The Essex Thymes

The Essex & District Horticultural Society Newsletter for September 24, 2008

Remember to Lug a Mug.

On the afternoon of September 7^th, 2008 members of the Essex & District Horticultural Society were very privileged to be invited to an Open Garden at the home of Albert and Juliette St. Pierre on West Belle River Road, Belle River.  Those of us who were able to attend were treated to a swath of tall pink cannas and a dazzling array of huge dahlia blooms.  For those of you not able to attend, please see the photos of the beautiful gardens on the farm on this website under ‘photos’ and St. Pierre Gardens.

A Message from Our President, Sandy Ellenor:

September is here and like the kids going back to class, here we are, back to our meetings.  It was a great summer, but a very strange season for our gardens.  We went from the wettest month of June on record to the driest August in all of Canada.  Talk about extremes !  When we went to the Ontario Horticultural Convention in Brampton, all we heard from the rest of Ontario were moans and groans describing the all too frequent rainfall.  How unique we are here in this little hub of Essex County.  Unfortunately by September our lawns and gardens were really suffering form the lack of water but his is a new season and the rain is on the way.

Thank you all for the opportunity to attend the OHA Convention in Brampton.  The theme this year was “Sharing Our Diversity”.  We had 5 members who attended this year – Doris Parr, Bonnie Teskey, Teresa Vermuelen, Kathy Hudak and myself.  It was a great experience and there was a good turnout from District 11.  We heard some awesome speakers and learned a lot.  I attended 2 seminars on updates for Judging for the flower shows and attended the Master Gardener General meeting.  We all got to see that dynamite speaker Paul Zammit who just really gets you pumped about flowers – he says he has a legal addiction to them and it really is contagious.  We also saw a great speaker on digital photography.  One hint that he gave that is very important is that when you have your pictures on a CD you should re-do them every 5 years because no one knows how long the CDs will last and this way you will be able to keep precious family photos, etc.

A representative of the Ministry of Natural Resources spoke to us and said the Ontario government is going to plant 50 million trees in the next couple of years.  They are focusing on native trees for bio-diversity.  Liz Primeau spoke to us on front yard gardens.  She was the former editor of Canadian Gardener magazine and has written several books, the last one being “Front Yard Gardens”.  She told us “every garden reflects the personality of the owner.”  (oh dear!)

Our new President is Ken Fink form the Ottawa area.  Second VP is Keys Stryland from Timmons.  Next year’s convention is in Peterborough at Trent University and unfortunately for us is July 10 – 12, the same time as the Essex Fun Fest and consequently our Flower Show.

Our meeting next month will be a Silent Auction once again so gather your discards and donate them to the club to earn a little money.  Any books, magazines, vases, knick-knacks, dishes, plants – anything you’d like to get rid of (almost anything – but definitely not anything alive), bring it on in.  If it does not sell please take it back home at the end of the night or we will donate it or dispose of it. Come prepared to buy and take something new home and have a lot of fun.  Get your winter reading at bargain basement prices.  We will sell all magazines at 25 cents each and books at $1.00.  Everything else goes to the highest bidder.  If more than 1 person bids the same price we will draw – so bid high if you really want something.  We will have an area for higher end items with perhaps a minimum bid.  We never know what we will have until we get here that night – so help us out;  it’s for a good cause and you will feel good to get rid of some clutter.                                                                                                         ^TOP^

Enjoy this autumn and we will see you next month ……….Sandy

July Flower Show …….Thanks to all of you who helped in any way with our Flower Show.  You really all need a big thank you for making it another successful day.  I could not believe the creativity that came out from the Theme “Alice in Wonderland”.  You really made it special.  We had 109 entries and 22 people entered this year.  In the Juniors In the Juniors category, Lilly Isberg, granddaughter of our member Betty Isberg, was the winner with her brother Freddie very close behind in second place.  They did a wonderful job.  The winner of our Best Rose trophy was Sandy McCrone and if I am not mistaken I think it was Sandy’s first attempt – well done Sandy!

July is a hard time to get a good rose – they are much better in June  The Best Herb Arrangement trophy went to myself and the Best Arrangement in the Show went to – for the first time in the history of the Essex Flower Show – two people.  Both these entries were so magnificent that our judge just could not decide between them.  They were both truly unique and totally different.  Sooooooo it was a tie between Deanna Greaves and Mary Evelyn Lee.  Your entries were all wonderful and the creativeness you showed made me think you really all are winners.  Thank you for a job well done and thank you for working on the various tables and bringing in all the baking, plants and yard sale items.  Thanks especially for donating your time.  It is truly appreciated.   Sandy.

