Digging in for fun: Flowers, trees and butterflies abound for Chateau Girardeau Garden Club

Chateau Girardeau residents with a green thumb and an interest in flower gardening get together monthly in the Chateau Girardeau Garden Club.

"We meet on the third Friday of the month at 10 a.m.," says Sina Kaiser, a resident of the Cape Girardeau retirement community who coordinates the programs for the club. "We meet here at The Chateau and we like to have the meetings outside when we can. Then, sometimes we'll go to places like the Conservation Center for meetings."

The garden club maintains a flower garden on the premises at Chateau Girardeau.

"We call it our secret garden," jokes Kaiser. "It's completely surrounded by buildings, and in the middle of the four buildings is our beautiful garden. Residents like to sit out there for lunch or to read, and families of residents like to go out and enjoy it as well."

The Chateau Garden Club also maintains the Wildflower Trail in the North Woods and a section of trees in the New Woods, all on the Chateau Girardeau property.

Marge Bauerle tends the Firethorn Pyracantha in the certified butterfly garden April 28 at Chateau Girardeau. (Fred Lynch)

"Marge Bauerle, who is a Master Gardener, started the Wildflower Trail," says Kaiser. "My husband, Ed, contributed a lot to that, and he also planted 150 trees in the New Woods. You can see the trees from Mount Auburn Road."

At the monthly meetings, members hear a short program relating to gardening and discuss things that need to be done in the garden.

"There is money given to the garden, usually in the form of memorial gifts," Kaiser says. "At meetings, we decide what we can do with the money. We've had a new roof put on the gazebo and had the gazebo painted. And if something (in the garden) dies, we try to replace it."

The Chateau Girardeau Garden Club has 25 members. Each person in the club has a job, depending on what they like and are able to do.

"Some maintain the butterfly garden and some take care of the raised garden and the bulb garden," says Kaiser. "Some of us can't do physical labor in the garden anymore, but we can contribute in other ways. There is also a local Master Gardeners Club that comes out and helps us sometimes."

Jean Miller works in the certified butterfly garden April 28 at Chateau Girardeau. (Fred Lynch)

No dues or fees are charged to be in the Chateau Garden Club, and anyone can be a member. Maintaining the flower garden is the club's primary focus.

"It's a working garden," Kaiser says

She enjoys being in the Chateau Garden Club for a variety of reasons.

"I love digging in the dirt, but I can't do it anymore," Kaiser says. "This is a way to stay involved in something I still enjoy."

Carmen Robertson, who started the Chateau Garden Club in 2006, is the president of the group.

"Our mission is to make The Chateau bloom!" she says. "I love going down there (to the garden) to check on things and to talk with people about the garden. You'll see people who may have their mother or father in assisted living taking them around in a wheelchair to enjoy the garden. There is a sense of wonder in the garden, and it's a happy place to be."

Robertson says the butterfly garden within the Chateau garden is a certified butterfly garden.

Ruth Pautler, left, and Betty Chasteen water the plants in the certified butterfly garden April 28 at Chateau Girardeau. (Fred Lynch)

"To be a certified butterfly garden, it has to offer only plants that appeal to butterflies, and there has to be water available," she says. "No pesticides can be used, so if we see a bug, we just have to pick it off the plant!"

There also is a section in garden called an overflow area for plants or flowers that residents no longer can care for or use.

"If a resident receives a plant or flower, say, for example, a lily, after it blooms, they don't really want to keep it anymore," says Robertson. "They can (donate it to the garden) and we'll use it in a bed. Sometimes, the overflow area is one of the prettiest areas of the garden."

Jean Miller is an active member of The Chateau Garden Club who, along with Mary Bell Mueller, manages the raised garden.

"I love flowers, but I am no longer able to take care of a lot," says Miller. "I like having a small area to work in."

She says she loves seeing people enjoy the garden.

"Lots of people come out to enjoy it, and we have garden parties out there," says Miller. "I remember seeing one of our older residents out there one day who no longer remembers much. He walks in the garden a lot. One day, when the garden was in full bloom, he was in a chair all sprawled out, just looking at the garden and enjoying himself! Things like that make it worth every minute of the work we do out there."