Wish list made for Maasdam Barns

Jefferson County Master Gardeners would like to ask the help of the community with their Wish List for the Maasdam Barns project.

This will be an on-going project for our group for several years. It is the desire of the barns committee and the Master Gardeners to make this a showplace worthy of being the welcome center for tourists coming to our corner of the state. The barns belong to all of us and the Master Gardeners are merely caretakers of the gardens, most of which are still in the planning stage.

Many people find themselves with extras of items they no longer need, or maybe, they have moved and don?t have space to keep tools for which they have very little use. Perhaps you have stopped gardening and would like to find a good home for your tools.

If anyone has items on our list to donate to the project they can be left with Kim Keller at the Jefferson County ISU Extension office located at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds. We will see that the items get out to the barns where there is space to store them so they will be available to the volunteers. If you have any questions or would like someone to pick up items you wish to donate, please call Master Gardeners coordinator Kim Keller at the extension office, 472-4166.

There have already been a few donations, mostly in the form of plants and bulbs. These are greatly appreciated.

The Master Gardeners have been taking their own tools, hoses and buckets, making the work more of a chore than it needs to be. Any quality products are welcome. Please, no broken or items in need of repair.

1. Garden hoses and nozzles.

2. Garden tools (rake, shovel, spade)

3. Small hand tools

4. Good mulch

5. Wheel barrow or yard cart

6. Hedge trimmers and pruners

7. Solar lights (for the flower beds)

8. Rubber doormats

9. Stepping stones for paths

10. Sun dial

11. Garden markers

12. Trellises

13. Edging

It is the goal of the Master Gardeners to plant only those cultivars that would have been available to the Maasdams in the early 1900s. Therefore, we will be very careful also of any hardscape items we use. I don?t think they had gnomes or pink flamingos then, but gardeners of that era did have gazing balls, sundials, birdbaths, etc. I know, they didn?t have solar lights, but these will be of the small, unobtrusive type just to highlight the plantings.

Kim will have available some printouts of the landscape plan for anyone interested in what we are doing at the property.

Some of the plant needs are: Variety of spring blooming bulbs to plant in the fall (we want lots of tulips ? the Maasdams were Dutch after all), Irises, Lady?s Mantle, Creeping Phlox, Moss Rose, Lambs Ear, Rose of Sharon, Red Saliva, Sedum, Shasta Daisy, Yarrow, Bugle-weed, Clematis, Rhododendron, Vinca Vine, Hosta. If anyone has any of these to divide in their yard, we would appreciate them.

On behalf of the Jefferson County Master Gardeners, we thank you.

Aleta Mottet is a Master Gardener.

EDITOR?S NOTE: Questions are welcome and can be directed to Master Gardener Intern and Ledger photographer Julie Johnston at photo@ffledger.com.