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THE ESSEX THYMES
The Essex & District
Horticultural Society
September 2007 Newsletter
Let us be grateful to
people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls
blossom. ~ Marcel Proust
Did you Lug a Mug to this
meeting to prevent more junk from going into our landfills?
As
you may have noticed, our newsletter now has an official name.
Participants in the
Name the Newsletter Contest were Sandy
Ellenor who had 36 entries, Dorothy Vriesacker ( 4 ) (thanks for being so
gracious, Dorothy, when I lost your original list which I know had more than
4 entries on it), Camelia Mallia ( 1 ), Roberta Hernandez ( 1 ) and Lynn
Imeson ( 16 ). The directors voted for their 5 favourites. This resulted in
equal votes for one of Sandy’s entries, Essex and District Green Thumbs and
one of Lynn’s
entries, The Essex Thymes. We then took those two entries to our District
11 Co-ordinator Ray Clement, and also the editors of the Essex newspapers,
Laurie Brett of The Essex Free Press and Richard Parkinson of The Voice of
Essex. We asked them to pick their favourite. The votes were unanimous and
The Essex Thymes won. All participants will receive prizes at the September
26th meeting. Thanks to all who took some time to dream up the
58 entries. They were all great .......Lynn
A
Message from President, Sandy Ellenor
Hello everyone,
Welcome back to our first
meeting of the fall season. I hope you all had a fantastic summer and I hope
your plants and gardens did not suffer too much from the heat and drought.
If only we could have spread those August rains around, we would have all
had perfect gardens. It has been a tough growing season in 2007.
Thanks to all of you who
helped out at the Flower Show in July. We needed many hands to help out with
the bake sale and the plant sale tables. Congratulations to our winners.
They were as follows
Molson Trophy- Queen of
the Show-Dorothy Vriesacker
Margaret Crowder Trophy
for Best Arrangement-Margaret Dudley
Best Dried Arrangement-Margaret
Dudley
Best Herb Arrangement-Evelyn
Kogel
Junior Division-Most
Points- Mary Evelyn Lee
^TOP^
It
was wonderful this year to have air conditioning in that hall. I think
people stayed longer and enjoyed it more. It certainly was easier to work
there and not have to worry about dragging in fans and extension cords. We
had a great showing of entries. The ingenuity of our members boggles my mind
every year. Judges are always wowed by the number of entries- I was so
worried this year because everyone kept saying they had nothing to enter-
well you really surprised me and I was so happy!. Thank you for taking the
time to bring in entries. If there is nothing there for people to see, they
will never bother coming back. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Then
came August and the Convention in Owen Sound. It was one of the best and
most enjoyable conventions I ever attended. Ever since we hosted the one in
Windsor a few years back, I really appreciate the time and effort of
volunteers to make a convention a success.
I
think all our members that attend one will agree.
At
this September meeting we are going to conduct a fund raising lily bulb sale
in conjunction with
S-W Gardens
near Thamesville. They
have a wonderful lily nursery and if you ever get the chance you must go
there when the lilies are in bloom. You can see them in flower, pick your
choices and then you can order for fall delivery. The fall is an excellent
time to plant lily bulbs. You can check out their pictures of lilies and
price list at www.s-wgardens.com. . You will see what good prices we
are selling the bulbs at.
These
bulbs will be dug directly from the grower so will be top quality and very,
very fresh, unlike the ones you find in the big box stores and even many
nurseries. You must pay tonight, September 26th, by cheque or
cash (Sandra from S-W prefers cheques) and come to the October meeting to
pick up the bulbs or make arrangements for someone else to do so. Below you
will find the list of bulbs available in this sale in case you are looking
at this in advance on our website - which I hope you visit often!
^TOP^
Fund Raising
Opportunity for our Club from
S.W. Lily Gardens
All
bulbs are under $8.00.
