Hello all, welcome to WFHR's Rapids Report, probably brought to you by Crockett Sceptic for
this July 9th, 2025.
Have your host James here, we're going to spend the next bit of time with our friends
at the Ant-Mitwood County Master Gardener's Club, and we're going to talk about the 19th
annual Wood County Master Gardener's Garden Walk.
We have with us Lillie, uh, Shotton with us, uh, Lillie, good to see you again.
And we will be joined by Pam Ross, we'll be looking forward to hanging out with Pam in
a little bit here.
Lillie, uh, as long as we're, uh, talking, and before we dive into the event itself and
the 22nd annual Garden Walk, that is, uh, coming up on Saturday, July 19th, can we talk
a little bit about the history of the Master Gardener's and, and just, uh, where, where
this great group of people started and came from and how they got together?
Sure.
Well, the Master Gardener's is an organization of people who've done, uh, additional training
to, you know, basic gardening, um, to learn a little bit more about horticultural practices
and how we can, uh, work with soil, um, water conditions that exist to, to do our gardening
better.
Mm-hmm.
We've been in the area for, um, over 30 years.
The Garden Walk started, um, 25 years ago, actually.
We took a little break during COVID years, but, um, we've been doing this.
It's our major fundraiser for, um, Master Gardener's.
Mm-hmm.
And, and you guys, uh, not only, uh, do some great work with that, but certainly, uh, you
know, even, uh, extending this to, uh, you, you, W Extension and talking with Janelle Weir
and so many other great people about this and this great group and, and what you guys
do for our community and how beautiful you make it.
And then, uh, speaking of that beauty, there is the walk itself, this Garden Walk, where,
uh, people have an opportunity to really take in some of this beauty for those that
may be new to the conversation or haven't heard of the Garden Walk before.
Can we explain to them what the Garden Walk is?
Oh, yes.
Um, we have six gardens that will be featuring this year, um, Wisconsin Rapids, Beer and
Area, and then out to Vesper.
Each one is beautiful in and of itself.
Um, we have wonderful, um, garden features with perennials, annules, trees, shrubs.
We have artists in the gardens, we have vendors, and we have music.
The event runs from nine to four, we're even serving pizza along the way if people get
hungry.
So, um, a lot to offer for, um, people who come to the, to visit.
We, uh, we take so much pride and love in our gardens, some more than others, some have
put more time into them than others and that, but, uh, one of the things that I've heard
over the years of this event is, uh, for one, how many people get inspired and come up
with ideas for their own garden from checking some of these out and everything.
And then, uh, there's this also, and, and I, I love when these things happen for us.
There's these moments for individuals in the area, whether they're from here or not
or, or live in this area or not.
These moments are pride, and even if it's not your garden, but that you, it's in your
town, it's in your neighborhood or something, or it's a part of our central Wisconsin area
here.
Um, there, there's so many wonderful like added benefits and fun things that are brought
with this event, along with, of course, some of the cool things we're going to talk
about going out at the event in just a moment.
But I, I always like to highlight these things that I don't know that we think about very
much in society in our day to day life, especially if you have, um, a beautiful, you know, yard
in your neighborhood.
Maybe it's your yard, uh, and, and you, you know, you see it every day.
It's really beautiful.
You look forward to it every summer.
But I don't know that you get a chance to take a step back and really appreciate some
of this stuff.
And, and that's something that I think you really get a chance to do with this, along
with sharing of information and maybe even finding some new ideas or some new inspiration.
I agree, um, whether you're a novice or consider yourself an expert, um, you're going
to gather ideas from what you see at the garden.
Um, each one of these gardeners has had to deal with, um, storms this year.
They've had to do with excess rain.
They have to do with conditions of shade and sun.
And they can help you to understand how they got through it.
I think that each one of the gardeners have told me at least once that they've had
a plant or two that they really enjoyed, but it wasn't growing.
They took it, moved it into another location and maybe they helped it to thrive.
So, um, I hope that that'll be most people's experience.
