CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — After returning in 2022 since a hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Easter Showcase is underway again. The free event — where visitors can view tropical plants, cacti, seedlings and other plants that grow in the greenhouse — was not held in 2020 or 2021. This year’s Easter Showcase is […]
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Category: Community Gardens
Hope grows two years after devastating d...
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — A low-key commemoration of Iowa’s 2020 derecho will take place to mark the two-year anniversary of the devastating windstorm. A Resiliency Day is planned for Aug. 10, 2022, organized on Facebook by Tamara Marcus and Eric Gutschmidt. “Two years ago our lives were upended during the derecho,” the Facebook event notes. […]
Photos: A Midsummer Garden Art Fair
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — A picture-perfect evening accompanied music, dancing and readings during a Midsummer Garden Art Fair in Ellis Park’s Shakespeare Garden. The event, on Saturday, July 2, 2022, was designed to draw attention to the hidden gem in northwest Cedar Rapids, said Barb Rhame, a member of the Wednesday Shakespeare Club in Cedar […]
Linn County Master Gardeners and Prairie...
HIAWATHA — Community members will have room to grow their own food through a new initiative between Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center and Linn County Master Gardeners. The new Green Community Gardens will feature 30 garden plots to rent at Prairiewoods, along with gardening education. “We really hope that people who live in apartments that don’t […]
Once threatened with legal action, Cedar...
By Cindy Hadish/Homegrown Iowan CEDAR RAPIDS – Ed Thornton captured national attention in 2014 when he faced a trespassing violation for gardening two vacant city lots behind his home. Now, more than four years after being ordered to remove the garden, which supplied his neighbors with a wide variety of fresh vegetables, Thornton will be […]
Johnson County Poor Farm returning to it...
By Cindy Hadish/for Radish Magazine IOWA CITY – Children of different backgrounds play together in farm fields as their parents share water, tools and advice while gardening at the Johnson County Poor Farm. The Iowa Valley Global Food Project is one of the ways the community is taking the Poor Farm back to its roots […]
Community grows in Mound View Neighborho...
CEDAR RAPIDS – Today’s weather was perfect for gardening, even if it meant the end of the season. Several neighbors gathered to clean up the Mound View garden, on B Avenue NE. Amazingly, in November, tomatoes, summer squash, beans and other vegetables continue to grow. The garden not only offers healthy, wholesome food throughout the […]
Noelridge takes first in international g...
CEDAR RAPIDS – The Noelridge Park Gardens won first place in the All-America Selections Landscape Design Contest, organizers announced. Noelridge took top honors this year for gardens with 10,000 to 100,000 visitors, after achieving second place in 2014 in the category for under 10,000 visitors.
Cedar Rapids man forced out of garden ce...
By Cindy Hadish/Homegrown Iowan CEDAR RAPIDS – Just one year ago, Ed Thornton was resolving a battle brought on by the city that forced him out of the vacant land he had gardened for four years. Thornton has since relocated his gardening efforts, but hasn’t completely dropped the idea that would allow residents to garden […]
New garden brings community together in ...
CEDAR RAPIDS – Community gardens have a tendency to ebb and flow, but a new site in Wellington Heights has the potential for long-term growth. A group of volunteers met Saturday, Aug. 8, to build raised beds for the new garden at the corner of Fourth Avenue and 15th Street SE. The Wellington Heights Neighborhood […]