Some are a savings of up
to half price
FANTASTIC
LILY BULB
SALE
Asiatics, Orientals,
Martagons, Trumpets & Hybrids
1 Acapulco(oriental) 4.5 ft
up facing 2 tone pink, Ripple petals 3/$12.00
2 Aladdin Glow
3ft Yellow 3/12.00
3 Black Beauty
5ft Dark red, white edge, Reflexed 2/10.00
4 Black Dragon
5ft Dark burgundy buds open to white with soft yellow centre 2/14.00
5 Cathedral Windows 3ft
Orange, yellow-red brush marks 3/12.00
6 Chariots of
Fire 4ft Fiery red, tetraploid 3/12.00
7 Grand Cru 3ft
Yellow with red brush marks 3/12.00
8
Latvia(asiatic) 3ft Tango yellow with maroon speckles 3/10.00
9 Navona 2.5ft
White 3/12.00
10 Red Velvet 4ft Deep Red
Velvet triploid, down facing 2/10.00
11 Royal
Trinity 3.5ft Orange 3/12.00
12 Scherherazade 5ft Red,
recurved edged with gold 2/15.00
13 Suncrest 3ft
Yellow heavily spotted 3/12.00
14 Super Nova
3ft Orange Tetraploid 3/12.00
15 Tiger Babies
3ft Dark Salmon. triploid 3/15.00
16 White
Henryii 4ft White/orangish yellow throat 2/12.00
17 Willowood
3ft Yellow, ox-blood blotch 3/15.00
18 Woodriff's Memory 3ft
Pink 3/12.00
19 Yelloween
4ft Chartreuse/ yellow 3/15.00
Please have a great month. Have fun tonight with our seed and plant
exchange and our excellent speakers. Mark the October meeting on your
calendar! We will have a Silent Auction that night so clean out
whatever you can’t use and bring it and donate it. It can be seeds, plants,
vases, knick-knacks, books, and magazines, whatever you no longer need. If
it doesn’t sell, please take it home, otherwise we will donate it on or keep
for the next one if there is not too much. It’s a lot of fun, bring some
spare cash, and it gives the club an opportunity to make a little extra $$.
Our
speaker for October, Jay Terryberry from St Clair College, has had to
cancel. Master Gardener Joan Jolin has graciously agreed to fill in. See
you in October and keep your fingers crossed for a very late frost.
^TOP^
Also from Sandy Ellenor.........
Here
is what I learned at the Convention and I want to
share the knowledge with you.
Ontario Horticultural
Convention 2007
On
August 10-12, f our members attended
Ontario’s
101st convention held in the very beautiful city of Owen Sound.
The MPP for Owen Sound told us Owen Sound is celebrating its 150th
year this year. Your reps were Kathy Hudak, Teresa Vermuelen, Bonnie Teskey
and Sandy Ellenor. We had a wonderful time and as your delegates we want to
thank you for letting us represent you amidst all those Horticulture
Societies, large and small from all over the Province. I will give you a
synopsis of what we learned this year. The theme this year was ““Keeping
Ontario
Beautiful- Visions of our Future””.
All
food used came from a 100 mile radius of
Owen
Sound-
there is a book about this. All dishes and utensils were 100% biodegradable
- they were made of a plant starch that apparently
disappears quickly in a landfill - 45 days
On
the first day, as is usual, Memoriums were read. They always read the names
of those that Societies have lost as members in the last year. Each Society
can submit names throughout the year. As they read off each Society, they
came to Essex - and the first name happened to be ““Sandy Ellenor” much to my
surprise!. It was very hard to remain solemn thru the rest of the names.
What happened was I sent an e-mail to them submitting the name of our friend
and member Ted Minnis - lo and behold they got the names mixed up. I sure
got some ribbings over that. We did get it straightened out and Teds name
was put in the beautiful Memorium book that they keep.
We
were told the membership in the OHA is down considerably and costs like
insurance have risen. It has increased from 50c to 65c per member. There
now are added insurance costs to cover all directors. There will be a one
time premium charge to each society of $21.75 to help recoup some of the
costs. They are going to waiver the bonding fee for treasurers this year
which will save about $20 so its not going to be too bad for each club .
They are increasing the number of societies - from 6-12 that can receive
$100 for a tree planting this year. They also will go from 5-10 the number
of societies who can get a $500 grant for special projects.
Speaker Patrick Lima, from
Larkwhistle Gardens on the Bruce Peninsula was guest speaker and spoke on
the state of the environment .He and his partner have gardened there for 32
years. He noted how the flowers are bleached out now by the stronger rays of
the sun, and leaves on the trees look exhausted now by mid August. We have
altered the atmosphere and our plants are the first to show it. He said
tree limbs are weaker, the sun burns our vegetation, weakening our plants so
they are more vulnerable to insects and as our summers become hotter and
drier, and winters have less snow cover, our plants are in trouble .He
himself followed the 100 mile diet and challenged others to try it. All life
is interconnected and his motto is live simply so others may simply live.
