Sept. 2015

Happy September! This summer has certainly flown by fast! Hopefully you have all had the chance to enjoy the hot weather. Sure signs of summer winding down are the shorter days and all the fall fairs that are taking place each weekend. Soon we can start thinking about putting our gardens to bed for the winter as the gardening season winds down.

The bus trip to Niagara’s Botanical Gardens and wineries has been cancelled due to poor ticket sales. Anyone who has already purchased a ticket will receive a full refund. Thank you to those who bought tickets: please see Deb Zynomirski for your refund. Thank you Deb for all your hard work planning this trip. Hopefully we can do it next year.

The Light Up Design Contest winner is Marilyn Stavinga. Nine talented members submitted designs that were all very original and imaginative.   The display is now being constructed by Vic Powell’s team which includes John Hart and Sean O’Neil. We are all looking forward to seeing it on display this Christmas. Marilyn’s design will be displayed at the November general meeting where Marilyn will be awarded her prize. Congratulations, Marilyn!

At this upcoming meeting we are holding our 2^nd annual Flower & Veggie Show and we’ll be awarding the 2015 Trillium Awards. Our Trillium Award judges were busy in July judging all the beautiful homes that were nominated. We had over 50 homes nominated this year and I do believe that’s a record. It’s wonderful to have our community getting involved with the nomination process and of course without our volunteer judges and awards committee these awards simply wouldn’t happen. Thank you Gloria Hunter and Deb Zynomirski for heading up the committee this year-you both did an awesome job for first-timers! This year’s winners are:

The numbers in the far right column show how many trillium awards these addresses have won. The maximum that a property can win is 5. Please excuse me if any of the surnames have been misspelled.

Our guest speaker for this meeting will be Sandi Marr and her topic will be “Bringing Fall Beauty to Your Home, Inside & Out”. We have new planters where I work so I’m hoping to get some great ideas!

Our Junior Gardeners have been working very hard this summer and they’ve all had their gardens inspected by Judy Jeffery, and Mark and Margaret Bottrell. Awards for their work will be presented at the November general meeting. They’ve also been very busy selling Vesey’s flower bulbs as a DHS fundraiser, and they will also participate in their own Flower & Veggie show in conjunction with our senior members this month.

Our partnership with the Dunnville Rotary Club and Landscapes by Russ (Russ Savage) helped to create a beautiful landscape underneath Muddy the Mudcat. The project was completed on September 12^th. Please visit Muddy to see the improvements that have been made. Congratulations to everyone who was involved in this project. Muddy looks great. It’s quite common to drive by and see people having their picture taken in front of the big fish. Hopefully his missing whisker can be replaced sometime in the near future.

Due to popular demand, The DHS will be partnering with the BIA (Business Improvement Association) to add 10 more large planters in the downtown core in 2016. This year’s planters looked amazing, and still do for that matter.

The DHS is also in the midst of making major improvements to the gardens beneath the east and west Dunnville signs at each end of town. Much of the existing vegetation has been removed in preparation for this. A number of county summer students, under the direction of Barry Schram, helped with this huge task.

Be sure to mark your calendar for the District 9 Fall Forum. It’s being held on Saturday, September 26^th at Heartland Forest Nature Experience located at 8215 Heartland Forest Rd., Niagara Falls. Contact person is Sandra Martin at 905-688-5882 or email at smartin94@cogeco.ca. Details can be found on our website, or see a member of the executive if you don’t have computer access. We’ll have printed information at the meeting.

Saturday, October 17^th is flowerbed clean-up day. Volunteers are needed. Meet at the parking lot by the bridge at 9:00 am.

November 19^th will be our annual Christmas Celebration, Pot Luck Dinner and Installation of Officers. Please consider yourself as a candidate to join the board of directors. Everyone comes with various skills and knowledge. New members bring us fresh ideas and new perspectives that helps keep the DHS fresh, current and exciting. If you are interested in joining the board please see any of the current board members. Don’t be shy.

Garden tip of the month: Fall is a great time to plant perennials especially peonies. You can often find bargains at local garden centres as they are trying to clear out remaining stock. Planting this time of year gives your plants warmer soil and excellent conditions to help them establish good root systems before winter.

See you at the next meeting!

Sue Mazi, DHS Corresponding Secretary.