Ten Wellman Garden Club women drove to Riverside for their annual Spring luncheon, held this year at La Chiva Loka.  We enjoyed our Mexican food and visiting with each other.  While waiting for our food, we all whipped out our phones and downloaded a plant app so we were equipped to quickly identify every plant we saw.

  After lunch we drove a few blocks to Lynelle Mellecker’s older home to see her gardens.  The wrought iron fence that surrounds the home is lined with perennials of all kinds.  There were peonies, iris, clematis, day lilies, hostas, columbine, and climbing hydrangea to name a few.  We saw many old pots and urns around the yard with colorful blooming annuals as well.  We passed small English oak trees and raised vegetable gardens behind the house as we followed the path to the side yard where bricks laid in circular patterns covered most of the ground.  On that lovely patio were several umbrella tables and chairs.  A fountain bubbled away past the bricks, with the remaining area filled with more perennials, a gazebo, and bird houses.

  Lynelle took us through the unique pine paneled apartment above her garage, and then showed us the inside of the main house.  Many beautiful glass-doored cupboards and cabinets lined the walls, with charming stained-glass windows adding colorful enhancement.  The house and grounds made for a wonderful May garden club tour.

  Our June 15 meeting will be a visit to Claude Greiner’s pond/garden and a tour of Max Cast in Kalona.  We will meet to carpool from Asbury UMC at 1:45 p.m.  This will be our last meeting until fall.