Sharing the wealth
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 years, 4 months AGO
Attendees compare notes – and plants – at the Moses Lake Garden Club Plant Swap Monday. About 100 people turned out to share plants and gardening tips.
Joel Martin/Columbia Basin Herald
Moses Lake Garden Club President Valerie Parrott poses with the club’s first Gardener of the Year, Wayne Ratcliff.
Gardener Shawnee Haderlie collected a variety of plants for her brand-new garden.
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | April 26, 2024 1:20 AM
MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Garden Club held its annual plant swap Monday evening.
“We bring all kinds of plants … and we gift our plants to each other,” said club President Valerie Parrott, who hosted the event at her business, Pieces by Parrott. “We have a bunch of brand-new gardeners that are here this year, so we planted all kinds of seeds to do starter pack gardens for them.”
This was the third year the club has held the plant swap, Parrott said. About 100 people turned out Monday to exchange plants, share tips and enjoy a potluck dinner.
On the grass were around a dozen tables laden with plants their owners were giving away. Jill Bross had aloe vera, chives, mint and lemon balm, among other things. She also sells them at the Moses Lake Farmers Market, she said.
“For a year and a half, two years, I’ve been raising succulents and selling them to raise scholarship funds for the Autism Support Group of Grant County,” Bross said. “This summer I’m not going to be here, so I’m trying to get some of the stuff out of my plant house.”
Shawnee Haderlie was one of the beneficiaries of the giveaway. She had a tray filled with lilacs, dahlias, peppers and an intimidating-looking snake plant, also called mother-in-law’s tongue.
“We’re just starting out,” Haderlie said. “Our garden is quite large, but the previous owners didn’t take care of it. So we’ve been tilling it and getting it ready, trying to get water out there.”
Not far away, Jaih Troup, Stephanie Luther and Rose Williams offered tomatoes, houseplants and a willow tree.
“The willow tree was supposed to be a peach tree, and it was not,” Luther said.
“She just loves to garden,” Williams said. “So this doesn’t even …”
“It doesn’t even tickle the surface,” Luther finished.
Wayne Ratliff was named the Gardener of the Year, the first time the club has bestowed that honor, for being “a good steward of the earth, always lending a hand and being a great friend to all,” according to the certificate.
“Valerie got me helping people,” Ratcliff said. “I have a lot of people come down to (my home) in Cascade Valley. I teach them how to garden, I give them a lot of plants to get started, and then when somebody needs some help, I help them.”
“He’s always there,” Parrott said. “First one to help, last one out the door, always giving a good hand, a smile and a joke. The garden club loves Wayne, and so we thought it is very well deserved.”
Joel Martin may be reached via email at [email protected].
Moses Lake Garden Club President Valerie Parrott poses with the club’s first Gardener of the Year, Wayne Ratcliff.
Gardener Shawnee Haderlie collected a variety of plants for her brand-new garden.ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Quincy National Night Out scales down
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Quincy Police retirements leave big shoes to fill
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Big fun on a small scale
Wheat Land Communities’ Fair opens Thursday
RITZVILLE — The Wheat Land Communities’ Fair isn’t as big or as flashy as some of the county fairs around central Washington, but the folks who keep it going like it just the way it is. “It’s somewhere you can go and get an old-time traditional feeling, and you’re comfortable letting your kids roam the grounds and experience all that it has to offer,” said Board Member Lori Williams. “It’s more of a feeling than (one) specific thing,” The fair starts Thursday in Ritzville and runs through Sunday. Starting Friday, the 56th Ritzville Rodeo will take place alongside the fair at the rodeo grounds. This year the entertainment budget was expanded, Williams said, to be able to offer more fun that’s covered by the cost of admission. For the kids, there’s face painting, balloon art, Lego crafts, races, contests and games. Children can also ride on a little train towed around the fairgrounds behind a tractor.