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SEPTEMBER 2006
ESSEX & DISTRICT HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER
Good
news!!!
Our
President, Kathy Hudak, is still in the Toronto area celebrating the birth
of her and Paul's first grandchild, Aletha Ilene Purdy, born Wednesday
September 13th, 2006. Congratulations to the new Grandma and Grandpa!
And more good
news!!!
Doug Sweet,
Director of the Essex Parks & Recreation, has reported to Kathy that at the
Communities in Blooms awards presentation in Owen Sound Essex received 4
blooms. Doug says “we are moving in the right direction as we have moved up
to the high end of 4 blooms (from 3 last year). Thanks for everyone's
support"
2006 Ontario
Horticultural Association Convention
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The theme of
the Convention this year was “100 Years and Still Growing”. It was
held in Ottawa on Aug. 11, 12, and 13. This year we were represented by
Doris Parr, Teresa Vermeulen, Bonnie Teskey and Sandy Ellenor. We traveled
by train and arrived the night before the start of the Conference. The next
morning the Conference got underway with 2 Mounties embracing the stage and
various dignitaries greeted us. We were hoping for Prime Minister Harper
but instead got the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Leona
Dombrowski. She congratulated the OHA on their 100 years and told us that
the Province very much appreciates us and our volunteers. We have 40,000
members in Ontario and there are now 280 societies and the Province believes
that those who garden are healthier people. We also keep Ontario beautiful
through Horticulture.
The man on the
hot seat for this convention was Ken Fink, District 2 director, in charge of
31 Societies in the Ottawa district. He was in the position Alan Batke held
in 2003 when we hosted the Convention at the Cleary. It was a stressful
spot to be in. However he was a most congenial and gracious host and
presented our Doris with a wonderful “Princess Anastasia “ hosta in memory
of her husband George and the wonderful contributions he gave to our Society
for many years. We were so pleased.
Our first
speaker we heard from was Andre Poiquin, on Clematis. As an expert, he told
us there are now 9 groups of clematis and recommends 2 books on them - one
by Raymond Evison and one by Christopher Lloyd. There are 400 species of
them and 3000 cultivars- oh brother! Interesting facts about clematis are
they are extremely hardy, most tolerate down to -40C. They belong to the
Rannuculous family and contain a liquid that actually repels insects. This
is why British gardeners have always used them in their rose gardens.
Another strange fact is that climbing clematis can actually grow 3 inches in
about 2 hours during the afternoon. They can live for 100-150 years. The
ones we usually purchase are about 3 months old, he says they should really
be about 3 years old to be successful. Handle them very very carefully, the
stems break easily and wherever there is a break on the stem, fungus tries
to get in. Species ones are extremely hardy but the cultivars are very
fragile and disturbing the root too much can kill it. The original species
were very fragrant but in breeding the cultivars there is very little scent
left. Keep the soil cool; don’t over water- they root rot easily. A tip is
if you are planting a climber one, plant on its side. He said people
forever plant them upright , then try to pull them over to a trellis or
support. This gentleman had fine netting all over his brick walls and 150
clematis plants growing at one time. The fungus that attacks clematis can
kill the plant in 24 hours, and the larger flowered ones are the most prone
to it. Did you know that if cutting bees, earwigs and slugs eat the leaves,
they die, as the leaves are poisonous? I was really surprised at this,
that’s the first time I ever heard it.
In the
afternoon Teresa and I chose to go on a bus trip to see the Herb Farm at
Almonte. It was truly interesting. We had a guide who was extremely
knowledgeable on medicinal herbs and we were served lemon verbena tea and
chocolate mint cake and lemon verbena cake. They had a lovely gift shop.
On the way back to the hotel it was great to have Teresa with me as she is
from Ottawa and would point out things like her old school and where she and
her sister biked etc. Bonnie and Doris attended a flower arranging seminar
that afternoon and enjoyed it equally.
Another
speaker we listened to was Alexander Reford, who is from the famous Reford
Gardens in Quebec, or the Jardins de Metis. His grandmother, who was very
wealthy, started these gardens on the banks of the St Lawrence. Apparently
his grandmother gave all her wealth to the hospitals in Quebec. His
grandmother had purchased 840 peonies for these gardens in 1930, one of the
largest collections in the world and they are now studying them and trying
to catalogue them. Can you imagine spring there? Wow. Very beautiful.
