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On Tuesday, March 12, a total of 11 Sunshine Club members and one guest met at the home of Linda Thompson. The meeting was opened with Linda reading a devotion from the Daily Bread and then asked that the roll call be something you would like to do for yourself or for someone else. Trudy called the meeting to order by mentioning birthdays and anniversaries. The minutes of the previous meeting were read, and the treasurer’s report was given. Trudy contacted the Intervention Center for abused women and delivered items that were donated in December. The woman in charge was extremely thankful for all the things received. The Sunshine Club will donate cookies in the future to help out as well. A trip in May is scheduled for those who would like to attend the Hollingsworth Spring Blooming Peony Tour, held in Maryville, Missouri. Each person is to purchase their own ticket. On April 8, the club is scheduled to sponsor the bingo activity at the Stuart Care Center. Trudy was given $20 to help with that project. The next meeting will be held on April 9 at the Panora Public Library at 1 p.m. with Sandy Mortensen hosting. The meeting was adjourned with Linda serving delicious desserts and then cards were played the remainder of the afternoon.

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Whiterock Conservancy will host a fun take on the classic spring-time egg hunt on March 24 from 1-2 p.m. at River Campground, 1314 Fig Ave. at Whiterock Conservancy. Learn all about basic bird and egg identification and enjoy a traditional egg hunt. This program is aimed for students third grade and younger. Participants should bring their own basket to collect eggs. An “egg cracking” station will be set up to collect eggs for sustainable reuse and waste reduction. Call the Whiterock Conservancy office at 712-790-8221 or email guestinfo@whiterockconservancy.org for more information.

Special to the Times Vedette

Keep Iowa Beautiful invites Iowans to join the Great American Cleanup and an estimated 3 million volunteers across the nation by removing litter from public spaces during Pick-Up Iowa from March 11 through July 31.

Pick-Up Iowa, a Keep Iowa Beautiful program, creates focused efforts to clean up trash along Iowa’s roadsides, neighborhoods, streets, school grounds, parks, forests and streams. In 2022 and 2023, Pick-Up Iowa saw 48 pick-up events across the state, totaling 7,000-plus volunteer hours and resulting in 3,000-plus trash bags of litter and debris collected.

Pick-Up Iowa’s reimbursement program will continue this year after a successful launch in 2023. The first 35 communities who sign up for Pick-Up Iowa will be eligible for a $50 reimbursement for purchases made to aid their pick-up event. Qualifying purchases may include trash bags, gloves, litter grabbers, or food and beverages for volunteers.

“I am continually impressed by the dedication and care Iowans invest in ensuring their communities thrive both physically and economically,” said Andy Frantz, executive director of Keep Iowa Beautiful. “We are thrilled to sustain the partnership between Pick-Up Iowa and the Great American Cleanup, empowering Iowans to take action in reducing litter in their towns.”

Community members or groups are invited to participate. Organizations that often host clean up events include civic associations, schools, church groups, local sports teams, college clubs, groups of families and friends, businesses, Scouts and others. City municipalities are also involved in Pick-Up Iowa.

Sign-up now at

Broaden your botanical palette at Iowa Arboretum Spring Symposium

Special to the Times Vedette

Iowans working to create resilient, natural landscapes can explore plants that have broad geographic ranges amid current weather extremes at the Iowa Arboretum and Garden’s Spring Symposium, Saturday, April 6, 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“If your gardens have been struggling amid recent Iowa weather, this symposium provides you a broad range of strategies and a whole bunch of plants to consider incorporating into your landscape,” said David McKinney, curator of collections and grounds at the Iowa Arboretum and Gardens, organizer of the event.

The Iowa Arboretum’s collection spans 160 acres in Boone County, near Madrid, and focuses on trees, shrubs, and plants native to the state, as well as those proven suitable for Iowa’s climate. It is also a testing ground for major nurseries’ new introductions with plants currently listed for Zone 5, 6 and 7 in performance trials.

Three symposium speakers will present out-of-the-box ideas for incorporating native and prairie plants from throughout the Great Plains into naturalistic gardens that can withstand Iowa’s changing climate.

• McKinney will address the strategies and changes in land and water management the arboretum is using to address an uncertain climate future.
• Elliott Duemler, a restoration and conservation specialist and sales representative for National Nursery Products, will address the challenges and opportunities of working with native plants in designed landscapes. Duemler also will present a discussion of the native Carex species (sedges) and why they deserve broader use in Iowa landscapes.
• Bryan Fischer, curator of plant collections at the Gardens on Spring Creek, Ft. Collins, Colorado. The Gardens on Spring Creek (fcgov.com) will address underused plant selections from other areas across the Great Plains that will tolerate current and future Iowa weather extremes.

Tickets for the Symposium, which includes lunch and catered breaks, are $55 for Arboretum members, $65 for non-members. Reservations and lunch selections are due by March 29 on the Arboretum’s website www.iowaarboretum.org

The Iowa Arboretum and Gardens is a community-supported public garden inspiring curiosity, discovery, and appreciation of the natural landscape. Established in 1968 as a non-profit organization by the Iowa Horticultural Society in Boone County near Madrid, the Iowa Arboretum became a stand-alone organization in 1979. The Arboretum’s vision is to be a leading botanical, educational, and recreational destination fostering the value and enjoyment of nature. It features 160 acres displaying a unique collection of Iowa trees, landscape plants and native ecosystems. To learn more, visit: www.iowaarboretum.org.

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The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is partnering for a third year with MyCatch by Angler’s Atlas to conduct a statewide walleye fishing challenge from March 30 through June 30.

The MyCatch mobile app maintains anonymous location data, so anglers’ secret spots stay secret. Iowa DNR fisheries biologists receive only generalized lake and river catch data entered to assess and manage walleye populations. Specific catch locations from anglers are not listed on public leaderboards.

This year’s walleye challenge has been expanded to other states across the Midwest and into Canada as part of a larger fisheries research project funded by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.

Iowa anglers compete only against other Iowa anglers for biweekly prizes, while all catches from across the Midwest qualify for the grand prize drawings at the end of the event. Grand prizes for 2024 include a week-long fishing trip to Lac Seul Evergreen Lodge in Canada, as well as equipment from companies such as St. Croix Rods.

Anglers can register for the Midwest Walleye Challenge at www.anglersatlas.com/event/767. New this year, participants can choose the free entry option to qualify for non-cash prizes or pay the $25 fee to qualify for all prizes including cash payouts.                             

“The data we collected the last two years is very informative and valuable, both where anglers are reporting catches and systems that do not seem to have the walleye fishing pressure we expected,” said Jeff Kopaska, DNR fisheries research biometrician. “We encourage anglers to participate in this challenge to help us align future management decisions, such as stocking priorities with angler desires and expectations.”

Learn about the data collected the first two years of the walleye challenge and new incentives for this year’s challenge online with the DNR YouTube video.