Greater Windsor Horticultural Society

2010 Jan & Feb Newsletter
by Laura Wright

HAPPY NEW YEAR

May all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions.  ~Joey Adams

NEW GWHS BOARD

As a lot of you know, the GWHS has seen some changes in the last Nov. election with the retiring of 4 of it’s members. Louie Fiorino leaves us as President with 16 years on the board (going back to our meetings at the Hospice, and 8 yrs as President). Nancy Lariviere  has been a member for 9 yrs. and served 8 as our membership secretary while Dwain served 4 years on the board and was a real help in doing a lot of things behind the scenes for us. Siobhan Ozard who ran our Programs, Raffles and also chaired our latest Garden Tour served us with 4 years on the board. The hard work of all of these people is very appreciated, and we hope to see them at our meetings under a new light.

Brenda Lehoux will be the new President and she will tempt you into new and old ventures. Our Unemployed Help Center Garden was a real success and we can do a lot more with the involvement of a few more members. It is such a wonderful and rewarding project that helps feed people in the area who are in need of fresh food. If you have any ideas for projects, let a board member or Brenda know.

Laura Wright  will be taking on the role as Editor of the Newsletter and she is looking for your support also.

Louie is working on our new website at the Ontario Horticultural Association Site http://www.gardenontario.org/index.php

There you will find everything you need to know about what is going on in Ontario with any of the 250 Horticultural Societies. FYI, we are in District 11 and are one of the 14 listed there. The addresses will always be printed on the header of our newsletter.

Great Backyard Bird Count

The next Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) takes

place Friday, February 12 through Monday,

February 15, 2010. The National Audubon Society

and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology are calling on

everyone to “Count for Fun, Count for the

Future!” During last year’s count, participants

turned in more than 93,600 checklists online,

creating the continent's largest instantaneous result.

http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/science-stories/2009-results

GWHS 2010 Board

Positions for the new board will be filled in January, but here is the  break down so far.

Please give them all your support in the years to come.

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.  ~Oprah Winfrey

Christmas Potluck and Awards Banquet ’09

Our Potluck Banquet and Awards Banquet was a very memorable one this year. We had a very plentiful food table and another unbelievable dessert table. It was a very well attended occasion as we had 110 people in attendance. The generosity of this group also came across not only with the fine feast that we shared but also with the some 300 can goods that were brought in for the needy families of the St. Theresa Church Parish. We also enjoyed the wonderful dances of the Emerald Isle Dancers who ranged from the very young to mid teens. Their excitement and enthusiasm was enjoyed by all. A special thank you to everyone involved from the Kitchen Cuties; Edith, George and Susan and to Eleanor’s flawless planning which brought us delicious Punches that prepped us for our fine meal. Thanks once again To Nancy and Dwain Lariviere for the handmade napkin holders, picking up the tablecloths, trophies and the beautiful gold Poinsettias from Flora Gardens.

I mentioned that Maria Pap will have access to purchasing a new wonderful Hosta book which she says she can buy and sell to anyone of our members for a very good price. The Book will retail for @ $ 80 but Maria figures that she can let us have it for @ $65. She will be attending a conference in between now and our next meeting so orders have to be placed ASAP. If you are interested please call her at 519-737-6528

Calling all Flower Loving Enthusiasts!!!!

We have heard the President Louie Fiorino talk about Judging School this past year.

The words Judging School sounds so formal and may even sound intimidating to some of you, but it shouldn’t.

Haven’t you just once wondered why or what or how come the Judge picked that one flower bloom, bouquet or arrangement over the other???

Didn’t it get you goat that your beautiful bloom didn’t make the cut!  Darn, didn’t get that first or second place Ribbon again!

What did I do wrong?

Well, here is your chance…….. we need some members of the Greater Windsor Horticultural Society to become interested in taking a Judging Course.

All you need is general knowledge of flowers and a willingness to learn.

The course I took in Ridgetown when it was offered over fifteen years ago was at my own expense. The course was divided into 4 sessions over the course of 2 years.

It is a commitment but when you enjoy growing flowers why not learning what a JUDGE looks for and how they arrive at the decision they make on choosing one bloom over the other.

Why not learn and find out what the mystery is all about. Let’s take the Y out of the word mystery and replace it with an “a” for mastery.

Definition of Mastery: The acquisition or the process of acquiring proficiency or taking Full command of some subject or study.

Now with that knowledge of mastery in mind, you have a simple decision to make…. Let’s make that commitment to take the Judging Course!

The proposed course is still in the planning stages. If we could get 12 to 15 people interested, it possibly could be held in the Windsor area.

The reason for the four sessions was that they wanted us to experience flowers that grow in the different seasons…. Makes sense!  We also learned how to judge vegetables for those Fair entries.

We engaged in flower arranging also.

Where the course will be offered will depend on the amount of interest and where the people live in relation to each other…. Makes sense!