Things I learned at the Brampton OHA Convention 2008 – Bonnie Teskey

1)       Don’t prune Buddleja (butterfly Bush) in the fall.  This will kill it.  In the spring don’t prune until its leaves break.

2)       Use a spray of garlic and water, strained, to kill Japanese beetles.

3)       Plant Fritillaria on its side.  The bulbs are cup shaped with scales.  If planted upright, water will sit in the scales and rot them, whereas if it is planted on its side it will stay drier and the stem will still come up straight out of the ground.

4)       Clary sage & fox gloves are biennial but if you keep them deadheaded so they don’t produce seeds they will act as perennials and bloom the following year.

“No living man will see again the long-grass prairie, where a sea of prairie flowers lapped at the stirrups of the pioneer …….”  Aldo Leopold, 1949                                                                                                   ^TOP^

Daffodils 2008 – Tim O’Hagan

Thanks to all members who donated to last years Daffodil plants at the Legion and Cenotaph beds.  These flowers were to honour past and present family and friends affected by cancer.

Anyone wishing to assist with the cost ($25.00 per 60 bulbs) can contact Tim O’Hagan at 776-9517.  All purchased bulbs will be given back after Spring flowering or donated to local garden areas in need.

Ontario Horticultural Association website address:  http://www.gardenontario.org/index.php

To contact Master Gardeners with questions:  essexwindsor@mastergardeners.fastmail.fm

Delights of Fall – this week – Lynn Imeson

My husband is once again calling from the deck – “hummingbird alert, hummingbird alert”.

He is having a break between his many jobs, sipping a cool drink – I am busy in the kitchen – I run out just in time to catch a glimpse of not one, but two hummingbirds, right on the deck.  They are sampling first the dragon-wing begonia nectar (from Maria Pap’s – Flora Gardens) and then the bright fuchsia coloured geraniums spilling out of watering cans near the gazebo.

Then I notice all the tree sparrows sitting on a low branch of the silver maple next to the pond.  There are at least 9.  They are very quiet, looking up and down, left to right, then, singly, darting down to the very large, curved cement rhubarb leaf butterfly/bird bath I made this past summer.  There they all take drinks and baths in the water, still not making a sound.                                                                                                                ^TOP^

Greenhouse Bees spread disease to Wild Bees – 7.28.08 – from Reuters

From Washington – Disease spread to wild bees from commercially bred bees used for pollination in agriculture greenhouses may be playing a role in the mysterious decline in North American bee populations, researchers said on Tuesday. 

Canadian researchers studied another type of bee, the bumblebee, near two large greenhouse operations in southern Ontario where commercially reared pollination bees are used in the growing of crops such as tomatoes, bell peppers and cucumbers.

The researchers first observed that the commercial bumblebees regularly flew in and out of vents in the sides of the greenhouses, escaping form the facilities.

The researchers then devised a mathematical model to predict how disease might spread from this “spillover” of runaway commercial bees to their wild cousins.

The model predicted a relatively slow build-up of infection in nearby wild bumblebee populations over weeks or months culminating in a burst of transmission generating an epidemic wave that could affect nearly all of wild bees expose.  The model also predicted a drop –off in infection rates as you get further from the greenhouses.  The researchers then sampled wild bumblebee populations around the greenhouses, catching bees in butterfly nets, holding them in vials and taking them back to a laboratory to screen for pathogens, including testing their feces.  The patterns that had been predicted by their mathematical model were borne out by studying the wild bees, they said.

Most of the parasites in the wild bumblebees were found to be at normal levels except for one intestinal parasite known as Crithidia bombi that is common in commercial bee colonies but typically absent in wild bumblebees.  The researchers found that up to half of wild bumblebees near the greenhouses were infected with this parasite.  

Marie Tiborcz’s 2008 Found Yard Project #7  -  Halloween Totem Pole

Collect at least 6 pumpkins, ranging in size from large to small;  paint faces on the pumpkins, cut out the top of each pumpkin (as you usually would if carving a face and putting in a light), except for the smallest pumpkin;  run a pole through the centre of each pumpkin, nestling each pumpkin into the next (because the top of each pumpkin has been removed);  brace the totem pole from the back with a 2 x 4 or similar object;  paint cardboard ears and arms and attach and you have a Halloween Totem Pole!