The
OHA has a Trillium grant that will go to 2009.
Volunteer hours for all societies submitted 371,000 hours, up over 100,000
from last year. Please keep track of any hours you donate to the club this
year - planting, weeding down town, working at the plants sales, flower
shows, etc. We have to send it in.
There
are now 19 Districts - we are District 11.
Saturday we heard
interesting speaker, Victoria Serda -“Solutions for a Changing Climate””.
She is working with Al Gore on Climate Change . He is training 200 people
like her to do these presentations to make every one more aware of just how
much our climate really is and has changed in a short time. She said
greenhouse gases are the problem; they sit in a 12km wide band around the
earth. More trees are being cut down, more forest fires are occurring and
concrete production all really contribute to the problem. There is an
alarming difference in Canada’s ice between 1978 and 2003; there has been
much permanent melting. Rainfall tendency is now heavier but less frequent
and this is bad news for gardeners and farmers. It is a crisis for growing
food, droughts will increase and people need to plan for the future. As for
our lakes, shallow water heats faster and also dries up faster. The Great
Lakes are going down , ports will be affected. Goderich did a study and if
the lake goes down 1 meter it will cost them 20 Million $$. The snow and
ice on the Rocky Mountains is melting at an alarming rate. The perma frost
is getting smaller in the far north( this is ground that never thaws),
causing trees to topple over and buildings have collapsed. Where dumps were
placed on the perma frost they are now having to move to landfills. There
are now only 100 days that it is safe for traveling for getting supplies up
there over the ice road. Pipelines are shifting which is a very dangerous
thing. Polar bears are drowning, trying to find better places to fish and it
means more of these poor animals are coming into mans areas, a dangerous
situation for both. In the Windsor Star August 29, page C10 there is an
alarming article titled “Arctic Passage Opens”. Did you read this? It says
a ship could travel from Tokyo to Boston this way. This summer’s record melt
has opened the Northwest Passageway. They said this year you could go thru
that passageway in a sailboat without seeing any ice. Next year will be a
bigger melt. This is totally unprecedented. We also are seeing big shifts in
the seasons. How many green Xmases did you see as a kid - how many have you
seen lately?. It affects things like West Nile Virus, and new diseases from
other countries surviving here. Last year many snowmobile trails up north
did not even open. The climate affects insect populations - like the pine
needle beetle which is killing more trees out West than logging and wild
fires put together. Then they clear cut and burn the trees causing more
gases to the atmosphere. Do you know the drought is affecting our rivers -
people are using more irrigation - do you know that they are pumping water
into the Grand River, it is so low and it is the source of water for
Kitchener-Waterloo?
How can you help simply?
Do not let your car idle more than 5 minutes, turn lights off when not
needed in the house, recycle everything you can, compost, use motion
detector lights - they only come on when needed, use solar powered lights,
use energy star rated appliances, turn off your computer at night, keep the
monitor off, use short cycles on the washing machine, use cold water for
laundry, lower temps in the house, insulate, use weather stripping and
caulking, car pool, telecommunicate when possible, check your tire pressure
and plant more trees!!! It is a scary prediction of what is to come in the
not so distant future..
Your new OHA President is
Jim Mabee, 1st Vice is Ken Fink and 2nd is Kees
Stryland , elected by vote.
Speaker for the banquet
was a humorous David Philips , Senior Climatologist for Environment Canada.
He had some hilarious weather stories for us but certainly reaffirmed
Victoria and Patricks concerns about the future of our weather and our
environment.
One more speaker - Trevor
Ashbee - he is the horticulturist for the Fergus-Elora area. They have
amalgamated into Centre Wellington. He did a presentation about what they do
for Communities in Bloom. Imagine what
Essex could do if we had a paid horticulturist, 2
helpers and a large greenhouse as does that community. Wow. Must be nice.
We also went on some bus
trips to some interesting gardens and nurseries in Meaford and to Keppel
Croft Gardens in Big Bay. (We also took the “lets stop here” trip on the way
home so got to see lots of interesting places)
Next years convention is
at Sheridan College in Brampton. Think about going. I know this is a very
lengthy report but we learned a lot we want you to learn as much as we did.
Thank you again for sending us.
Sandy
^TOP^
Another perspective of the
Convention from our Treasurer, Bonnie Teskey ...........