They also grow blue poppies there in abundance but a very short growing
season, 135 days. It was most interesting story and the pictures of the
gardens are incredible so if you ever travel to Quebec make sure you get out
to the Gaspe Peninsula and see them.
It was
announced that the government is providing Ontario with a grant of $229,000
for volunteers and stewardship programs this year. This will further enable
the OHA to do things like recruit more environmental projects, to have 7
workshops a year to train people, to be able to produce posters, signage,
and banners. They will use it to fund the reprinting of OHA History in
Ontario, a book done years ago and badly in need of updating..
We heard from
more speakers on lots of topics, such as insurance. All directors are now
covered and it has cost the OHA half a million to do so. Junior gardeners
were again talked about and it was confirmed that they should be at least 6
and be charged at least $1.00 to be members for insurance purposes.
Our new
President Lisa Wolfgram urged everyone to spread the news about our
Societies and to please use the web page. You can access every OHA
newsletter on there, as well as our own Essex Society newsletter. If you
don’t know how, ask. We can help you. The website is www.gardenontario.org.
- your picture is probably on there - now go look and see. You will see
some familiar faces and their gardens! All the pics from our bus trip are
on there and if you were on the trip you just might be on the website.
Kathleen
Petrie spoke on our wonderful volunteers in each society. Can you believe
that 229 out of 289 societies reported 305,023 hours! If the Board and
Directors hours were included it totalled 312,953. Clap your hands
everyone and take a bow. She said think of it at $8 an hour if we were
getting paid and that would be $2.5 million given to our communities. It
does make you feel proud, doesn’t it?
The next guest
speaker we heard was Mary Pratt, President of the Canadian Peony Society.
She showed us awesome slides of just beautiful plants. Peonies have been
cultivated for over 2000 years that we know of. The early ones were used
for medicinal purposes, so are considered to be an herb. One tip she had
that was really interesting was that you can hold a bud ( in the marshmallow
or soft bud stage) for 6 weeks in the fridge. Now there’s a challenge for
you guys for the flower show. Wouldn’t that be a treat to see a peony in
bloom at our July show? She has a friend who has kept them
until
Thanksgiving for arrangements. Wow. She said prep of the soil is the most
important because all those peonies are able to outlive every one of us.
She said the new varieties don’t flop like the old ones did but they have
lost the beautiful fragrance in the breeding. Plant some new ones this
September, a perfect time for planting them in well amended soil.
In the
afternoon we had the pleasure to visit 5 different Ottawa private gardens by
school bus. We all enjoyed that.
Banquet
speaker on Saturday night was Ed Lawrence of the CBC radio gardening show.
He used to be the head gardener for Rideau Hall. After the banquet, some
members of District 11 including our District Director Ray and his lovely
wife Pat and former OHA President Shirley Daniels, former District 11
Director Alan Batke and his vivacious wife Karen came back to our room for a
visit. We had the largest room because there were 4 of us in it, so it was
the gathering place this year. It was a great time to reunite with our
District.
On the Friday
night we had been entertained by a wonderful group of Ottawa Valley singers
( Gayle Gavin) and I think it was the best entertainment I had seen at a
convention. There was birthday cake for all and a Congo line and everyone
sang Happy Birthday. It was a great evening.
Sunday we got
down to the nitty gritty, or what we were really there for. We had to vote
on various things, and thankfully (should I dare say that?) there were no
new resolutions, just “Housekeeping “things to vote on. However a new
constitution is in the works and up for lengthy discussion. Most changes
were simply wording. I have them written out and if you really wish to see
them let me know.
Then the
voting on the new executive for 2006 took place. Our new President is Lisa
Wolfgram, 1st Vice is Jim Mabee (District 10, London area) and 2nd is Ken
Fink.
We were
extended an invitation by a large group to attend the 2007 Convention which
will be in Owen Sound, hosted by Grey- Bruce and Huron counties.