When I took the course over fifteen years ago, a central location was chosen since we had members of Horticultural Societies from Windsor and Essex County, Chatham, Kent, Lambton and London area.

Horticultural Societies need Judges to judge their Flower Shows…..so, I think that if members were willing to take the Judging Course and offer their services to their Societies…. The Societies might be willing to pay a portion of the Course. 

It’s fun, you gain vital knowledge and make new friends!

Juliette St. Pierre

Horticultural Flower Judge

Flower shows are held during our meetings in May, June, Sept. and October.  Let us all plan on entering with something as simple as a stem in a vase or as darings as an arrangement…you may be pleasantly surprised.

flower arrangement:
just two yellow daffodils,
the first to bloom
-  L.A. Davidson, The Shape of the Tree
Haiku is What?

JANUARY MEETING

Our January 14^th meeting is our “show me your pics”.  Please bring in a CD or DVD with pictures of your garden or other  gardens.   Make sure there are only pictures that you want us to see in a designated folder to make it easier for us to go through without looking at hundreds of pictures.

You Choose Your Audience

We’ll Make it Happen

Many of you have either seen or heard of Gardens West Magazine. Gardens West regular edition, designed for the West Coast, and Gardens West Prairie Edition, designed for the Prairie Provinces, are together the most popular gardening publications across Western Canada.

Well, guess what? We have decided to bring this popular concept to your neck of the woods. So, beginning in March 2010, we will be launching Gardens Central & Gardens East. They will be regional magazines that suit the growing conditions and challenges of the gardening climates in Central & Atlantic Canada.

Grapevine is a free service provided by Gardens West, Gardens Central & Gardens East Magazines to inform our readers of gardening events taking place in the month of the issue in which those listings appear. Our readers appreciate this service and participate in many of the events that are listed in Grapevine.

Attached to this email please find a copy of a typical Grapevine column in Gardens West, as well as the Grapevine Email Form, which you can fill out and submit with your listing details. Grapevine listings also appear on the website: visit www.gardenswest.com and choose the Grapevine link at the bottom for more information.

Watch for our new website, www.gardenscanada.ca. For the time being, however, you can submit listings via the Gardens West website www.gardenswest.com, through this email, or by fax or regular mail. It is possible to submit listings in advance, and if you have any trouble with the email form, you can just include your event details in an email and reply to this address.

Grapevine is an excellent service with a positive response and we hope you’ll take advantage of it! If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reply to this email or give us a call toll-free at 1-800-263-1088.

Happy Gardening!

Elaine Murphy

Grapevine Coordinator

THINGS TO DO JANUARY

-Inspect house plants for spider mites & aphids

-Inspect bulbs in storage and discard bad ones

-Plan garden layout

-Order flower & vegetable seeds

-Enrol in home garden studies (at community colleges, University of Guelph & Royal Botanical Gardens).

-Start slowest germinating seeds such as begonias and geraniums; also seeds for early spring bloom ex. panzy, verbena, alyssum and dianthus

-Try forcing a flowering bulb (amaryllis etc.)

FEBRUARY

-Propagate indoor plants (geraniums etc.) by stem cuttings

-Plant other slow seeds such as impatients, peppers, eggplant

-Place mail orders for shrubs & hedges

-Order seed flats & containers

-Check newspapers for dates of annual garden shows.

Condolences

Condolences to Charlie Bowyer  and Florence Bowyer whose  sister passed away  in New Brunswick early December.At Our Fund Raising Tables….G.W.H.S. T-shirts at $15.00 and cloth bags for shopping at *$8.00 .  A Green Thumb table is set up for slightly used books and magazines at prices you can’t afford to miss out on and there are also Plants…if you have plants you wish to donate, Please make sure they are brought in free of insects or diseases  so that other plants are not invaded.

 *Please find your name tag in the appropriate box and wear it during the meeting.  Our meetings are a social event, but they are also a learning opportunity for most so we ask that we keep chit chat  for the break period or before/after the meeting.

*We have a really nice Library in the hallway near the kitchen, have a look and see if there is a book you might be interested in.  You will be surprised.  If you  haven’t visited our Library you are missing out on some great reading.

*Feb. 11^th  the invited speaker is Don Tellier from ST. Clair College, and the topic is Planning and Planting for all seasons.

FLOWER SHOW TROPHY WINNERS 09

Congrats to the following winners of our flower shows held in April, May, June, Sept. and October. They are:

Arrangements –TIE Vicki Rees &Susan Deutsch

Dahlias –TIE Linda Burnand & Charlie Bowyer

Hybrid Tea Rose – TIE - Loretta Dionne & Maijana Mustac

Most Points Roses – 4 way TIE - Jane Fase, Lucienne Fisher, Maijana Mustac, Loretta Dionne

Iris – Susan Deutsch

MOST POINTS Trophy – Susan Deutsch

Once again…let us try to stop those ties and give them more to choose from…enter the Flower show and make yourself proud you did.