President's Message - 2007

Congratulations to the yearbook team of Jean Stalker, Laurie Graham, and Margaret Scratch for creating this year's edition. Producing it takes a lot of effort and care, and here you can see the results of their dedication.

In 2007 the Community Planting Committee, under the leadership of Jennifer Mix, completed their project at the Plant Recreation Centre in partnership with the Plant Pool Recreation Association (PPRA) and the Vietnamese Canadian Centre (VCC), with financial support from the City of Ottawa. This was a two-year undertaking that has resulted in a wonderful improvement to the heavily used grounds of “The Plant.” The Committee will need the help of more of our members if we are to continue with these valuable projects. Contact Jennifer to get involved!

Our 2007 program was stimulating and well attended. It was anchored by Marjorie Harris' presentation at the National Library. This event was held in partnership with the Ottawa Botanical Garden Society and I would like to thank the OBGS again for their collaboration. A huge amount of work was devoted to this presentation in particular, and I must thank our volunteers. Of special note are Blaine Marchand, who sold dozens of tickets from his home and worked hard organizing the evening, and Nancy Conroy, who scored a publicity coup with this event. At our Membership table, a record was set for signing up the most number of new OHS members.

We are in good shape financially; over $8,800.00 was raised from our plant sales this year! Sales records were set due to the generosity of members who donated plants and those who were customers as well. Keep an eye out for specimens to donate to the plant auction in May. We appreciate your donations and the proceeds help finance our activities.

While many of our events are open to the public, we have members-only activities as well. One is our garden tours, which were organized by Nathalie Chaly again this year. Members visited the gardens of members Mary Pratte and of Sandy Ives and Maureen Mark. They also toured the gardens at Rideau Hall, the home of our Patron, the Governor General (and former home of Mrs. Thomas McKay, who was an active OHS member in the 1850's). Thanks to Nathalie for organizing the tours and to the members who opened their gardens. And thanks to Sylvia Spasoff and Geoff Kennedy, members could order “The Mums” again. In March, we awarded the Indoor Gardener's Bursary at the Regional Science Fair. In 2007 the 10,000 Trees planting project in Alta Vista was completed and we participated in this project. Kathy Lindsay and her Shows committee had a successful year; the Indoor show had many visitors from the public and the sales table set a record. Another benefit of membership is our newsletter, which continues to be a high quality and valuable source of information for our members.

Our membership remains strong but steady. But I'd like to see it grow, as it will keep our Society evergreen and vibrant. So please, tell your gardening friends about the OHS.

Jayne Huntley is your new president. I enjoyed working with her on the Board in 2007 and look forward to 2008 under her leadership. This year will be the first time that we have not had a vice president. This is of some concern, as we do need members to step forward, as Jayne has done, to eventually serve as president. The Society needs the involvement of its members to run effectively and I am grateful to those who served on the Board in 2007 and those who have volunteered for 2008.

2007 was a great year for my family and for me as president of the OHS. I have had a fun and very rewarding year taking part in OHS activities and tending my garden between diaper changes. Thank you for the opportunity to be president in 2007.

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