MINDEN & DISTRICT HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
GENERAL MEETING
TUESDAY April 5th 2016
MASTER GARDENER: Beneficial Insects- Presented by Lou Loree. Lou presented a power point presentation on a great number of beneficial insects for our gardens grouped into 4 categories: Pollinators: Bees and Wasps, Flies, Butterflies and Moths and Beetles. Some of the beneficial insects that are good for our gardens are: Lady Bird Beetle, European Earwigs, Stink bugs and beetles just to name a few. The bottom line Lou claims is, if you don’t know what the bug is, don’t kill it!
GUEST SPEAKER: Dianne and Gary Westlake- Both spoke about “Garden Art for Cheapskates”. It was suggested we visit a variety of gardens to get some creative ideas on how to add the same beauty to our gardens but at a fraction of the price! We were presented with an amazing power point presentation of Dianne and Gary’s beautiful garden art throughout their property. Gary and Dianne explained the process of making many of their lovely pieces of garden art to us. Many of the items used in their gardens were purchased at recycle depots. For more information you can visit www.dianneandgarywestlake.com
REFRESHMENT BREAK
CALL TO ORDER: The President, Mary Jane Irwin called the meeting to order at 1:00pm.
LOCATION: Minden Community Centre
ATTENDANCE: 36 in attendance
MINUTES: Moved by Michelle Lewis, Seconded by Sue Flinders-Adams
“that the minutes of the March 1st meeting be accepted as distributed.” CARRIED
FINANCIAL REPORT: Frances reported that our current bank balance is $2731.68.
Moved by Frances Thivierg,e Seconded by Margaret Giles
“That the financial report be accepted” CARRIED
COMMITTEE REPORTS & EVENTS
COMMUNITY GARDENS: Karen reported she will be planting the canna lily bulbs in pots. Some will be used for main street planting and the rest will go in the Plant Sale.
EXCURSIONS – Susan Sheehan reported an excursion is planned for June 9th. We will travel to the Cactus Guy in Coboconk for 10:00am then on to the Westlake’s Garden. Lunch will be at the Magic Rolling Pin. After lunch we travel to Gardens Plus and if time permits we will visit Griffins Greenhouse and Horlings Garden Centre
Members Garden Tour is July 23rd. This is a time for members to show off their gardens. Tour is for members and their family and friends only. So far, only 1 member has offered his garden.
FLOWER SHOW – Margaret Giles reported the committee will be meeting soon to discuss plans for the August Flower Show.
HYLAND CREST TEA – Will be held on May 19th @ 2:30. It is traditional for a few members to go and serve tea to the residents. Elaine Smith, Barbara Messner and Anne Brown volunteered for the tea this year. Janine Burke @ 705-286-2140 is the Hyland Crest contact person.
LIBRARY & BULLETIN BOARD – Izabel Janca displayed many interesting books on “do it yourself” projects to coincide with our speakers’ topic on garden art for cheapskates. If anyone is interested in borrowing any of the books, please sign books out for as long as you like.
MEMBERSHIP – Todays attendance is 36 with one new member. Total membership is 61.
PLANT SALE – Anica asked us to keep some of our extra plants for the plant sale. Pot them up and label them.
T-SHIRTS & CARDS & PINS – Elinor Kernohan reported a list is being circulated for T-Shirt and hoodies orders. The order will be placed when there is sufficient numbers. Pins are always available for $5.00 at the General Meeting. Elinor sent a get well card to Pat Johnson who fractured her arm.
VILLAGE GREEN – Liz Case reports there are 22 weeks to cover from May 15 to October 2016 for maintenance and clean up. Volunteers are asked to sign up for one week. A clip board is being circulated and we are encouraged to sign up and help out. So far, 13 members have signed up. There is a water hose on site. Please bring your watering can to water the plants if necessary. We are asked to weed and dead head plants.
YOUTH PROGRAM – Looking for volunteers. You need a police check to work with children and if you need help applying, please contact Pauline Plooard. Pat Johnson, along with Pauline Plooard and Rose Paliwoda will head up the committee this year.
OHA, DISTRICT & OTHER MEETINGS
District 4 Spring Get Together Report – Mary Jane reported that she along with Elinor Kernohan, Elaine Smith and Anica Sabel attended on March 12th in Peterborough. A copy of Mary Jane’s report is attached.
District 4 AGM Report – Mary Jane reported that she along with Izabel Janca, Pat Johnson and Liz Case attended on April 2nd in Ennismore. A copy of her report is attached. There was a discussion about “Highway of Heroes Tribute Project”. The goal is to plant 117,000 trees along Highway 401. OHA will match donations up to $2500.00. Members at today’s meeting agreed that our Society should contribute funds to this project and several ideas for raising money were suggested. One idea was to charge admission to hear a guest speaker such as a father who lost his son in Afghanistan or a prominent horticulturalist. Another was to have a donation box at the Plant Sale.
Another idea to raise funds is members donate what they can and our Horticultural Society will match the donation and send the money in altogether. This topic will be discussed further at the next Executive Meeting and a decision made on how to proceed.
Mary Jane informed members of the classes for the photography competition at the D4 Fall Seminar in Bobcaygeon on October 29th. They are: “An Open & Shut Case”, “An Icy Landscape” and “My Favourite Pest – Garden Visitors”.
March Executive Meeting Report – Mary Jane reported that the following decisions were made by the Board of Directors: Exhibitor’s tags & prize stickers are to be ordered for the Flower Show. Our society will award 35 year pins to eligible members. An ad hoc committee of Mary Jane, Anne Brown, Margaret Giles and Melanie Hevesi has been established to review and propose amendments to our constitution, by-laws and policies.
D4 Celebration Event – Will be held on June 15th in Peterborough. This year’s theme is English Gardens. Members are encouraged to attend since we have 2 members receiving awards.
OHA CONVENTION – Will be held from July 29-31 @ the Crown Plaza, in Kitchener. The 8 members who attended last year had a great time and learned lots. Early bird registration costs $125.00 and ends June 27th. All forms and information are available on www. gardenontario.org. Our Society pays a portion of your expenses. There will be speakers, seminars, workshops & tours to enjoy. There are competitions in photography, publications, flower design, flower specimens, writing, and art work. If you can’t attend, the members who are attending can take your entries for you. Rooms should be booked as early as possible.
CORRESPONDENCE
D4 – John Sellers passed away on March 9th. He was a very active member of Horticultural Societies, District 4 and OHA. A Memorial Service will be held on April 9th @ 2:00pm in Castleton.
OHA – The Spring Trillium is out. You can view it on line @ gardenontario.org or subscribe for $15.00 a year. If you do not have access to a computer Mary Jane will print out copies for you.
PETERBOROUGH GARDEN SHOW – Will be held on April 8, 9, and 10th at the Evinrude Centre. Admission is $8.00
OTHER BUSINESS
Sinclair Russell – Sinclair talked about the need to make downtown Minden more beautiful and inviting to visitors. We want to attract more people into the downtown area. Some ideas were, we could research the different types of water lilies and grow them. It was suggested to work with what we have.
Horticultural Society could help out with these ideas. What can we do with the river bank? We could create topiaries of animals native to this area. These animal shapes could be along both sides of the river. These are just a few creative ideas to get us thinking of other ways to improve downtown Minden.
Door Prize – Frances Thivierge won the door prize.
ADJOURNMENT – Moved by Karen Shirley “that the meeting be adjourned” Time: 3:30 pm
