Kathy Krouch

Uncommon  grounds  owner/speaker  Kathy  Krouch  joins  us  again with another of her marvelous talks and slide presentations.  This time the topic will be “Annual Color in Your Garden”.  Along with her slide presentation, Kathy  will  discuss  new  ideas  for supporting annual color in your garden.

We all know the Kansas City area weather is “HOT”.  In our climate the only good color that does well in the heat is yellow.  But we should not feel deprived of the rest of the color palette.  Kathy will tell us about blending colors without being stuck just using the color yellow stretching out beyond petunias and marigolds. 

With the use of new plant material and identifying how to pick new and healthy annuals, we will learn new ways to intertwine an assortment of plants and an assortment of colors to dazzle any yard and neighborhood throughout the entire summer and fall.

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Just for the Koi of it
Join Dr. Kevin Allman

Back for a return performance is Dr. Kevin Allman, a WGS member from Kearney, MO, presenting a 30-minute film made from scenes taken on his Koi buying trips to Japan. 
 

After visiting ponds on our Public Tour in 1993, Dr. Allman and his wife Claire were hooked on water gardening.  They joined the WGS in early 1994 and began their pond adventures.  As in most situations, their first pond was small and they only had goldfish in it.  Two years later they built an additional larger pond for Koi.  Soon the two ponds were connected to make one big pond.
 

Then as luck would have it, in 1997 the Allman’s moved to property in Kearney that had a 15,792-gallon pond!  They kept this pond until they moved again to their current home and built a 9,033-gallon pond.  Even though this pond is smaller in size, the filtration system in the new pond is doubled and only imported Koi call this pond home.

Every year for the last four years, Dr. and Mrs. Allman went to Japan on Koi buying trips.  They have returned each time with exquisite specimens.  One trip lead to the purchase of a 32 inch, 60 pound Koi.  This incredible Koi remained in Japan to be entered in the All Japan Koi Show, where it was named Reserve Grand Champion.  This Ochiba Koi was then returned to the Allmans where it resides in their Kearney pond living the life of leisure with other Japanese imported Koi.

Through his extensive research and knowledge of Koi, and the many visits he and his wife have taken to Japan to purchase and admire Koi, Dr. Allman has put together a film with special Koi highlights. There are also other scenes from Japan, including scenes from Ojiya City, the birthplace of Koi.  For Koi lovers and wannabe owners this should be an exciting presentation not to be missed.

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