Oct. 2015
Happy October! Can you believe this weather? I brought my houseplants in on October 9th and that is a record. They usually stay out until mid-September. The season has been glorious so far!
September’s general meeting was incredible! We had 100 people signed in which is a record for the DHS. We knew we were growing when we left Grace United Church and moved to the Optimist Hall but this is beyond our wildest dreams! We have 206 members which is truly amazing. Our members are such a great group of people–all you have to do is look at the beautiful gardens in Dunnville and the attendance at the meetings each month. At this time of year when we reflect on what we are thankful for our successful club is something to be especially proud of.
Our Trillium Awards were presented to the winners. Thank you to Councillor Bernie Corbett for attending the meeting and speaking to our group. It means a lot to know that the powers that be in Haldimand County appreciate our hard work. The Trillium cake was delicious and the food, as usual, was too. Pazzo’s Pizza was generous enough to donate 5 pizzas for the evening.
The Flower and Veggie show, both Junior and Adult, was held at last month’s meeting. The winners’ names will be posted at the meeting and they are listed in the minutes from the September meeting which can be found on our website. Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter–your handiwork was amazing.
Sandi Marr was our guest speaker last month. She did an amazing demonstration on how to decorate for fall, using willow wreaths, tall grasses and sumac and ribbon. I am decorating planters at work for the first time this year and I’ll be putting her tips to good use. Our guest speaker for October’s meeting is Jeff Bokma, who spoke to our group in June. He will be talking about fall bulbs–perfect timing! We enjoyed his talk about succulents in June and we look forward to hearing from him again. Judy Jeffery kindly donated some beautiful mums that were raffled off. Congratulations to the lucky winners of those flowers-they were gorgeous. Lindy’s Flowers donated beautiful bouquets of roses which were presented to our Trillium winners.
Muddy the Mudcat has had his edging installed. We expected it to be finished by mid-September but because of rainy weather it wasn’t done until the end of the month. It looks great! Our partnership with the Rotary Club and Landscapes by Russ with this project was a success. Thank you to everyone involved. It’s partnerships such as this that have allowed us to grow and become the successful horticultural society that we are today.
November’s general meeting will soon be upon us and you know what that means: FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD! This meeting is our annual Pot Luck dinner and Christmas celebration. We also have our photo contest and we will award our Junior Gardeners their flower show prizes and our Light Up Design winner, Marilyn Stavinga, her prize as well. Her design will be on display and I can’t wait to see it when it’s constructed and displayed in town this Christmas.
This meeting is also very important because it is when we have our Installation of Officers. An official from OHA’s District 9 will come and swear in your executive for 2016. We are always looking for fresh faces to join our board of directors. If you are at all interested please speak to Debbie Thomas or Deb Zynomirski.
Garden tip of the Month: Speaking of mums, the Hamilton Fall Garden & Chrysanthemum Show is coming up. It is held at the Gage Park Tropical Greenhouse from Friday October 23rd to Sunday, November 1st. The displays are stunning with over 200 varieties of mums and 75,000 blooms.
For more information go to this Website:
hamiltoninbloom.com/hamilton-fall-garden-mum-show/2015
See you at the next meeting!
Sue Mazi, DHS Corresponding Secretary.
See you all in January. Our next meeting will be Thursday, January 21, 2016 here at the Optimist Hall at 7:00 p.m.