Well, the year is MARCHING on, isn’t it? Spring is almost here and I know you all anticipate it as much as I do. It’s the time when the ground begins to warm and we can find any excuse to get outside and poke around in the yard.  I can never wait to see which of my old friends will appear first and who didn’t make it back from a long winter’s sleep - I do mean my favourite perennials. This year I am a bit worried about some of them ( as usual).  In January with all those warm temps, things like my newly planted peony trees and my butterfly bushes had plump new buds and then the frigid temps hit very quickly with little time for those tender plants to adjust. The buds are not looking very good right now, so time will tell I guess. Some of you are already enjoying Snowdrops, Hellebores and early Crocuses. I am anxious for the tulips and daffs which tell me Spring is really here, and I hope all is well in your gardens.

Thank you to all of you who donated items for our Silent Auction last month.  It was a wonderful variety of odds and ends and made for a fun and interesting night.  Don’t forget next month will be our plant and seed exchange so as you clean out your flower beds, don’t throw any plants away- (just the weeds)- and pot them up or bring them in for our meeting.  Pots are the best thing to put them in but if you have none, or don’t have the time, boxes, bags or flats will do just fine.  We are not that fussy. You may not want some of these plants in your garden anymore or have no room for 25 extra seedlings but some club members may be happy to get them.  If you walk through the Train Station Heritage Gardens you may recognize many of your excess plants, as a lot of leftovers from our exchanges have ended up there. Usually we find a home for all. Bring in as many as you can spare, because they may be a treasure to someone else and the more variety everyone has to choose from, the more fun it is.

Sandy                                                                                                               ^ TOP ^

Drop into your local post office to view Canada Post’s newest flower stamps released as of March 1^st  - featuring two Canadian lilacs: ‘Isabella’ - originated 1927 - Ottawa Central Experimental Farm - Isabella Preston, hybridizer;  and ‘Princess Alexandra’ - cultivated in 1874 by former Windsor mayor James Dougall.

Also look for the new ‘Permanent Stamps’, also with floral images.

These stamps can also be viewed and purchased online at www.shopcanadapost.ca

A piece titled Garden Tour Etiquette can be read by looking through the on-line Spring 2007 edition of The Trillium, the newsletter of the Ontario Horticultural Society.  It can be found at www.gardenontario.org.  Click on gardenshare in the top black strip.  From there click on newsletter and flip through to page 13. 

The Green Web Spring 2007 - this publication is free to any of us (specifically our club) who are deemed FRIENDS of The Arboretum, University of Guelph, Ontario.  We qualify as we made a donation in  memory of Henry Kock in the past couple years.  The newsletter is not available on the University of Guelph Arboretum web site, www.uoguelph.ca/arboretum.  In our printed newsletter we included three pieces from this newsletter; namely 1.  Remembering Henry Kock, 2.  Creature Feature: Spring Peeper, and 3. A poem for the Volunteer.  You can look at our copy by asking Sandy Ellenor or if you wish a copy of your own, one it is available for a donation (amount was not specified).  Call 519 824 4120, ext 52113. 

Web sites of interest regarding species at risk:

Habitat Stewardship Program:  www.speciesatrisk.gc.ca

Species at Risk Act: www.sararegistry.gc.ca

Ontario Species at Risk: www.on.ec.gc.ca/wildlife/sar/designation-e.html

Web site of interest regarding Canadian woodlots:           www.modelforest.net

Tidbits Pat Newhouse has found:                                                                        ^ TOP ^

Another World

It is pleasant to think, just under the snow,

That stretches so bleak and blank and cold,

Are beauty and warmth that we cannot know,

Green fields and leaves and blossoms of gold.

             -Fay Hempstead, American poet (1847-1934)

When February sun shines cold,

There comes a day when in the air

The wings of winter

Slow unfold,

And show the golden summer there.

           -Philip Savage, American poet (1868-1899)

From the Royal Botanical Gardens, Burlington, Ontario                                          ^ TOP ^

During the entire year, if you have special plants, blooms or landscaping effects, either indoors or outdoor, but lack the equipment to either take the photos or get them on line and share them with others, phone Lynn Imeson at 519 839 4751 or e-mail her at lynneal@gosfieldtel.com.  She will come to your home and take the photos and get them to our web master.  He will put them on our website giving credit to you.

If you have anything to add to the coming events page please contact Lynn. 

Please also contact Lynn Imeson if any of you wish to distribute society pamphlets to your favourite organization or group whose members might find them of interest.