It's a great point, Lily.
And we have Pam Ross joining us right now.
Pam, uh, always good to see you.
Always appreciate you.
You know, I feel about you.
Um, nice to have you here.
I want to get into the details of the event again, the second, twenty second annual garden
walk happening Saturday, July 19th, going on nine to four, uh, at many different locations
in our area here and let's touch on the event itself in the prep that it takes to make
this event happen.
I got a lot of different individuals coming together to make this happen.
Right.
I mean, first of all, it's an honor to be chosen as one of the six gardens to be featured,
a little bit nerve-racking because, you know, if people are coming over and, but I know
the master gardeners do such a great job in orchestrating everything.
And I think it's what, little two years ago that you reached out to me and I said,
I didn't know I don't think I could do this.
My gardens aren't ready and I said, maybe in 2025 and here it is.
So, um, the preparation, you know, really for me has been two years, but knowing the last
few months, you're like, all right, a perennial garden.
When you first, the snow melts and there's nothing there, you're like, I don't know if this
was such a good idea.
And it's amazing what happens over the course of time and with a little love and attention,
some sweat.
You know, my husband's been out there with me and we've been having a good time and things
are just really starting, like the color is starting to come and it's like, okay, I think
if we don't have anything bad happen between now and July 19th, it's going to be really
fun.
It sounds so rewarding.
I can hear it in your voice and I imagine everybody out there listening is probably
knows this, but in just in case they don't, you know, we have somebody who has performed
a lot and for, you know, talking about this and you're talking about being nervous about
this where, you know, with the amount of things you've done, the live concerts and all
these things and this makes you nervous too.
That shows how much it means to you, but also how cool it is to be a part of it.
That first part you started with the honor of being a part of this and everything.
The nerves come from just so many things that are kind of maybe out of your control and
I've kind of let that go because it's like, if we're going to have bad weather while
I can't stop that, but I think the other part is that self-imposed like, oh my gosh, there's
an empty spot there.
What are we going to do about that?
It's so, I laugh at myself, but we've gotten so much support and Lil's been there, you
know, other master gardeners, other friends.
I mean, it really is kind of a community garden in a way because I've had so many people
that have liked, you know, they've joined in my enthusiasm for gardening.
So I have a lot of friends that, you know, we get together and we talk about flowers.
So this will be really kind of an honor of all of those relationships and all of the help
too.
It's a great note to others out there that maybe have been thinking about getting into
their garden, starting a garden op or something like that.
Some of the notes that you just shared with us right there, you know, it's one thing
to be, you know, brought into this garden walk or something.
That's a whole other category, really.
You're just, I think, especially talking with Janelle about this, this organization and
other things over the years, this garden walks and pertin.
It's a fun, main fundraiser for the group and everything.
But it's also the encouraging of everybody to get out there and create work in their garden
and get out there and enjoy.
And you hear some of the joy that Pam has had from it encourage others to get out there,
getting your hands in the dirt and get out of the garden there and enjoy.
It doesn't have to be anything like enormous or large or crazy, but it is fun to spend
that time in nature and and perennials to me are, you know, it's like a reliable friend
that comes back every year and so you don't have to, like, think really, really hard all
the time.
It's like, oh, look, you're back.
I don't want to brag, but in the years of talking with you guys and working with Janelle
a little bit and everything, I know the difference of perennials and annuals now.
And I know, I know, I know the difference.
I'm learning.
I'm learning.
So do you both?
You just know the difference.
I just know the difference, really, is what it is.
I'm still learning as far as how to take care of these things.
That's a whole other category that I will talk your ears off sometime about.
This event is going to be a locational event.
You're going to be bopping around from different garden to garden around in town, which you
touched on this before, Lily, but where will people be going for the walk itself?
Well, there are two residences in the Wisconsin Rapids area and then you take a quick little
jaunt over in the Burin area and then you're going to head out towards Vesper.
So you got a number of different locations and wonderful central Wisconsin areas to take
you to and enjoy, and also just take some pride in those areas and those areas having
that pride.