Well, we girls had a great
trip to Owen Sound. The theme of the convention was using food grown
within a one hundred mile radius. It was stressed that if we try to do this
as much as possible we won’t use as much gasoline hauling produce etc.,
around the globe. This in turn will help save the environment.
As Sandy has already
mentioned, all the cups, glasses, paper products and even the disposable
knives, forks and spoons were compostable. They didn’t look much different
from the plastic cups and cutlery we are used to using.
Many of the speakers used
this theme also. I went to two seminars - one on flower arranging - using
it as an art form - and also a slide show on the geology of the
Bruce
Peninsula and the flowers growing there. They have many different kinds of
rock, but most of it is shale which if reconstituted would turn back to
mud. There is also an abundance of wild orchids to see.
After the convention we
headed home, stopping to see some neat places along the way. We visited a
“Secret Garden” in Paisley and then over to Chesley where we got permission
to visit a huge garden with a large white gazebo and other large
structures. There was a pond on the property that was fed by a river which
travels past the place. The property belonged to the President of the local
Horticultural Society. He was away at the convention. He is in his mid
80's and lives three floors up, overlooking his garden.
We also saw a lovely back
yard garden and gift shop. The owners were kind enough to open it up at
6:00 p.m. on a Sunday.
All & all we had a
wonderful & educational trip.
Bonnie
^TOP^
Daffodils 2008
Tim and Norma O'Hagan will
be planting bulbs this fall at the Essex Legion and Cenotaph to honor past
and present members, family and friends affected by cancer.Anyone wishing to
assist with the cost($25.00 per 60 bulbs) can contact Tim at 776-9517.Donors
will be advised of planting dates and are welcome to come and assist or just
attend. All purchased bulbs will be given back after the spring flowering
if requested.
Word on The Naturalized
Landscape Course from Dan Bissonnette
Our unique six
week, adult evening course blends the best of traditional landscape concepts
with
practical information on
attracting wildlife, native plants and other methods for creating your own
natural oasis. Since first being introduced in 2002, this course has been
taught to over 500 people from across Windsor and Essex County! These
classes are open to both new and experienced gardeners, this course provides
instruction in planning and design, construction and maintenance
The series of classes
begin Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Colasanti's Tropical
Gardens in Ruthven.
All weekly classes begin
at 7:00 and typically last about two hours.
Only $50 per person.
Seating is limited to the first 25 registrations.
To reserve your space,
call us 519-259-2407.
Dan Bissonnette, Program
Coordinator,
The Naturalized Habitat
Network 519-259-2407P.O. Box 292, Essex, Ont. N8M 2Y3
Congratulations to Walter
and Phyllis Gerard who celebrated 48 years of marriage on September 12.We
wish continued recuperation and good health to our members Pat Newhouse,
Cathy Beaulieu and Jill Barden
July 14, 2007
Flower Show 50/50 draw winner:
Bonnie Teskey $30.50
Flower Show participants
draw - gift certificate winners
$25.00 from Essex Home Hardware - Pat Newhouse , $20.00 from Lil's Country
Garden - Juliette St. Pierre $15.00 from Essex Home Hardware - Kathy Hudak
, $10.00 from Essex Home Hardware - Camelia Mallia June
meeting and July Flower Show Raffle Ticket Winners:
#1 -
Sandy McCrone, Essex, #2 - Teresa Vermeulen, Essex, #3 - Anne -Marie Smit
Cottam, #4 - Margaret Gold, Woodslee; #5 - Lauren Kennedy - Essex; #6 -
Kathy Mills, Essex , #7 - Jill Barden, LaSalle; #8 - Phyllis ?, Windsor;
#9 - Dorothy Vriesacker, Essex; #10 - Sandy Ellenor, Puce
^TOP^
“Stuff”
from Lynn Imeson
I
cannot remember where I found this information early this summer; perhaps it
was in the newsletter from the Tilbury Horticultural Society; We have
learned that a lavender farm has been started near
Chatham
by the brother of Kathy Smyth. Kathy belongs to the Tilbury Horticultural
Society and runs their newsletter at present. This is an even closer
lavender farm to visit than one I had mentioned in the late Winter/early
Spring which was east of
Toronto. If and when I find out more I will give you details.