Bonnie Warner,
Secretary for 18 years retired and Donna Christie, dressed as a 100 year old
gardener closed the 2006 convention.
On Sunday
after the convention closed we hitched a ride to the Governor General's
residence, Rideau Hall and took a tour of the house and then the gardens.
We saw the lovely perennial garden that Adrienne Clarkson had planted and
where she would look down from her window to gaze at it. We gathered acorns
on the grounds from a beautiful red oak planted by the Duke of Edinborough
in 1968 with thoughts that it would be a great project for the Junior
Gardeners to try to start a tree from them. We caught a taxi to the market
place and then walked back to our hotel, a LONG walk, but interesting. We
took a pit stop at the gorgeous Chateau Laurier, and stopped to rest at the
Parliament buildings. When I read this after writing it all down, I cannot
believe what we did and saw in just a few days. Wow.
We all enjoyed
the trip; thank you for sending us as your representatives. We were proud
to represent our club and District 11 and there were 24 from our District
which is phenomenal as we are about the furthest from Ottawa except for
Thunder Bay's group.
I know this is
a long story but we wanted to share all this information with you so you
know everything we learned. Thanks again for the opportunity.
Sandy
Horticultural
Therapy
^Top^
This spring, the Royal Botanical Gardens came to Essex County offering a
Horticultural Therapy Training course to anyone interested in learning about
it. As well, the benefits to implement effective programming were ideal for
volunteers and Activity Aides in nursing homes and retirement centres.
Administrators and professionals working with those challenged
developmentally, physically, mentally or emotionally partook in this
program. What is Horticultural Therapy (HT)? HT is the use of plants and
plant activities as a means to bring about improvement in life. It is a
time-proven practice that there are therapeutic benefits that come from
maintaining and enjoying peaceful garden environments. HT is recognized as
a practical and viable treatment for those with various abilities. They
learn gardening skills, adaptations and methods to provide a sanctuary of
comfort and peace for themselves, fellow patients, staff and visitors.
Nancy Lee-Colibaba, a Horticultural Technician at the RBG covered the
two-day training session at Country Village Health Care Centre in Woodslee,
Ontario. Her 20 years of expertise in Horticultural Therapy raises public
awareness through education and gardening methods that allow accessibility
to people with a wide range of abilities. HT begins with planning the
garden, ordering supplies, garden maintenance, tools and accessibility.
This stimulates decision making, independence and self expression. Designs
for these types of gardens are barrier-free to enable everyone to work,
learn and find peace. Wheelchair accessible entranceways and paths are a
priority in health care facilities. They are constructed wide enough and
gently graded. Raised beds and containers are utilized for one to maintain
plants. It is hoped the client's involvement with plant and colour choices
will create instant gratification, and show that there are no set rules.
Adapting tools to turn a disability into ability will improve self-esteem
and give one a sense of accomplishment. Healing Gardens enhance emotional
and physical well being. Not only does it soothe a client when he or she is
outside, it is therapeutic for those inside to see the garden blossom from
their windows. The Horticultural Therapy Basic Training program was well
attended and beneficial to my needs. An accredited Horticultural Therapy
Certificate course is presently running; first time in Ontario at the RBG.
I think it is wonderful that activities are being introduced in health care
facilities to provide wide-ranging benefits through HT programs. Gardening
really brings about quality in life.
Carol Anne Taylor
More
information on Hyper Tufa (Huffa) troughs
^Top^
Over the past
three or four years we have provided you with guest speakers, articles and
recipes for Hyper Tufa Pots along with instructions for making them
properly. Bonnie Teskey picked up many new pointers on both making the pots
(the speaker referred to them as Huffa Troughs) the media needed for the
plants to grow properly, and how to plant them, from one of the speakers at
the 2006 August convention and is generously sharing many of her notes with
us.
Thank you
Bonnie.
*Besides using
1 part of Portland cement, this speaker uses 3 parts of any combination of
sifted peat moss, perlite, vermiculite, sand or twigs. *Also use
strengthening fibre in this mixture, such as fibre glass or torn apart
yellow nylon rope. If there are tufts of rope sticking out after the
trough is finished, simply use a propane torch to burn them off.
