed, identified, and sold so everything ended up on the plus side. There were 30 brown bags of 11 to 14 rhizomes left when the sale was over which I brought home wondering just how am I going to get rid of these. But by Tuesday they were all sold with more people calling later to find out if we had any more to sell. Although the profit from the sale was down some from last year, MIS still hit a gross number at $5430.00. Judy had expenses for the work parties at her house during that week of $327.00 which I have paid. MIS still made over 5100 which I thought was a good number. Thanks to all you members who volunteered your time and energy to make this sale the great success. Many hands make all the work go easy.
Despite her incident, Betty Ann was able to continue the work involved obtaining grant funds from various sources for the asphalt pathway. We worked very hard but carefully and accurately on these grants which in the end was successful for the society. We applied for a large grant from the Preserving Missoula County's History Grant Fund and we were rewarded a $3200.00 grant which allows two years for us to use. She also did paper work for a grant from the Brondum Foundation, a grant availability which member Ann Bowman found for us, and we were granted $800.00. It came with a stipulation to be used in 60 days and only for the sprinkler system renovations. A third grant was obtained from First Security Bank, through the work of Ann Bowman, for $250. It has no stipulations and will be used on the walkway cost when installed. The total grant money received is $4250.00. Our bid estimates in May for the asphalt walkway project came to $7500.00 for the walkway construction and sprinkler renovations. The grants received are 57% of the total cost of the walkway installation which I think is really good. Our share will be $3250.00 which is considerably less than I had in mind when I began promoting this project. However, inflation has already hit the sprinkler bid and may also affect our asphalt bid. Thankfully, with the results of the sale this year, we should have adequate funds to cover the expenses.
The walkway has gone through several alterations since I first drew up the plan for its construction three years ago. In a meeting with the American Asphalt owner/contractor, he has modified the plan again because he will be using a bobcat excavator with a 5-foot bucket to dig the walkway trenches. This machine has a skid steer type turning which is difficult in making turns, so making the curvy architectural type walkway I dreamed up went up in smoke. The garden will now have 5 foot wide walkways which have three straight legs as its design. The major leg will begin at the north rose arbor entrance and proceed southward to the open lawn adjacent to the median bed/Swan bed areas where an 8 foot wide teardrop style turnaround will be created. Just to the south of the center tree patio a straight walkway will extend westerly off of the north-south leg and will stop with an 8-foot teardrop shaped turnaround near the west rose arbor. On the north side of the center patio and adjacent to the Big Bed and attached to the north-south leg will be a third straight leg proceeding westward which again ends at an 8 foot wide teardrop shaped turnaround near the in-ground iris bed.
With this new design 12 sprinklers were found to be in the confines of the walkways. So Paul Ronaldo Sprinklers, who maintains our system, was hired by me to move 12 sprinklers to locations out of the walkway areas. This was accomplished by Paul and his son on Tuesday and Wednesday following Labor Day. The cost to move these sprinklers was $1064.00. I assisted the contractor one morning by digging and back filling three trenches and doing clean up of the site following completion. The Preserving Missoula County's History Grant designated 10% of the entire project has to be in kind. Working with the sprinkler contractor began to meet some of this criteria.
There will be other opportunities before completion where members can volunteer to help with this10% in kind requirement.
TREASURER'S REPORT FOR JULY, AUGUST, & SEPTEMBER 2022
JULY: RHIZOME SALE: (Total sales $5429.63 )
Cash Sales.......................... $ 3141.00
Grab Bags Sales ......................150.00
Total ...............................$ 3291.00 deposited in Savings
Credit Card Sales ...............$ 1536.89
“Square” receipt ..........................1.74
Total ...............................$ 1538.68 deposited in Checking
July 1 Balance ............................$ 958.11
3 memberships ...........................30.00
Sale Funds ..............................1538.68
Total ................................$ 2626.74
AUGUST:
Paul Ronaldo Sprinklers – system repairs......................... $ 101.00 **
Eagle Ridge Irises – presidential and fort rhizomes .............600.00
Judy Blunt – rhizome sale expenses .....................................326.73
Total .............................................................................$1127.73
** minor repairs to system in July
Checking Account Balance as of August 31 ....................$1,499.00
GRANT FUNDS RECEIVED IN AUGUST FOR THE WALKWAY INSTALLATION
Preserving Missoula County’s History grant ...$3200.00
Brondum Foundation ...........................................800.00
First Security Bank of Missoula...........................250.00
TOTAL ...................................................$4250.00
JUDY AND I are planning to dig up the congested area of spurias by the information kiosk soon to allow the planting of newer spurias ordered from Eagle Ridge Irises in Billings. We would like members to grow spurias as a way to extend the bloom season in their yard. If you would like to try, let Judy or me know. They will be offered at a nominal fee of $1 or $2 each depending on the variety. We will assist you in obtaining spurias we are removing to make room for the new spurias.
Respectfully submitted, Swede Gustafson, Treasurer
MIS MINUTES OF JULY 9, 2022
The Missoula Iris Society meeting was called to order at 6:45 pm. by President Betty Ann Gustafson at the home of Al Ledford and Carol Addeo.
Minutes of June 5 meeting were approved as published in the newsletter.
Treasurer's Report - Swede Gustafson reported the checking balance of $558.11.
New Members - Molly Mahon joined MIS. Welcome!
OLD BUSINESS
Garden Handicapped Pathway – Betty Ann advised she had received approval from Summit Independent for a small grant. Still waiting approval on the Fort Missoula history grant.
Fort Garden report – Swede said garden has been dead headed.
AIS Seminars – Cindy Davis reported the AIS seminar are online for credits to judges. Anyone can follow them if they wish. An activity report for judges was passed out.
NEW BUSINESS
Rhizome Sale – The schedule for the iris sale set for July 30th was in the newsletter. Betty Ann passed out extra copies at the meeting. Times will be 9 am. To 1:00 pm.. Set up is 7:30 am. Presale for members will be Thursday July 28th at Judy Blunt's home.
Volunteer Cashiers include Gary Clark and Cindy Davis. Swede reported the metal markers usually sold at the sale will not be available due to the very high prices. Prices for iris sold are set at $4.00 each. Unknowns will sell for $1.00.
Next MIS meeting will be Saturday July 9 because we do not meet on holiday weekends. Planning for the July 30th iris sale will take place at that meeting. The annual iris rhizome sale is scheduled for Saturday, July 30 at the fort gardens.
Presidential Rhizome – Ron Dowell won the July presidential rhizome.
The meeting adjourned at 8:00 pm.
Respectfully submitted, Carol Addeo, Secretary
Demonstration by Swede on trimming, labeling and planting.
MEETING SCHEDULE:
Plans for future meetings will be discussed at the meeting on Saturday, October 1 (see above)