 ***   If you have decided to enter your poetry in the 2007 Convention Poetry contest, please note that the Poetry Permission Form provided by your E & DHS January 2007 Newsletter and by the OHA website in the Winter was not the appropriate form.  For the correct form either contact Lynn Imeson or Sandy Ellenor or go to the website http://www.gardenontario.org/docs/2007%20POETRY%20rev%203.pdf and print out the proper form.The poetry must be submitted by May 21^st, 2007

 Things that made me smile this month:                                                      ^ TOP ^

1.  Every sunny day and some cloudy ones our couple hundred fish in the mud pond come to the surface to enjoy the warmth.  Since the pond level is even with the grass, we were able to get really, really close to the little guys

2.  We have clumps of snowdrops everywhere in the yard - many small groups, one large one.  One of my friends e-mailed me photos of her yard where she had thousands of the little flowers.I also saw a beautiful display on the outside of a hedge east of Cottam on County Rd 34 last week.

3.  Sandy Ellenor and I attended the Michigan Herb Associates Conference at the U of M in Lansing and once again enjoyed many wonderful speakers, silent auctions, vendors, the annual banquet and tasty meals...and of course the shopping on the trip there and back.

4.  On Saturday, March 17^th my husband, my daughter and I enjoyed the London Orchid Show at the Western Fairgrounds.  The displays were breath taking and the sales room was packed with orchids and buyers.  There was even a jeweller displaying sterling silver earrings and pendants finely crafted into the shape of beautiful orchid blooms.  We also ran into a few friends from Belle River and Windsor. (How many plants did you buy, Albert and Juliette? ;) )

5.  My tropical hibiscus, which I chopped back unmercifully 1 ½ years ago as it threatened to overtake our living room, and which, since then, has produced only 2 blooms (last August), has finally decided to quit sulking and is now producing many beautiful blooms.

Lynn

The following tips have been in our newsletter before, but since we have attracted so many new members in the past couple years we thought they would appreciate reading them.

Set strawberry plants in a layered bed (see lasagna gardening below).  Runners fill the bed and there is no heavy weeding and little watering necessary.

HOT COMPOST:  Pile should be 4' x 4' x 4'.  This will enable it to get hot enough. (140 to 160 f. degrees).  Remember you can even use torn strips of newspaper in your compost - ink is now soy based, so is not contaminated

TO DETER DOGS, DEER AND PERHAPS EVEN SQUIRRELS

8 oz Murphy’s oil soap   4 oz caster oil   5 oz hot sauce  1 cup old urine (yes you read correctly)

Use 1 cup of the above mixture in 20 gallons of water and spray on everything you want protected.

SQUIRREL REPELLANT apply every 2 weeks 1/3 cup lemon dish detergent  4 oz castor oil  hot sauce

ANT REPELLANT

In blender puree 2-3 hot peppers, 1 clove garlic, ½ mild green pepper and ½ onion.

Let mixture stand for 1-2 days, strain through cheesecloth or pantyhose

To use:

-mix one part mixture with four parts water

-spray in areas where you see ants and other pests

CAN BE USED INDOORS OR OUTDOORS AND CAN BE FROZEN FOR LATER USE.

LAZY BED POTATOES: Buy seed potatoes, which are disease free at a garden centre. Cut potatoes in pieces, making sure each piece has at least two to three eyes, which are the sprouts.  Put potato down with cut side up for 24 hours. This allows sprout to dry out.  Make a cage with an expanded tomato cage, chicken wire, or old tires. Layer the bottom with 12-18 " straw. Place potato pieces cut-side down with the eyes up, and space 12" apart. Add 12" more of straw. Wrap crate in burlap to keep sun out. Keep sprouts watered, allowing vines to grow, but continue to wrap straw around so that no more than 6" of vine is exposed. Potatoes produce product very quickly. OR:  Grow potatoes in shallow garbage cans.  Put soil and seed potatoes in bottom and fill with mulch.

Later, dump cans and pick.

 LASAGNA GARDENING:  If you want to change a small patch of grass into an instant flower bed without using chemical grass killers: make a lasagna bed!: Layer many, many thicknesses of (wet) newspaper, then kitchen scraps (green compost), compost, very old composted manure, top soil, wood ashes (for flowering gardens, not vegetable gardens), peat moss, chopped leaves, and grass clippings.  Presto! Instant garden.  Your layer should be about 8 inches thick.  Just tuck in your plants, water and watch them flourish!

On the same vein: Layer, rather than mound, compost ingredients and then mulch the top.  The bed is ready to plant.

                                                                                                                       ^ TOP ^

COMING EVENTS 2007

Meetings of other Societies in the county.