*Use a
caulking gun tube for a drainage hole. This prevents the mixture from
sinking in toward the hole and closing it off. *If the trough is large, it
is wise to use hardware cloth or chicken wire to make the form more stable.
* Cover the drainage hole with coarse aluminium screen and then a lighter
piece of fine screen to keep out mice and bugs such as earwigs.*A free form
trough can be formed by using wet sand as a mould on a plastic covered
plywood board. Once again it is wise to use a caulking gun tube in the
drainage hole. *
*Materials
used for planting
1. Small cut
limestone available at Canadian Tire - (sift it to get small grit for
dressing the top of the
mixture)
2. Large
grit
3. A product
called Soil Sponge which is actually cocoa fibres (this has been used and
is highly praised for keeping soil moist by Lynn)
4. Composted
manure and top soil, also available at Canadian Tire
5. Cactus
mix
6. 2
Tablespoons bone
meal
7.
2 teaspoons green sand {glauconite}
(Unfamiliar with this, I looked it up - Green Sand
is an aggregate of
sand,
bentonite
clay,
pulverized coal
and
water;
apparently clumping cat litter is made of bentonite - Lynn
-)
8. a little
horticultural charcoal which prevents certain fungi...available at A & P
Facts:
^Top^
*Do
not use peat moss as it dries out and gets hard.
*Once your
pots have the proper mixture and are planted, try to leave them for at least
5 years to allow the plants to grow to a good mass.
*Alpines like
wet roots but not wet crowns; * many are evergreen; *they like to be planted
in pea stone, with not much soil, especially not rich soil *Even if they dry
out there is the possibility that they will come back the following year;
*keep troughs off ground to keep slugs out *even just a mixture of hens and
chicks makes a nice display in an Alpine trough *
Hyper
Tufa Trough Planting
^Top^
*Start with
the two screenings to cover the drainage hole (see above) *Put in the
planting mixture *Place any small rocks that you have over the entire
surface except the middle area, even letting them stick out a little over
the edge, keeping them flat as they would be in nature *if the rocks have a
grain lay it all in the same direction *clean all dirt off plants, even
rinsing them if you wish, clean them as if they had bugs - the original
soil may be too rich and you are also cutting down on the risk of disease
that might have been brought in with the soil* place plant by holding it
part way out of soil media - this way you can place grit under the crown,
giving the crown good drainage - remember, alpines like moist roots and dry
tops, or crown. *if you wish to use decoration with your planting,
southwest ( such as Arizona) decor would make a nice display *use fine grey
limestone to dress the top - at first it shifts around a little, but
eventually it becomes more solid *when watering let the stream of water
gently hit the rocks and trickle down so the top dressing does not get
disturbed *on top of the fine grey limestone, for a further top dressing,
use crushed sandstone, turkey grit, crushed limestone, small pea stone or
slate chips *as mentioned before, it is more beneficial to the look of the
trough to leave the plantings undisturbed for several years
Iris
^Top^
What are Rebloomers?
Rebloomers – RE -
varieties that produce more than one crop of bloom stalks in a single
growing season.
Remontants
- RE - another term for Rebloomers
CYRE
- The Cycle Rebloomers complete two distinct cycles of growth,
blossoming and increase in one growing season and produce the second cycle
of bloom stalks from maturing new increases. The second growth and bloom
cycle, usually beginning in later summer or early fall, does not
vernalization (a chilling period), although cool nights seem to promote more
rebloom.
RE r – Repeaters
produce additional bloom stalks on old growth immediately following the
initial production of spring bloom. It is not unusual for these varieties to
extend the spring bloom season for four to eight weeks.
ASRE
- All Season Rebloomers varieties that can send up bloom stalks
throughout the growing season.
RE c – Rebloom Carriers
while it does not rebloom, they have produced reblooming seedlings when
crossed with a rebloomer, which is valuable information for hybridizers.
Rebloom cultivars having just a sporadic tendency to rebloom are called
Occasional Rebloomers.
Rebloomers are found in bearded iris (MDB, SDB, IB, MTB, BB, and TB) as well
as beardless varieties. Beardless varieties which rebloom are called
Repeaters. They produce additional bloom stalks from old growth.
