March 2013
Meeting was called order at 7:00 p.m.
There were 49 members signed in.
Lori Maracle warmly welcomed everyone. She spoke about the upcoming bus trip to Canada Blooms and informed the members that there were still tickets available.
Refreshments were announced and Ways & Means tickets were available.
Our guest speaker for the evening was Darren Heimbecker from Whistling Gardens in Wilsonville, Ontario. Whistling Gardens is an amazing garden of many acres which he has developed over the last 6 years. It is described as a horticultural playground of over 18 landscaped acres displaying many varieties of flowers, plants and trees. He spoke about the big old house that drew him to the property and the various features that he has added: a fountain, a Celtic wall, decoration with Canadian recycled glass, a pagoda, an arboretum and formal rock spaces. Tonight he focused on the very special variety of trees which he has introduced to the garden, many of which are extremely rare. The garden boasts numerous hard to find trees such as variegated hedge maples, Chinese dogwood and golden coloured pine trees. He described many intriguing trees such as Spring Ghost trees, Manitoba maples, magnolias with many shades of pink, golden dwarf Norway spruce, and green Scotch pines. You can find more information about Whistling Gardens at www.whistlinggardens.ca. Thank you to Mr. Heimbecker for a very interesting talk about his garden centre and for donating several trees for our Ways & Means draw which helped to boost ticket sales.
Ian Steel moved to have the minutes from February accepted as read. Vel LeVatte seconded the motion and the motion was passed.
Kim read the treasurer’s report. Opening balance: $4285.70. Total income: $1041.96. Total expenses: $1342.11. Closing balance: $3985.55. We have a total or 75 regular members and 5 life members.
Lori spoke to the membership reminding everyone about the upcoming Home & Garden show on April 19 & 20th. Volunteers are needed to help man the booth. Please lend a couple hours of your time.
There will be no regular general meeting in June. Instead we will be visiting Rosa Flora for a private showing of the greenhouses and how they operate. There is a $5.00 cover charge per person (members only) and a BBQ will be held afterwards at the home of Rob and Lori Maracle.
The District 9 AGM Spring Forum is April 27th at the Optimist Hall. Volunteers are needed to help with this event as well. Please plan to attend. This is a very important event and we want to make a lasting impression on everyone who attends. The flower show rules are available on our website at www.dunnvillehortsoc.gardenontario.org.
Ways & Means winners were announced. Thank you to Betty Ballanger for helping to raise $72.00.
Thank you to Maura Cooper for taking care of the kitchen duties. A great job as usual. Thank you to everyone who helped to make tonight’s meeting possible.
Our next meeting will be Thursday, April 25th at 7:00 p.m. Please remember that this meeting will be 1 week later than usual.
Sue Mazi, DHS secretary