The 1997 Year in Review

The Society began its 105th year under the guidance of a new and enthusiastic president, Josee de Menezes. She succeeded Sandra (Sandy) Parsons who completed a three year term that was filled with vitality and new ideas. We all thank Sandy for her considerable work.

The 1996 year end banquet was a cozy affair, with good cheer and great food. It seems good gardeners make good cooks. We ended the OHS year singing Christmas carols and puzzling over riddles and games. And so we moved into 1997, which has proved to be another successful year for the Society.

Kudos to the Program Committee for an excellent variety of speakers this year. We learned about water gardens, begonias, and Philip Fry's Old Field Garden. Dallyn Lynde, whose landscaping article runs in The Ottawa Citizen, was most interesting while, in September, we heard from the former foreman of the Dominion Arboretum who spoke about trees. A truly educational and entertaining array of topics. And Mary Bryant's talk about her wildflower garden was more than just informative - it was inspiring.

David Boll took a group of members to Montreal to visit the greenhouses of the Botanical Gardens. Apart from a little rain, it was a great trip which even included an excellent lunch. In May, Stuart Herbert organized a visit to Philip Fry's Old Field Garden. It was also a nice day and a good time was had by all.

The Society's shows were very well attended. What began as an experiment to combine the Nepean and Ottawa Societies' Spring Bulb Shows during the Tulip Festival has been so popular that we would like to see it continue forever. As this show was publicized through the Tulip Festival, many members of the public attended. Barbara Veldhuis lost count at 300 or so, after a bus tour had rolled through.

We also had the opportunity to publicize the Society at the Spring Home Show. A number of members gave up their time on the Easter weekend to staff the booth and talk about our activities.

Another year, and another Plant Auction! Again Marilyn Light was able to extract the maximum amount of money from buyers for a variety of plants (You paid $15 for what!?!). Unfortunately, the Society is losing her knowledgeable assistant Anne Ginns who has moved out of town. Thanks to Anne for her many years of help with the plant auction and the plant sale at the Indoor Garden Show.

The Society hit upon another excellent way to raise funds - selling mushroom compost by the bag. All we needed was a driveway to dump 20 cubic yards of the stuff onto and people willing to fill and haul bags and take money.

Getting the driveway was the first step, so the call went out for someone willing to have black mud spread everywhere for two to three weeks in prime gardening weather. Any volunteers? This year's lucky people were Sandy Ives and Maureen Mark, who allowed their house to be the OHS Compost Headquarters. And many more volunteers came out to shovel muck in the pouring rain. But it was a great success, and raised several hundred dollars for the Society. And it was even fun. We hope to expand the initiative next year, but Sandy and Maureen may have to widen their driveway...

The Society held a Members' Fall Garden Tour in September. Six gardens were featured in the downtown area. This gave members an interesting look at different approaches to the urban challenge of gardening in small spaces. It was a beautiful sunny warm day, and over forty people made the rounds checking out the Autumn blooms.

Some of our members were recognized beyond the Society. Anita Price earned an environmental award for her work on the city's Urban Forest Committee. And well deserved congratulations to Mary Harris for having been awarded the Trillium Award the highest award given by the Ontario Horticultural Association - for her contribution to building the Ontario Association and the breadth and depth of her participation in a number of local societies.

Please contact the OHS or the author if you wish to republish these articles. © Ottawa Horticultural Society

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