Dorothy Vriesacker’s 2008 Found Timely Tip #6  -  Instant Centre Piece

Remember that old tiered dessert stand you have shoved toward the back of the closet or on that high, high shelf?  Bring it out and fill it with all those beautiful little gourds that are available right now;  add silk garlands of autumn coloured leaves, garlands of tiny little pumpkins, stems of berries and grass seed heads and some garlands of soft-coloured silk greenery.  Instant Centre Piece !                                                                             ^TOP^

2008 Communities in Bloom Report from Kathy Hudak

You can make a difference.

Together we grow, United we bloom…..Awards…..4 Blooms with Most Improved

Our entry into Communities in blooms started 4 years ago and just in Ward One.  The Essex and District Horticultural group wanted to show off to others that we take pride in the beautification of the 1i or more gardens of flowers that we plant, tend and give TLS to, along with celebrating the good job that the parks and recreation watering attendant who has been very diligent.  The first year we obtained 3 blooms.  What did we know!  We knew we were proud of our achievements and ended up finding the others that our area has, examples were found in the CIB judging criteria…..

1. Tidiness…Our Main Street was neat and clean most of the time but butts, garbage, foot prints and tire tracks in the flower beds that we worked so hard to maintain was a battle as the majority of our group is in the over 55 group.  The Essex BIA promotes a spring clean up day, but we need to think before we discard.

2. Community Involvement… We have service groups who improve our community.  The Essex Fire Fighters who created Sparky’s Safety Park;  The Heritage Essex Inc. who save the Train Station from demise;  The BIA hosting different activities to keep our business district fresh and active;  The Adopt a Bed program etc.

3. Heritage Preservation…Found in the Train Station, Carnegie Library, Co-An’s Park, Steam Engine Museum and John R. Park Homestead.  The murals that show us our past, Military history in the cannon and the war monuments.

4. Floral displays…These flower beds mark our communities warm and welcoming and create a place people want to be

5. …Environmental awareness…The use of the Pesticide Reduction Awareness Program, composting programs, blue box recycling programs help keep our soils, water and air clean.

6. Urban forestry…Keeping our mature trees and planting seedlings helps us to breathe, cools our planet and provides serenity.  Thanks to ERCA and property owners who plant these trees.

7. Landscaped areas…This includes hard scaping (maintaining of buildings and creating places to sit), green scaping with planting trees, grasses etc., and colour scaping of flowers.

8. Turf and ground covers…This is our parks, playing fields, golf courses and road sides.  The Town’s Park and Recreation Director has established a turf and management program and Union Water has guide lines to follow with water conservation guidelines.

These are the judging criteria and how they relate to us.  These over the last 4 years have improved.  I have noticed an improvement in our community.  The small activities of picking up garbage, or just not throwing it in the first place, preventing graffiti, preventing vandalism, repairing buildings, planting a flower, native plant material, fruits, vegetables or a tree and watching over these (taking ownership).  All of these activities create a better place for us to live.

In July we had two visitors;  Marie Huxter from Whitby, a previous Communities I Bloom Chair, and Kathy Wood, a garden columnist for the Muskoka Sun, a Director for the Garden Writers’ Association and a Bracebridge Horticultural Society member and CIB member.  In the 2 days that they were with us they visited Essex’s mural tour, Carnegie’s Historical Preservation Library, walked the Heritage Gardens, biked the Chrysler Greenway at Sadler’s pond, Civic Centre naturalized area and ERCA, Firemen’s Sparky’s Park Maplewood Apartments Community Garden, sewage plant, Ken Lapain’s home, Detroit River clean up site, Gas and Steam Engine Museum, Co-an Park with its 120 tree planting program, The Gagnon house, Hotsin house, McGregor Post Office Gardens, Morton-Collins house.  The next day they toured Harrow’s BME Cemetery, a Harrow Street Walk, new Parkette, Harrow Fair grounds and Arena, a walk through Pollard Park to the Butterfly Garden and playing fields then the Harrow Research Centre, the oldest Jesuit Pear tree in our area, visited the 1994 Conservation Farm Award winner, John R. Park Homestead, toured the wine areas, Colchester Harbour with historical cemetery and church and finally Heritage Village..

These were two busy, fun filled days.  The results gave us 4 blooms and the most improved award.  The maximum we would be able to achieve would be 5 blooms.  Hopefully next year!

This is not a competition against anyone except ourselves.  This gets us to look at ourselves as an outsider would look at us.  These judges gave us ideas on how to improve on the many things that they saw.  Now it is our turn to take the results and do our picking and choosing on what we want to act upon.  I just want to say to all the volunteers.  We do a great job – take ownership as you can make a difference.  -  Kathy Hudak

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