Annual plant sale Saturday

Mark your calendars, Yuma! You don’t want to miss the MGM Garden Club’s plant sale from 9 a.m. until noon Saturday at the Robert J. Moody Demonstration Garden, 2200 W. 28th St. Tours of the garden will be available upon request. Master Gardener’s will be available to answer questions or just talk about gardening.

Remember when I used to call the Moody Garden a baby garden? It is no longer a baby. We started planting that empty lot seven years ago this month. My how it has grown.

 I’m at the extension office a couple times a week but don’t always take the time to walk through the garden. I did just that a few days ago - some trimming and pruning is being done and it makes the garden look so different – and so good. I think you will be amazed how it has changed, too. It is a grown-up garden now.

Stacey Bealmear is the horticulture agent for the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension office and has been here almost two years now. She just bought a house so I think she is planning to stay. We are so glad because she has taken on the responsibility of the Moody Garden with open arms. She also has some exciting plans for the cultivated garden area, too, just west of the large gazebo. Stay tuned!

The drumming group that meets at the Robert J. Moody Demonstration Garden will have no more Thursday night sessions until the days get longer again. Starting at 3 p.m., we are moving our meeting time to every Sunday. Hope to see you there. Come early and enjoy a stroll through the garden or stay after and take an early evening walk. For more information, call me at 343-4020.

For several months now I’ve been slowly making some changes in the garden in my backyard. Jim and I finally decided to give up on the grass; now I have to decide what to do in that area. In my mind it has been several different things over the last few weeks. I like to reuse things in my garden to make it a low budget project so it takes time and some creative thinking. I suppose that can also be called procrastination.

I’ve been leaning toward a meditation-type garden, however, quiet meditation is not my style. I’ve found tai chi’s moving meditation is more to my liking. To me, gardening and tai chi go together.

After spine surgery, I promised my daughter Alica I’d see about finding a qi gong or tai chi class. I didn’t expect to find them at all in Yuma but both were offered at the YMCA. I signed up promising myself I’d try it for four months. As most of you know, for just over a year now, I’ve been attending the classes at the YMCA three mornings a week. I’ve met so many nice people who are in the class, too.

This last September, Jim and I were visiting our daughter in Brewster, Mass. on Cape Cod. She and I attended two tai chi classes with two different instructors. They were an exercise but not at all what I expected or what I’m used to at the YMCA here in Yuma.

From talking to the instructors on Cape Cod, I understand traditional instruction is not always available. I now realize how fortunate we are to have it here in Yuma and taught by Ed Hays, master tai chi instructor. One Cape Cod instructor told me that the 108 is very hard to find an instructor and it can be very expensive. Once again, how lucky we are as the membership fee to the 'Y' is all you need to join a class or (as I do) all three classes offered three times a week.

We call the forms the 24, 36 and 108. The Orthodox Beijing style tai chi consists of 24 postures and was put together by the Chinese government in 1960 to unify the different styles of tai chi. The Cheng Man Chin’s form is a short Yang style tai chi which was developed in the 1920s and brought to the west in the 1930s.

The third one – the 108 - is the traditional yang style tai chi developed by Yang Fu Chan of 108 postures developed in early 1900s. It is a more simplified form of tai chi than the one developed by his grandfather in the 1870s.

It is not necessary to memorize the forms but I’ve made an effort so I can do tai chi at home and in my garden. There is so much more to tai chi than exercise for the body. It also gradually involves the mind and spirit. Good stress reducer, too.

I’m to the point that I need my garden to be less labor intensive. I’ve noticed I enjoy it more! Yes, I seem to be a slow learner!! I don’t have to get wet, dirty or bone tired now; I can just be in the garden enjoying nature.

I’ve been asked to include this notice, too. Arizona Native Plant Society, Yuma Chapter will meet at 7 p.m. on the third Thursday of the month at the Yuma County Main Library. The program for Nov. 19 will be Tom Fox sharing photos of some awesome plant/insect interactions he observed this summer.  Call Karen Reichhardt at 210-1471 for more information.

Ellen Gardner is a Master Gardener who writes the articles the first Thursday of each month. For more information about the MGM Garden Club or the Robert J. Moody Demonstration Garden, she can be reached at 343-4020 or gardner3028@netzero.com.

For more information about the Robert J. Moody Demonstration Garden, visit http://cals.arizona.edu/yuma/horticulture/moody_garden/index.html or  http://gardencentral.org/azgardenclub/westerndistrict. Members of the four Federated Garden Clubs of Yuma write articles for this column.