Sometime this summer Sandy Ellenor was visiting our place. We were watching
some frogs in the smaller pond beside the gazebo. Several frogs had their
attention turned toward the trunk of the silver maple which hangs over the
pond. They began hopping closer and closer to the trunk. Because I had
previously seen them do this I just imagined they were again interested in
the ants on the trunk. Then I spotted a huge, very, very, hairy light yellow
caterpillar creeping down the trunk - didn’t see that caterpillar very long
- a frog slammed himself against the trunk, got that caterpillar and fell
back into the water with it in his mouth. Previously I had seen these frogs
hurl themselves against the tree to collect ants. Then they would fall back
onto the rocks surrounding the pond. Ouch !!! These are the same frogs
that sit under the weigela when it is in bloom. Several branches hang over
the water; the frogs sit on the rocks at the edge watching the gigantic
bumble bees busy in the flowers; then they ever so casually flick out their
tongues and get those things and swallow them !
On
July 25th and 26th Neal and I saw bats for the first
time in the 18 years we have lived here. We are sure they have always been
here - we just did not see them. It was dusk; we were on the deck and they
were swooping over us. At the same time the fireflies were blinking all
over the lawn and oat field. It was quite the nature fest. After that
night we saw them quite frequently at dusk.
This
past month we have had more hummingbird sightings that in all the years we
have lived here. They love the Rose of Sharon blooms, the morning glories
scattered around the yard (one is even growing up an apple tree, and one
bunch is on the green house), earlier the larkspur and trumpet vine flowers,
the cardinal vine flowers and the silver lace vine blooms. The cardinal
vine is on huge bamboo poles on the deck right next to our patio table.
Sometimes we hear the humming whir of the wings before we realize the bird
is right next to us. Other times I have been working in ‘my cement shop’
area, have heard the whirring and have looked up to discover one of these
tiny creatures two feet from my head. It is trying to decide which morning
glory to visit next !
Another very hot day I drove the car up on the grass behind the house. Just
before I opened the door I noticed a goldfinch two feet from the car. (Again
the two foot measurement) It was sitting on the echinacea busily eating away
at the seeds. I could not believe that it had not flown away when I drove
up. It sat there and sat there, eating and eating. Finally I had to open
the car door as I was cooking !
I
have had an ongoing war with the barn cats who like to sit under the finch
feeders looking for their own dinner. We have swarms of goldfinches, no
thanks to the cats. I have rescued many a bird from their mouths this
summer. Sometimes they are not injured and fly out of my hands. Other
times they are not so fortunate, have wounds and die shortly afterwards.
Yesterday (9.20.) Neal put a huge extension on both finch feeder hangers so
that now instead of the bottom of the feeders reaching 4" high, it is more
like 5'10". Surely those cats cannot leap up that high ! The birds are
still getting caught however, as near the feeders is a swath of Cosmos which
the birds visit frequently. Trouble is, the cats hide underneath the
cosmos.
We
cannot declaw these fat cats or have them wear bells as they live in the
barn to catch mice and rats!
^TOP^
COMING EVENTS
Sept 26 General
Meeting - speakers Marjan and Craig Willett from Wheatley Woods Nursery
Plants
On
Native Plants
We
will also have our fall Plant and Seed Exchange
Fund Raising
Opportunity for our Club
from S.W. Lily Gardens
The O’Hagans taking
orders for daffodils donations - see article on a page above
Flower Show
Trophies being handed out
Oct
9 Board meeting
Oct 17
Youth Gardener Club
October 18 Watford
Horticultural Society is hosting Paul Zammit. He is a dynamic speaker with
a degree in agriculture from the University of Guelph, and
is perennial department manager at Plant World in Toronto. He spoke at our
District 11 Convention in Windsor and 2003 and also at the London Convention
in 2004.Their meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. and they will probably take a
donation at the door. Some of us plan on attending. If this sounds
interesting to you, look for further details in upcoming newsletters.
Oct 24
General meeting - Speaker - Master Gardener, Joan Jolin - also our Silent
Auction
Oct 28
District 11 Annual Meeting hosted by
Belle
River
- Emeryville K of C - 9 am Speakers TBA
Nov 13
Board meeting
Nov 28
Annual Dinner with Elections of Officers
6pm - Pot Luck - bring your own (Christmas)
place setting. Christine Martin - Cindy’’s Gardens
speaking and demonstrating Green Christmas
Arrangements - also demonstrating making a bird
seed wreath
^TOP^
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