Repeaters rebloom immediately following initial production of spring bloom,
though sporadically from year to year. Repeaters can extend the regular
spring bloom season from four to eight weeks.
There are even a small number of rebloomers that are Continuous
Rebloomers or All Season Rebloomers that send up bloom stalks
throughout the growing season whenever a rhizome or its new growth has
sufficiently matured. Their bloom time is not controlled by day length, but
by soil temperatures.
Spring only bloomers that produce reblooming seedling if crossed to a
rebloomer are called Rebloom Carriers.
Growing rebloomers requires some patience. Some rebloomers need to be well
established before they rebloom so you may need to wait a couple of years.
Often those who live in warmer climates, and thus have longer growing
seasons, have the best success with rebloomers.
Rebloomers take a little more care but are definitely worth the extra
effort. Give them a little more fertilizer and water than your once-blooming
Tall Bearded Iris; they need an extra boost to flower again. Fertilize them
in early spring and again after spring bloom. Sprinkle it on the ground
around the root zone area. Don't shear rebloomers back in late summer or
they usually will not rebloom. They also tend to increase more rapidly so
you may have to divide them more frequently than once-bloomers.
Some of this was taken from a website (www.rebloomingiris.com) where Ginny
Spoon of Winterberry Gardens (www.winterberrygardens.com) provided them
information. Unfortunately, the rest of the information was taken from
couple websites where I did not write down their address. Some of it was
included in an online newsletter so I am thinking there is no problem in
reprinting it here...Lynn
Butterflies abounded this summer!
Even before the buds on the zinnias were half opened this
year I was contemplating not seeding the bed next to the deck and house with
zinnias next year, as they were just wild, reaching out in every direction
and looking quite unkempt. Then the monarchs and swallowtails arrived; it
seemed that they came even earlier than normal this year. More than once I
saw two butterflies vying for the same flower. Was one sweeter than the
other? The sight of the butterflies and flowers over such a long period was
so enjoyable that I will most certainly continue to use zinnias in that spot
in the coming years...Lynn
How many of
you had visitors in the tomato patch this year? I found a couple very
healthy looking Tomato/Tobacco Hornworms - one was nearly 4" long and 5/8"
thick. I found them quite beautiful, despite the fact that they had eaten
most of the leaves off the tops of my tomatoes before I noticed it. I did
not spare them!!! Lynn
An
environmental concern:
^Top^
Every month at
our meetings we contribute Styrofoam cups to the garbage. We want to change.
When you come to a meeting...don't come alone...LUG A MUG ... with
thanks from the executive.
Upcoming events
September
27
Essex
Horticultural Society General Meeting, Kinsmen Field house 7:30 pm
Guest Speaker
Lisa Suzor from Fig Tree Garden & Floral, Harrow, demonstrating Fall Flower
Arranging Don't forget that this is another Plant and Seed Exchange
night
All of
October
Hawk
Migration - Holiday
Beach
October 10
Essex Hort
Executive Meeting, Kinsmen Field house 7:30 pm
October
25
Essex Hort
General Meeting, Kinsmen Field house 7:30 pm
Guest Speaker
is a representative from ERCA speaking on Planting Trees in Essex
County Silent Auction
October 28
District 11
meeting hosted by Ambassador Horticultural Society, $18/plate, at the
Teutonia Club on Edinborough Street in Windsor
Deadline for
signing up is October 1st - contact Sandy Ellenor at 519 727-5215
November 12 -
December 10
Mary
Celestino, artist and author of Wildflowers of the Canadian Erie Islands,
has an art exhibit of nature paintings, "Where Lands Divide and Waters
Flow", depicting some of the most remote areas of Essex County.The
exhibit is held at Art Gallery of Windsor.
Reception and
talk by the artist Sunday, November 12, 2 - 4 pm
November
14
Essex Hort
Society Executive Meeting, Kinsmen Field House, 7:30 pm
November
22
Annual
Potluck Dinner with Election of Officers, Kinsmen Field house 6 pm Don’t
forget to bring your own place setting.
Guest Speaker
will be a representative from Cindy's Gardens, Kingsville, demonstrating
Outdoor Christmas Containers
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