April 2017 General Meeting Minutes

MINDEN & DISTRICT HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
GENERAL MEETING
TUESDAY APRIL 4th, 2017

MASTER GARDENER: Heather spoke about rain gardens: working with the rain and moisture that comes into our gardens to our benefit and arranging yourgardens to manage water runoff.  She also encouraged us to let the master gardeners know if there is a particular topic we are interested in.
(order of proceedings changed to accommodate Faye needing to leave by 3pm).
New members were informed about lug a mug.

CALL TO ORDER: The Chair called the meeting to order at
LOCATION: Minden Community Centre
CHAIR: President Karen Shirley.
ATTENDANCE:

MINUTES: Moved by Secretary Faye Adamson Seconded by Sandria Garry “That the minutes of the March General Meeting be adopted as read”
CARRIED

FINANCIAL REPORT: On behalf of Francis, Karen reported that our current bank balance
Moved by Elizabeth Carrell Seconded by Ellinor Kernohan “That the financial report be accepted”
CARRIED

GUEST SPEAKER:  came to talk about xeriscaping. Which she sees as easy because all you need to do is plant the plants, and then ignore them. She spoke to the past when plants were not widely available for sale in Canada, followed by the times of mass quantities of annuals, and only more recently having perennial and “native plants” become popular. She talked about the history of her property near Bobcaygeon, which she bought as an abandoned farm, and has turned into a thriving forest (buy planting 3 varieties of trees which revitalized the soil, and promoted the growth of a huge variety of other species that were lying dormant).
Xeriscaping is a landscaping method that used drought-resistant plants and conserves water. Advantages: less water, less maintenance, and no fertilizer. Disadvantages: you just may not like the plants. Some of the plants she recommended include: butterfly weed, fire weed, black eyes susans, lupins, Echinacea, yarrow, silver weed, strawberries, pearly everlasting, dog bane, bergamot, wild onion, corriales She recommended going to www.gamiing.org for further info and lists of recommended plants.

CORRESPONDENCE: We received an email from the committee for the Butterfly release a fund raiser for SIRCH. They would like us to set up an educational display regarding our idea of a pollinator garden: we hope to build this spring. The Butterfly release will be June 18th and in previous years it was $30.00 to buy one.
Province of Ontario congratulation certificate on our 40th anniversary from the office of Jamie Schmale.
7. Planters were donated by Gwen Turner to the Society to sell at the plant sale and the board put a price of $15.00 each
8. The Board decided that if a speaker requested a fee of more than $100.00 a motion would be made by the Board to pass the request.
9. The Pollinator Garden: It has been confirmed by Mark Coleman that the north side of the logger bridge would be ideal.
10. Report from D.4 AGM: Our Dist 4 recorded some 48, 000 plus volunteer hours. The OHA will have links from their website to ours, it is in the works. The OHA would also like us to put our garden event on the Garden Ontario website. Garden Ontario Week June 10th to 18th
11. N/A
12. The judges will be in and around town on July 19, 20, 21. They will arrive at the Village Green at 11:00am.
On Canada Day the Hort and Master Gardeners will have an information tent. Location to be determined. Looking for donations of planters and containers to make the information tent look attractive.
13. New planters have been ordered. Anne explained to the new members what Community Gardens is. Anne needs 3 volunteers to maintain 2 small gardens on the river.
14. Sent clipboard around to sign up for the trip which is Thursday, July 27th. Susan needs the emails of members.
Members need to bring their own lawn chair. Price for the picnic lunch to be determined.
15. The first Garden Show committee meeting will be Tuesday, April 25 @ 1:30 at the home of Michelle Lewis, 46 Anson St.
Michelle will contact the committee members.
The two judges have been secured for the Garden Show.
16. Izabel went over the procedures on how the library works for new members. Izabel pulled all books today on native plants to coincide with our guest speaker.
17. Our plant sale is May 27th from 10 am to 2 pm. This is our only fundraiser so we are looking for donations from our members. We need members to be at the Village Green by 8:30 am to set up. Pat Johnson has labels for the plant sale. The label needs to include: name of plant, colour, height of plant, sun or shade plant. We are also looking for gently used tools that we can sell at the plant sale.
18. Elinor sent get well cards to the following members: Sue Sisson, Rose Paliwoda, Susan Sheehan, Dorothy McIntyre.
19. Liz explained to the new members what and where the Village Green is and what it takes to maintain the Village Green. A clipboard was circulated for members to sign up to volunteer
for their week of maintaining the gardens.
20. Pat needs volunteers to help out with the Youth Program.
The program runs every Tuesday from 11:00am until 1:00pm May 23rd until the end of June. Students will be planting the 3 sisters in the community garden. (corn, squash, beans).
21. Licence plate covers are for sale at $10.00 each.
22. OHA Convention: July 21-23 2017
Sheraton Parkway Convention Centre. Theme Green from Shore to Shore
Application is on line. You must print off the application and mail your cheque in. The District pays up to $100.00 to each member attending depending on how many members attend.
23. Fall Seminar: Oct. 28th. Hosted by Lindsay and District at the Dunsford Community Centre. Photographic Competition;
A. Storm/Winter Damage
B. B. Children Love Flowers too
C. C. I have changed, two photos of the same plant (s). the first one taken during the summer.
The second one taken in the fall.
24. Other Business
25. Membership: 16 new members, 4 new members signed up today. 71 memberships sold in total
126. Coboconk and Norland Hort Society are hosting Miriam Goldberger Taming Wildflowers Wednesday, April 26th @ 1:00pm at the Pioneer Baptist Church, Norland
27. Attendance: 60 members today 28. Wendy Conley
SAT MARCH 4TH OUTING: $30 on March the 4th 9.00am -2.15 at Activity Haven in Peterborough. Let Karen know if you would like more info.
COUNTY FAIR IS A GO!!!!
KINARK OUTDOOR CENTRE: Faye Adamson requested donations of plants soil,
benches, or any other things you think we might need for our brand new sensory garden.

ADJOURNMENT – Moved by Karen Shirley Seconded by MJ.
“That the meeting be adjourned” CARRIED

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