The Belle River Club meets the 3rd Wednesday of the month at the K of C in Emeryville.

The Fort Malden Society meets the 4^th Tuesday of the month at the Community building next to the arena in Amherstburg.

March 28      General meeting  Speaker Marg Dudley on Shade Gardening

April 10        Board meeting usual place and time

April 12 - 15 Ontario Garden Show - Royal Botanical Gardens, Burlington 1-905-634-8003

www.ontariogardenshow.com

April 13 - 15 For the Love of Gardening 2007 - Peterborough Garden Show

Speakers - Paul Zammit, John Valleau and more - Evinrude Centre

www.fortheloveofgardening.ca

April 18             Youth Gardeners Club  flower drink holders and sidewalk chalk

April 25        General meeting   Speaker Maria Pap from Flora Gardens  

                   Plant and Seed Exchange

April 28        Fort Malden Rhodo Sale at 3400 County Rd 10 (Middle Side Road),

                    Amherstburg 10am to 3pm.  There will also be raffle tickets for a Rhodo.

                   The winning ticket will be drawn on May 27^th after the Fort Malden Garden

                    Tour and Fair.

May 4 – 21    Weekends only - Tulip Festival - Ottawa www.tulipfestival.ca

May 5           Garden Delights and Plant Sale at the Essex Train Station    9am to 3pm

May 5           Second day of Fort Malden Rhodo Sale at

                    3400 County Rd 10 (Middle Side Road) Amherstburg 10am to 3pm. 

                   There will also be raffle tickets for a Rhodo.

                   The winning ticket will be drawn on May 27^th after the Fort Malden Garden

                    Tour and Fair.

May 8           Board meeting usual place and time

May 16         Youth Gardeners Club  - to be announced

May 23         General meeting Speaker Arlene Welsh (and possibly Joan Shyshak also) on Sunny Perennials

                   Bargain Shop on Wilson Street, Essex. 

                   Time: Bus Leaves at 7: am SHARP;

                   Please be there between 6:30 and 6:45.

                   First Stop :  Parks Blueberries near Bothwell for their special offer to us,

                   Coffee & muffin for $2.00.  We will also have a short time to shop there. 

                   From there we are on to the private garden of Louise Weekes in London;

                   Lunch at the Mandarin on Wellington Road, then on to Van Horiks Green Houses,

                   then a Garden and House Tour of the oldest home in London,

                   The Eldon House.  When we leave London we will once again visit the lovely farm

                   of Elly DeNijs with its Nursery, Perennial Haven near Newkirk

                   $60.00 for members; $65.00 for non-members

Fee includes $17.99 lunch at the Mandarin and also the $4 entrance fee to the Eldon House.

June 9 & 10  Canadian Peony Society Annual Show and General Meeting

Royal Botanical Gardens, Hamilton, Ontario  www.peony.ca for further information or contact carolyn.milne@sympatico.ca

June 12        Board meeting usual place and time

June 20        Youth Gardeners  bring in a white T-shirt along with a handful of

                    medium to large leaves plus plastic jell-o making supplies.           

                   *Pizza party for summer*

June 27        General meeting at St. Clair Gardens, 2736 Cty Rd 46,  Ruscom area. 

Owners Dennis and Mary Hirt

Be at grounds before 6:30 with lawn chairs.  Meeting starts at 6:30.

                   St. Clair Gardens features 2 acres including a huge pond;

                   400 varieties of hosta; butterfly gardens, grasses,

                    lilies, alpines, flowering shrubs, hypertufa troughs

July 14         Flower show during Fun Fest    

August 10     August 10^th through 12^th - Annual OHA Convention in District 8 - Owen Sound -

                    details ---see Sandy Ellenor or log on to www.gardenontario.org             

Sept 11        Board meeting usual place and time

Sept 19        Youth Gardeners

Sept 26        General meeting Speaker Marjan and Craig Willett from Wheatley Woods

                   on Native Plants   We will also have the  Plant and Seed Exchange

Oct 9           Board meeting usual place and time

Oct 17          Youth Gardeners

Oct 24          General meeting Jay Terryberry from St. Clair College     Silent Auction

Oct 28          District 11 Annual Meeting hosted by Belle River Emeryville K of C 9 a.m.   speakers TBA

Nov 13         Board meeting usual place and time

Nov 21         Youth Gardeners

Nov 28         Annual Dinner Banquet with Election of Officers  6 PM

Pot Luck; bring your own (Christmas) place setting

Christine Martin -Cindy’s Gardens on Green Christmas

Arrangements and also a demo on making a bird seed wreath