News : Cottage Garden Society gifts Benton County Conservation with Donation

Conservation representatives and Garden Society members teamed up to plant the seedlings around the Wildcat Pavilion. The pavilion provides a great place for groups to meet and dine. It is located next to new restroom facilities.

-Photos by Nancy Geiken

By Nancy Geiken, Reporting for the Cottage Garden Society

In September of 2025, members of the Cottage Garden Society visited Wildcat Bluff Recreation Area and learned about the wonderful opportunities that await the visitors and students right here in Benton County. During the business meeting, the club discussed the possibility of giving a monetary gift for further development of native flora in the park.  Stan and Nancy Geiken were selected to make contact with Benton County Conservation to come up with a plan.  Conservation employees were very interested and the result is native plantings and educational materials in the form of signs.  Numerous classes of students have already visited Wildcat Bluff Recreation Area and Aaron Askelson, Naturalist, is hoping to grow this program.

The Cottage Garden Society encourages lovers of the out-of-doors to visit Wildcat Bluff Recreation Area.  Benton County Conservation has done a wonderful job of developing 23 electric camping sites and 3 non-electric.  The Pavilion is a great gathering center and is convenient to new restrooms.  Campers will find Boating, Disc Golf, Fishing, Fossils, an Eagle nest, and lots of great hiking trails in a wonderfully wooded setting.  The park is open to the public from mid-April through October 6 a.m. – 10 p.m.

The Cottage Garden Garden Society is a “garden club” that meets from March through October.  They plan educational programs for many of our meetings.  They are also focused on beautifying Vinton.  The club has donated a metal sculpture to Evergreen Cemetery, and has planted downtown flower pots for many years.  They worked with Cindy Elwick and family to bring the hanging flower baskets to downtown Vinton and donated the extra baskets for Celebration Park.  For the last three years they have selected a Blue Ribbon Yard for the months May through September and featured that yard in the Eagle/Times.  For more information about the Cottage Garden Society, please visit the ISU Extension Office. They usually have a few extra copies of the Annual Program Booklet.