Kanata-March Horticultural Society

Oct 2009

President’s Message

I thought I'd update you on our Thailand Orchid that's been made available for our 40th Anniversary competition, announced in our September Newsletter and General Meeting. The Takawara Kristy Loe Ascocenda Orchid (colour Red) is doing much better, now that we have released it from its bottle. At the General Meeting, we showed the audience that a fungus was forming in the bottle and that the plant would have to be removed to allow the fungus to be wiped off the orchid. For the most part this seems to be working well. In total, the bottle contained four orchids and about three really small babies. They have been planted in four pots with the same bark mixture used in the rest of the orchids I have in my home.

Our Executive Meeting is held on the third Tues of every month, two weeks after each General Meeting. At our last meeting, to my surprise, when we got to the topic of the 40th Anniversary Competition for best theme and slogan for 2010, the number of entries from our membership was a whopping ZERO. Remember folks, to make this a fair competition our Executive and Directors are not permitted to make a submission. We want this club to reflect the membership’s, i.e. YOUR, wishes.

This situation generated two major concerns for me.

1.     Does the low level of involvement in society activities by non-executive members reflect a lack of interest in what we are doing? If so, this needs to be explored, so that we can align our efforts as an executive to your needs and interests, at the same time as fulfilling our objectives, as laid out in the provisions of the Agricultural and Horticultural Organizations Act. These are in the front of your yearbook, if you would like to have a quick look at them.

2.     At present, the people who are providing most of the volunteer effort, both to keep the club going and to meet our commitments as part of the Ontario Horticultural Association are getting badly overloaded. I've decided to go back to the report on volunteer hours that we submitted last year to the OHA and City of Ottawa (as part of our grant applications)  to analyse where the effort is coming from and also what it is focused on. Perhaps it’s time to re-visit how we invest our energy. We would like your help with this and so this report will be emailed out to each of you shortly. We hope that this will allow you to get an appreciation of the choices the club has when it comes to making use of its resources, time and energy.

Our plan is to collect your input in October and then vote on and implement any changes at the November AGM meeting. Stay tuned...

Robert Barta. KMHS President

Next Meeting: Oct 6th

Fresh Flowers for the Holidays with Lee Dorsey
Tuesday, Oct 6th, 7.30 pm
Old Town Hall, March Road, Kanata

Lee Dorsey, the owner of InBloom, a florist shop on Hazeldean Road, will be showing how we can use seasonal materials to brighten the house this Thanksgiving. You can see some examples of Lee’s work on her website, shown on the left.

Elizabeth Stokely, KMHS Program Director

Editor’s note: don’t forget to bring along your mug for coffee

KMHS Announcements

Molly Wilson Garden

We had a very busy two hours at the Molly Wilson garden last Wednesday. Fourteen members got to work weeding the embankment and spreading the new soil. Some had brought excess plants from their gardens to help fill the

Plant Sale Tomatoes

Each year I buy 12-15 packets of tomato seeds—different varieties each year. I have had a request from one of our members to repeat one of this year’s varieties, Ailsa Craig. If anyone else has a favourite from this year or previous years, let me know and I will be happy to add it to my list.

Norma Davidson, Parks Maintenance

KMHS 40^th Anniversary Competition

We are hoping that many of you will have had some good ideas for a theme and slogan for our 40^th anniversary next year. Please would you send your entries by email to me (link on left) or call me at 613 839-0290.

To refresh your memories, here’s the information from last month’s newsletter about the competition. Don’t forget those lovely orchid prizes for the two best entries:

       1st Prize) Takawara Kristy Loe Ascocenda Orchid [colour: Red]
       2nd Prize) Cristie Loe Kakawara Orchid [colour: Red]

As some of you may know, 2010 marks the fortieth anniversary of the founding of KMHS in 1970. We would like to make this an extraordinary year, with some special activities and events to recognise the longevity of our society. Thinking of ideas for events is easy. The hard part is choosing what to do and what would have most impact both for our members and the community. To assist us in focussing these activities, we would like to adopt a theme for the year, plus a slogan if possible. A few of the ideas we have had are around preserving our environment, eating locally, natural gardening, native gardening etc…..

We would like your ideas on a theme that could appeal to a wide audience, while reflecting our interest in the natural world and gardens. There will be a competition for all KMHS members, except the executive, to find the best theme and slogan for 2010. Members will vote on submissions later this year. Our theme should complement our society’s objectives, to be found at the beginning of your Yearbook.

Margaret Turner, KMHS Newsletter Editor

Topics of the month: Seeds in the fall

At this time of the year, collecting seeds is a great way to save some of this year’s bounty for a repeat performance next year. Even better, it’s possible to sow some of those seeds right now and get a head start on spring activities.

This is what Canadian Gardening suggests on planting in fall:

“In nature, seeds—be they from perennials, annuals, trees or shrubs—mostly fall to the ground in autumn to germinate the following spring (many hardy plants won't even sprout, or only poorly, without experiencing cold temperatures). So if you've been sowing hardy plants in spring with only marginal results, try planting seeds in fall instead. Even many annuals, such as sweet peas, mallow, spider flower, pansies, larkspur, ornamental cabbage and snapdragons, do best when sown in autumn, as will any plant listed as a “hardy annual” in the seed catalogues.”

You can find the whole text of this article at the link on the left.

For those of you who have not tried seed collecting yet, it only takes a few minutes and it’s a great activity for small gardeners. They love the different shapes and colour of the seed pods and seeds and their little fingers are fantastic at winkling out minute seeds.

Margaret Turner, KMHS Newsletter Editor

Things to do and see

·         Oct 4th, 2:30pm. Manotick Horticultural Society is delighted to sponsor a very special presentation, Aberglasney: The Restoration of an Elizabethan Garden for the 21st Century. Graham Rankin, Garden Director and one of the UK's top horticulturists, will share the story of the remarkable restoration of Aberglasney Gardens in Wales, giving glimpses of the garden from its historic past to the present day. Cost $25. Door Prizes. More information is available on the website at the left. For tickets, call Kris Schulz at 613-843-9486 or email either krisandmike@sympatico.ca or rbelan1575@rogers.com

RA Centre, Riverside Drive, Ottawa

·         Oct 10 – 12^th: 10 am – 5 pm.The Friends of the Farm sponsor For the Love of the Farm Fine Art Sale and Exhibition. For more details, see their website on the left.

Building 72, Arboretum, Central Experimental Farm

·         Oct 3rd: 1.30 pm Ottawa Valley Rock Garden and Horticultural Society presents Gems of the West with Jim Reveal of Cornell University. See their website for more information.

Room T130, Technology Building, Algonquin College

·         Oct 21st, 7:00 pm. The Greater Ottawa Water Garden Society offers a presentation on The Art and Science of Stone in Water Features with Ian Stewart.

Greenboro Community Centre, 363 Lorry Greenberg Drive (situated between Hunt Club Road and Conroy Road), Ottawa

·         Oct 27th, 7:30 pm. Ottawa Horticultural Society presents Tips and Tricks for the Laidback Gardener with Larry Hodgson.

Tom Brown arena, 141 Bayview Avenue (at Scott).

Newsletter Input

Input for inclusion in the next newsletter is due to me by the third Friday of each month. Email me at Margaret Turner