DUNNVILLE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

October 2016

http://www.dunnvillehortandgardenclub.org

Happy Autumn! Finally–some relief from the heat and humidity. Now it’s not so difficult to get outside to do some much needed yard work.

September was a busy month for the DHS. For the very first time we participated in the Great Tricycle Race held in Cayuga on September 9^th. Every year the Great Tricycle Race is an opportunity for Haldimand’s service groups, not-for-profit organizations, firefighters, high schools and sports teams to compete for bragging rights and cash donations to their causes. It’s also a platform to exhibit those who help out in the community. We were well represented with a float in the parade and 2 tricycle riders in the race. Our trike riders were DHS president Debbie Thomas and her better half, Andy Hyma. The trike race garnered us a prize of $750! We came in third in the float competition ($2000.00) and received $600 just for entering in the evening’s events. Thank you so much to Chris Ricker for providing his beautiful Belgian horses and market wagon for our team to decorate. It was awesome! Thank you also to Rosa Flora for the beautiful Gerbera daisies and Garden Gallery for donating grasses. Thank you to Margaret Kamping and her grade 3 & 4 students at Dunnville Christian School who came out to walk along us the DHS in the parade. The prize money will be put to good use with our Centennial Fountain restoration project. Last, but not least, a huge thank you to our Junior Gardeners and everyone else who came out to help and to cheer us on! This could be the beginning of a great annual tradition for our society.

DHS volunteers have been busy recently spreading mulch in the beds at the east and west “Welcome to Dunnville” signs and the bed in front of Sweet Retrospect located downtown. McKay’s Stump and Tree Removal generously donated over 9 yards of natural mulch for these beds. Garden Gallery donated 6 yards of black mulch for the beds underneath Muddy the Mudcat and we purchased 6 more to finish the job. The beds now have approximately 5 inches of mulch on them to keep the weeds down. Kim Christoff, Deb Zynomriski, Marilyn and Alisha Stavinga, Steve Elgersma, Gloria Hunter and Debbie Thomas all deserve a huge thank you for doing this work in the hottest, most humid weather we’ve had this summer.

The DHS recently gave a donation of $5,001.00 towards the development of the new Farmer’s Market for Dunnville. Careful planning and fundraising over the past 4 years have led up to this donation and we are very proud and excited to be able to support this project. We have been following the progress of both the Farmer’s Market and the new Waterfront Park from the beginning. Hopefully we can offer more assistance once the park has been built.

We are also very excited about the direction that our Centennial Fountain project has taken. The students from Dunnville Christian School are participating and have raised over $1000 for us and the money we received from the Tricycle Race has been earmarked for this project. We have recently secured a partnership grant from Haldimand County to put towards its rehabilitation. Some of this money will also be used to refurbish the butterfly gardens in front of Muddy the Mudcat. This has evolved from a “can we do something to fix the beds around the fountain?” meeting in front of it 2 years ago, to a huge, exciting project for the Dunnville Horticultural Society. We have applied for funding through provincial and federal programs in partnership with Haldimand County. We would also like to see new pathways linking Lions’ Park to Centennial Park and making the bridge over Thompson’s Creek accessible to all. We are confident that we’ll have all of our funding in place and the work will be completed in time for our 2017 Canada’s 150^th Anniversary and Dunnville’s Centennial Park’s 50^th Anniversary. If anyone is interested in donating toward this project please let us know and don’t forget: DHS is a registered charity and will provide tax receipts for your donation.

Our new website is officially up and running. Log in to the web address above and check it out. Let us know how you like it. We would appreciate your feedback.

Our guest speaker at the September program was Wendi Prior, assistant manager of the new Terra Greenhouses on Hwy 20 in Stoney Creek. She spoke about gardening in drought conditions and answered questions from our members.

Our guest speaker for the upcoming October program will be Jeff Bokma from Vermeer’s and his topic will be “Houseplants 101”. Our members really like Jeff. This will be his third appearance in the past 18 months. We will also be holding our annual seed exchange and our first annual “Fall Flower & Veggie show”, and what’s a fall flower and veggie show without some pumpkin carving? Bring your best Jack-0-Lantern to win a prize!

Please mark Saturday, October 22 on your calendar. We are meeting at the bridge at 9 a.m. to clean up the town flowerbeds-volunteers are needed.

November’s program is our AGM, Junior Gardeners awards, Christmas celebration, pot luck dinner and 4 season photo contest. It’ll be a busy evening for sure! Bring your favourite dish and a non-perishable food item to donate to our local food bank. Photos can be entered in each category: Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. The photos must be 4×6 with focus on gardens and taken in Haldimand County. 1 photo per category and the prizes are always awesome. Most importantly, a representative from District 9 will attend to swear in the executive and directors for 2017. We have a very strong group of people who work very hard for this organization. If you think you would like to get involved please let us know. We would love to have you!

See you at the meeting!

Sue Mazi, DHS Corresponding Secretary.

Essential advice for the gardener: grow peas of mind, lettuce be thankful, squash selfishness, turnip to help thy neighbor, and always make thyme for loved ones. ~Author Unknown