Connie Hansen Garden Conservancy

The Garden: The Garden is about 1.25 acres in a residential neighborhood, with a parking area, and is open to visitors during all daylight hours, free of charge. It is unattended a good deal of the time, much like a park. The 2022 discovery of a pathogen of federal regulatory concern, Phytophthora ramorum, in the garden, continues to have detrimental effects. A contractor conducted removal and proper disposal of infected plants, and cleanup and soil treatment of affected areas. Subsequent testing found more infected plants, which should be removed in the fall of 2024.The total number of plants removed may reach 200, mostly rhododendrons, some quite large. Because of the necessary disruption, it was decided upgrade both the irrigation and drainage systems in the garden. These items had been under discussion for the last few years, so combining the disruption made sense. The irrigation project was begun in late winter, but delays pushed completion to late summer. Start time of the drainage project is uncertain at this time. Normal garden work was disrupted but continued where practical. A group of volunteers donated about 2700 hours toward garden maintenance.

Activities: The 'Garden Gazette', a quarterly newsletter, is produced and distributed to donor members, by mail and e-mail, and made available to visitors, about 275 per quarter. Information sheets on local gardening and plant care are generated and made available free of charge. Through the efforts of a photographer volunteer, a pictorial record of the Garden is being developed, which includes digitized pictures from Connie Hansen's collection. Various groupings of these photos are used for presentations. Gift Shop sales continue to increase, necessitating more hours acquiring and restocking inventory. Production of locally appropriate plant material, done by volunteers in donated facilities, for use in the Garden and for sale to the public, continued at a somewhat slower pace, due to some production issues. Sales to the public are done on an honor system of money in envelopes through a mail slot when the Garden House is not open. Sales were down slightly from the previous year. About 1500 plants were produced. About 700 volunteer hours were applied to these activities.

The Garden House: Originally the residence of a retired botanist who developed the garden over a twenty year period. The Garden House was remodeled early on to correct some deficiencies and make it more suitable to the mission of the Conservancy. It is approximately 1440 square feet. The building dates to the 1940's and is likely to need major renovation or replacement at some point. The Conservancy is accumulating funds for that eventuality. Some possible structural issues have beeen detected and were corrected this year. The remodel resulted in a five room, plus restroom, building. The main room serves as a meeting room, a gallery for local artists on a rotating basis, a class and event room, and a lunch room for volunteers. Other rooms include a horticultural reference library, a kitchen, a small garden related gift shop/host station, and a small office/store room. The House is now hosted seven days a week from March through early December. Volunteers donated about 1200 hours toward House operations.