Friends of the Garden
Nathanael Green Park/Close Memorial Gardens
February 21, 2010
This coming March I am celebrating the one year anniversary of becoming a member of FOG (Friends of the Garden). I became a member because George Deatz, President of FOG approached me near the Master Garden and the botanical center building site in February of 2009. He gave me a flyer and brochure explaining the benefits of the Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Gardens membership. As citizens of Springfield, we are lucky and privileged to have dedicated people like Mr. Deatz spending hours upon hours gratis promoting the park and gardens.
Not long after becoming a FOG member, I met Dr. Bill Roston who tirelessly donates his time and money adding beauty and recreation to the gardens. Dr. Roston built a butterfly house filled with numerous butterfly attracting plants. Last year the butterfly house had 10,000 visitors and I bet there will be more this year. Dr. Roston also is an avid photographer. His photos have appeared in several magazines including the National Geographic.
Please visit the Friends of the Garden” website and blog often. There you will find out more about these two brilliant men and all of the other gifted, wonderful and enthusiastic volunteers who make the gardens grow.
Interesting Links
- Download the Spring 2009 Friends of the Garden newsletter
- Amazing series of photographs of a Golden Eagle attacking a white tail deer
To Friends of the Garden:
Note from George: This evening KOLR 10 with David Oliver did a feature on the ‘Corpse Flower’, see and read the text here The following open letter was prepared by board member Christine. It will provide a lot of useful information on this rare plant.
Rare Botanical Wonder at Lawn & Garden ShowBy pure coincidence in timing, one of the most unusual and rare tubers in the world, Amorphophallus titanum, will be on display courtesy of Friends of the Garden at the Springfield Lawn & Garden Show beginning today.
Dr. Bill Roston, whose idea it was to create the Butterfly House at Close Memorial Park, has been nurturing the tuber in hopes of it coming out of dormancy. It must have been planning for the show, because it’s now in the beginning stages of creating it’s bloom. Not only does it have one of the largest flowering structures in the world (inflorescence), it’s most famous for it’s stench. Don’t worry, it’s not odoriferous now, only for the few hours when the bloom is open.
This amazing plant is expected to reach full bloom in roughly three weeks, follow the FOG blog to stay informed of it’s progress – and of it’s showing, which if it achieves bloom, will be posted to the FOG Calendar and Facebook.
“On August 2, 1999 an Amorphophallus titanum achieved full bloom at the Huntington Botanic Garden in San Marino, California. This was only the 11th recorded bloom in the United States and the first ever in California. Equally astonishing was the number of people who came to visit this magnificent plant on the peak day of its blooming period, over 10,000 admirers. They waited patiently in a long line in 80-90 degree heat, a line that at one time extended the length of two football fields (or about 200 meters). Some people wore protective nose masks, and one boy even wore a gas mask. Actually, no one was overcome by the stench (the plant was roped off to prevent people from getting their faces too close to the funnel-shaped spathe).”
For more information on this fascinating plant, see the following: