Belle River Horticultural Society

OHA Convention 2009 Report
by Pat Bastien

OHA Convention 2009

Peterborough

"Remember Yesterday, Protect Tomorrow"

Was it a striking convention? Yes. Was it an informative convention? Yes. Was it a tiring convention? Yes. Was it a worthwhile convention? Yes.

Trent University is divided into the following sections: East Bank consisting of but not exclusively housing Peter Gzowski College, Otanabee College as well as both the Gzowski and Otanabee Residences. The West Bank is the home of the following plus others: Champlain College & Residence, the PSB Wilson Athletic Complex and the Thomas J. Bata Library. The East & West Banks are connected by a walkway (to put it very mildly), the Faryon Bridge which echoes parts of the Peterborough Lift locks in design. If you see photos of a bridge, that’s the Faryon Bridge (a footbridge), spanning the Otanabee River.

Thursday was somewhat of a casual day, waiting until 2 p.m. for the room to be ready to display the hundreds of photography competition entries. In the meantime, I explored and acquainted myself with the acres and acres of campus grounds, recording a pictorial of my discoveries, including a trail where there had been a ‘possible’ cougar sighting just a couple months ago. Being alone, and knowing there has been a cougar at large in the Kitchener-Waterloo area for the past few months, I chose not to ‘go there!’

Word got out that I had done the above photographing which launched me into a voluntold job of maybe digitally recording the convention. I’m not sure who spilled the beans but it seems to me that my “mom & dad” for the few days were the only two people who knew about it! Does that put Pat & Ray Clement suspects at the forefront? It was fun doing so and I did not allow it to interfere with my true reason for being there.

I attend all Plenary Sessions featuring the following speakers:

Cathy Dueck – Beyond The Backyard: The Growing Need For City Trees (Friday)

Mark Peacock – The Oak Ridges Moraine: A Generaska Perspective (Saturday)

Martin Galloway – Making Your Gardens Greener (Saturday Banquet Speaker)

Vicki Taylor-Scott – Recession [NOT Depression] Gardening (Sunday Closing Speaker)

I questioned why these presentations were not recorded for the benefit of the people who were not able to attend the convention and I answered myself… probably for copyright reasons! Without going on for pages and pages developing the topics, some of the themes may not ‘catch your attention’ but trust me, all were excellent in material and presentation. One can only leave the convention thinking about how little we are aware of the varied horticultural topics we haven’t even thought of, their meanings and their effects on everything we do on a daily basis. In fact, I left with a new appreciation and awareness of what is going on around me and what part, as small as it can sometimes be, that I can play in conserving and restoring the environment. Somehow, the surroundings exemplified the lessons that were presented.

Interestingly enough, we arrived on Wednesday and up until midday Saturday, the grass on the campus was not cut. As you look at the photos of the University grounds, you’ll notice how well that seemed to fit right in with the surrounding landscape and buildings… I liked it! Then, on Saturday, the grass was mowed (I even snapped a picture of the ‘culprit’.) Actually, the grounds looked spectacular either way.

We lived inside a concrete environment for 5 days. All buildings are raw concrete. The architecture is phenomenal and blends in perfectly with the natural landscape. You’ll be in awe when you view the photos upon photos of stairs and steps on campus – again, I suspect were designed for the benefit of the students; exercise!!! Note the ‘sunken’ buildings with grass roofs as you view the albums. Some of the outdoor concrete and paving stone walkways at ground level are actually the roofs of buildings. The dorm rooms had raw concrete walls and all had plain concrete ceilings. Sometimes you could even see a painted concrete wall or ceiling!!! In my dorm I spent some time exploring the hieroglyphics and designs on the wall and ceiling, residual of the wood forms used to shape this great university! And I wasn’t the only one to do that – the others just may not admit it.

As an aside, there were 4 small concrete planters at the entrance to the Gzowski College that held the most pathetic annuals available and near the Otanabee College I found another 4 X 8 foot concrete planter with plants of equal grandeur! That’s it! No other annuals exist on campus except those that the OHA members brought in for competitions and for décor at the plenary halls.

By now, you should start seeing how this was a perfect setting for the theme of the convention: Remember Yesterday, Protect Tomorrow. Not forgetting our roots, we may do well to remember the more simplistic ways and rules that people once lived by and consequently do more to protect the future of our universe. I can remember when I was growing up as a child mowing the lawn no more than once a week (every two weeks if we could get away with it because of lack of rain) and not watering or fertilizing it and taking care of a few annuals and perennials that served well the purpose of adding some colour to the brown grass of summer. But more rewarding to me is the thousands of fond memories of playing on that hard lawn (yes, including tag and hide and seek and baseball etc.) and focusing so much more on the values of family, fun and enjoyment rather than on ‘how it looked to others as they passed by’ – and frankly, do those people think anything of it after the fleeting seconds following? How much less damage did that mode of living create for our universe? The Trent University concrete proved that all the glitter and glamour may at times overtake and fascinate us, but beauty can be seen and appreciated in the simple forms of man-made structures as well as in natural nature itself.

The university students registered us for our dorm rooms and 24 hours a day, they were available to us at the main desk of the residence. They provided all resident services for the duration of our stay. What a marvelous group of young men and women. Not once did I pass a student, whether as temporary staff or in attendance for summer classes, that I was not graciously greeted or with whom I was not able to have a short conversation as we walked together, I to another session, they to their classes. Every one of them is to be commended for their friendliness and pleasant disposition at all times. Do the University and its surroundings have anything to do with that?

This year, except for a couple seminars, the topics were only covered once. We had to choose wisely and accept that we would not be gaining from the other experts’ presentations. I chose the following:

Mini-Gardening: Bringing Back Fresh Taste in A Short Space – Phil Johnson

GardenOntario Computer Lab – Mike Dunk & Jeff Blackadar

Photography In The Garden – Kyle Griffin

Garden Art For Cheapskates – Dianne & Gary Westlake

Every speaker I heard provided a plethora of details and information in a most comical and jovial way and that sure fell right with me. In fact, because of a whispered comment I made, I as well as a Stoney Creek friend were several times dubbed “the troublemakers” even later when the speaker met us in the hallways. Now think about it… a speaker saying that he was out in his garden early in the morning, around 8 o’clock! Give me a break!

Of course, mini gardening (I’m cutting back in my yard work); computer lab (I’m your webmaster); photography (I was born with a camera hung around my neck); and cheapskate art in the garden (I don’t have to say any more on this one), all feasted my inner desires and satisfactions. WOW! Does that mean that putting them all together I can now shoot pictures of my cheapskate art in my smaller gardens and post them on the website?

In a future note, you will be instructed to experience some of the effects of the information I gleaned from this convention… more specifically, the website. The front page is much more user friendly and hopefully you will find the entire website cleaner and easier to access and discover. You can now feast on literally hundreds of high-quality photos (which will grow into thousands), categorized by years, events, etc. As time goes by, more will be added.

Thanks to you, the Executive, for allowing me to attend this convention. I only hope the expenses incurred are somewhat retrieved, albeit not in a monetary manner, but in the experiences, knowledge and application of what I learned over the 5 days.

Sincerely,

Pat Bastien

To view photo albums of the convention, click here.

* Return to Home Page

* Return to Alphabetical Quick Links Page