There's also going to be some basket raffles, live music, I see.
Yes, we have a lot of music, don't we?
And we have an artist painting, Dawn Olson, in one of the gardens.
We have a couple of really unique vendors with jewelry or handmade crafts, mosaics, a painter
also, and someone who works with India Inc. and some really unique ceramics.
So these things are meant to complement the gardens and I think go hand in hand with
the type of an audience that we expect.
Well, it's one of the things that we love seeing when it comes to a non-profits working
non-profits or non-profits or anybody just working with our vendors or our local creative
industry and helping them out, giving them other opportunities to sell their products
or just advertise their products.
One of the cool things about this event and events like this is the opportunity to be
able to do that.
And you get so much more fun with it.
And I tell everybody this, if you are going to have an event, have a raffle attached to
it.
We love raffles around here.
We love raffles.
It's almost a guarantee your event's going to do well.
Wait till you see what we have.
Yeah.
It's amazing things.
That's it.
I wish the audience could see you light up to that.
You really believe it.
Yeah, that's great.
Yeah, she's been working hard and I'm sure the whole group has been working very hard
to play out.
Yeah.
They're good stuff together.
Before we touch on sponsorships and we definitely want to shout them out, if people
are interested, they want to get tickets.
I see that they are here in rabbits.
They can get them at Angel Floral in designs, Daily Drug, Urban Screenhouse and One-Rose
Screenhouse.
Over in Nugusa, Beaver's Dimes store in Marshfield, it was at Shlows.
Shlows.
Shlows.
Thank you, Shlows.
Nursery.
Shout out to them.
And Jay-Mar ink over in Clover.
Encourage you to head on over there, get those tickets or $10 in advance, $12 a day
of, and children 10 and under, getting in for free.
We get those tickets and take advantage of this.
It's a great opportunity to be able to not only take in our area, but get outside, get
some inspiration about your own garden, have some fun.
Maybe I'd get in on this raffle, take in some great live music, and enjoy.
We do want to take a moment to thank our sponsors for this event.
I got some really good people that have come together to help out with this one.
And I didn't know which one of you wanted to do that, but if you want to mention them,
please feel free to.
Yes, sponsors.
Thank you for your help.
Beaver's Dynastore, El Café, Fosse's Garden Center, Ironwood Bar and Grill, Garden
Villa, Grand Avenue Pub and Grill, Hosta Stop, Rocky Rococo's Velossics, Reeves Greenhouse,
Urban's, Tractor and Supply, Jay-Mar, Ellen J, Wiggins Greenhouse, and One Rose Greenhouse.
Thank you all.
Yeah, big thank you to all of them.
I appreciate all of them and all of the people that come together to do something like
this.
And of course, one of the things you guys for this and putting up with my questions and
hanging out with us and everything, did we cover all of our bases, we get everything
in there?
Yes, I really appreciate you're sharing it with the public.
Oh, we're going to be talking about this a lot.
We're going to be on a morning show, we always like to wrap up with events going on
in good stories of the day and we'll be talking about this and making sure I get a good
turn out for these every garden gets appreciated.
The buzz is out there, I know, because I was just at a coffee shop and talking to some
people and I was going to hand them out the little slips and they're like, oh, we're
already coming.
Yeah, we're planning to come.
Oh, good, good.
They didn't even want to take the slips because they didn't need to, that's wonderful.
And we want to encourage you, there's a great Facebook page you can find for the Wood
County Master Gardeners, you can go over there, find out more of not only about the event
but this great group of people and how maybe you can be a part of things if you'd like,
find out more from them.
Of course, you can check out their website as well.
Just type in your search engine, Wood County Master Gardeners, it'll pop right up, Wood
County Master Gardeners.org is the website, you can go check out and I appreciate you guys
again for the time.
I appreciate you.
Thank you.
And thank you, everybody, for joining us for another great edition of WFHR's Rapid Support,
probably brought to you by Crocketsceptic here at WFHR.
