Jul. 3—JAMESTOWN — Deb Greshik looked at the flowers and vegetable plants being given away at the 4-H Livestock Arena at the Stutsman County Fairgrounds on Tuesday, July 1, searching for a few that she could give to her daughter, Amanda, and granddaughter, Nataura.
“I think this is amazing,” Greshik said. “Very generous because it’s from … such a long reach of help that’s coming in to lend a helping hand.”
Amanda and Chris Hofmann and their daughter Nataura lost everything on their farm northeast of Spiritwood to a tornado on Friday, June 20. Greshik and her husband, George, came to the giveaway to help them replace some of their vegetable plants and flowers.
The flowers and vegetable plants were given away by nurseries and North Dakota State University Horticulture and Landscape to people affected by
the June 20-21 storms in this area
.
Laurie Podoll, a member of the Prairie Rose Garden Club in Jamestown, which coordinated the giveaway, said Tuesday that 6,439 plants were donated.
“This isn’t an event that’s going to replace somebody’s car, or house or tree,” Podoll said. “But this is an event that is for everybody’s heart to let our community know that other people noticed us in the state and that this is a feel-good thing that we all need. We have insurance for the rest but for us to get over the emotional and the loss because people love their flowers and stuff, this is just something for that.”
On Tuesday, people severely impacted by a tornado or the storms were given the first opportunity to pick out some plants.
“… some of those people, their whole yard’s gone, so I don’t know what they’re doing as far as starting over,” said Erik Laber, a member of the garden club. “But even if you have to live in a camper for a while, it might be nice to have at least one pot of flowers out front just to make it feel like home until you can get your house built again.”
On Wednesday, July 2, the giveaway expanded to anyone affected by the storms in the area.
Laber said Kimberly Lemieux, owner of Hidden Treasures Greenhouse at Rolette, North Dakota, started the effort with an email to the North Dakota Nursery Greenhouse and Landscape Association (NDNGLA).
“So she emailed the NDNGLA and she said that she had extra plants from her greenhouse and she was thinking other greenhouses may and that she’d like to offer to donate them to the people in Stutsman, Barnes (counties) and other areas affected by the storm last week,” Laber said. “And then she asked if they’d get the word out to other greenhouses and see if they wanted to donate to the cause.”
Lemieux said she always has a few extra plants at the end of the season and she tries to donate plants somewhere.
“So when those storms went through a couple weeks ago, I thought you know, I’m probably not the only greenhouse that’s got extra plants,” she said.
That prompted her to send the email.
Hidden Treasures Greenhouse and Devils Lake Greenhouse transported about 70 flats to Jamestown, Lemieux said. Each flat contained 12 to 15 plants.
Also donating were Country Gardens and Flower Power Greenhouse, Podoll said.
“And then NDSU Horticulture and Landscape (department) under Facilities Management (department), they gave and they must have given around 100 flats,” Laber said. “So most of these that we got were ones that no one was buying and it was the end of the season. … Instead of throwing them away, they figured they’d do something good with them and help out people that lost their plants in the storm ….”
S & S Landscaping donated some hanging baskets and several flats of plants from its retail greenhouse in Fargo as well, Laber said.
“It’s kind of cool that the community and people from outside the community reached out and were willing to do that,” he said.
Prairie Rose Garden Club members picked up plants that were donated in Fargo. Laber said Nick Bruns offered his enclosed trailer to transport the plants, saving them the cost of renting one.
The donated plants were brought to the 4-H Livestock Arena at the Stutsman County Fairgrounds.
Connie Lillejord, president of the Prairie Rose Garden Club, said a representative of the Stutsman County Fair Board approved the garden club using the arena to hold the flowers and vegetable plants and water for them.
“Just very appreciative that they would allow that to be kind of the central location for people to come get the plants and donating the water and the space for us to use,” Laber said.
The club members posted the giveaway plan on social media.
“These flowers have been donated as a way to give back,” Lillejord said. “We’re hoping to make a lot of people happy.”
The annual flowers donated included petunias, celosia, salvia, begonia, marigolds and geraniums, along with others.
“And then there’s also some cucumbers, mint, peppers and tomatoes that they brought for people that maybe lost part of their garden too,” Laber said.
The giveaway on Wednesday was on the honor system, Laber said, for people whose yard was impacted by the storm in Stutsman and Barnes counties or surrounding areas. He said they were hoping all the plants would go.
Nancy Burow came on Wednesday to find some tomatoes and peppers.
“I had a very large garden, like 20 tomato plants, 18 cukes, tons of peppers and completely wiped out by hail,” she said. “Not one plant left, so I thought I could salvage some of the garden.”
She said she had been looking for replacements.
“I was amazed (by the giveaway), I was already trying to buy some plants and stuff, but as many as I had, this helps a lot,” Burow said of the few plants she picked out.
Deb and George Greshik picked out flowers, tomatoes and cucumber plants on Tuesday for their daughter and her family, who are currently living in a rental home in Valley City.
“She (Amanda) had just done a container garden and then some other garden stuff” which were destroyed in the tornado, Deb said.
The Greshiks tilled a garden spot at their son Christopher and Nichole Greshik’s farm near Spiritwood Lake so Amanda can still have tomatoes and pickles as she planned with her garden, Deb said.
“I’ll can the tomatoes up for them because that’s what we were going to do with what she had planted at the farm,” Deb said.
Nataura lost her fairy garden and other entries she had readied for the Stutsman County Fair, Deb said, and she picked out some flowers to help her rebuild it. Even though Nataura didn’t have any fair entries, she still attended to support her 4-H group, Deb said.
It was important to pick out flowers for Amanda, too.
“I want her to be able to have some flowers at the place they’re renting, you know, like let Nataura put together her little fairy garden again, kind of a chance to rebuild,” Deb said.
Lemieux said she was “pretty pleased” with how well the donations turned out.
“I’m so thankful that someone can use this stuff that we just tend to throw away,” she said. “And I know I’m sure they were all busy with the tornado cleanup and all that and plants are probably the last thing on their brain, but I know if I lost my flowers I would be so sad — because I hate winter and I just love my summers and my flowers, so I was just happy to be able to help.”