“Fostering the love of Gardening and the Beautification of our City.”

March 2008

President’s Message

A great start to a new year!

A great meeting, a great speaker and great food! Thank you to Adrian for speaking at our February potluck and inspiring us to start our gardening indoors!!

And thank you to the many members who have agreed to help on various committees this year and get more involved in our society!! More and more members are volunteering their time to help make our programs and events successful.

With Mother’s Day fast approaching, consider, this year, purchasing a membership or making a donation to our society as a gift for your mother!

With our Green Thumb filled with lots of interesting topics and information, it would make a great gift for anyone.

We are looking forward to this year being another year of opportunity to learn even more about gardening and what we can do to help foster the love of gardening while taking better care of what we have. Look to the Green Thumb for a listing of programs and events as well as our new section on “Living Green.”

Darlene Lecour

Next meeting
Tuesday, March 25th, 7:00 p.m.

Speakers : Jim and Judy Merrick of Commanda Country Gardens
“Hostas and the hosta virus”

Our event schedule for 2008

March 25 – Jim & Judy Merrick - Hostas and the hosta virus
April 22 - Bryan Herdman – Climate change and your North Bay garden
May 20 – Bonnie Cappadocia – Growing organic vegetables in pots
Sat. May 24 – Plant sale
Sat. June 21 - Flower and vegetable show at Northgate Shopping Centre
June 24 – Strawberry social; Jim Aldridge - Bees
Tues. July 22 – Ella’s waterfront picnic at noon
August 22-24 - OHA convention in Brampton
Sat. Sept. 6th – Painting flowers workshop with Carol Romaine Cost $25
September 23th – potluck; The art of pressed flowers – Dorothy Antram
Sat. October 4th Gathering Nature’s Bounty (edible wild walk): with Lucy Emmott - $10 includes list of plants and other info
October 28th meeting – Beautiful winter containers – Mark from Bouquet D’Amour
November 25 – Annual general meeting –Waterfront Update with Rod Johnston

Recycling opportunity – Help the students at Phelps School

Do you have some used garden tools, gloves, seeds just cluttering up your gardening space? Well, the time has come to clear them out for a good cause.
Phelps Community School needs supplies to start up a gardening program with the students of their school.
If you have any items, please bring them to the March meeting. We will collect all the items and deliver them to the school!
Thanks!

Garden guide for mid March to Mid April

Start planning your garden purchases, supplies, plants, baskets and containers.
Transplant seedlings after the first true leaves are formed. Use ½ strength solution for first fertilization.
Use dormant oil sprays to protect trees, shrubs and roses from insects and diseases. Apply prior to bud break on a windless frost-free day. Use enough that the liquid runs down the branches to seal off crevices.
Tour the garden when the snow has melted and make note of any damage to the lawn, or trees and shrubs.
Firm perennials back into place if they have heaved.
Prune back overgrown shade trees and hedges.

Wear your Name tags
We would love to try to get out members to wear their name tags to each meeting so we can all figure out who is who. When you grab your mug for the meeting, please remember you tag too!

Living Green ideas

Earth Hour

On Saturday, March 29th, at 8 p.m. cities and towns across Canada, and around the world will turn off their lights for Earth Hour, a WWF event to raise awareness about climate change and symbolize that, working together the people of the world can make a difference in the fight against climate change.
Earth Hour has grown from a single event in Sydney, Australia in 2007 to a global phenomenon that will occur across six continents and in as many as 20 cities in 2008.
Toronto was the flagship Canadian city to commemorate Earth Hour 2008 but dozens of others including Ottawa, Vancouver and Montreal have already joined!
Our goal is to get thousands of businesses and individuals to participate in this historic event to show that Canadians are leaders in addressing climate change, one of the most critical issues facing our world today.
So join many others around the North Bay area! Perhaps that evening, why not hold a candlelight dinner with friends? Or dine at some the local restaurants who are supporting Earth Hour with dimmed lights. Turn off that TV and enjoy a game of Scrabble? The ideas are endless. Check out the local media in the coming weeks or visit Northgate Shopping Centre to find out about local Earth Hour events.
Children’s Program
Hello Seedlings!
I hope you are enjoying the Spring program. So far we’ve planted seeds for your garden and learned how to take a cutting from a house-plant. We’ve also discussed the benefits of worms and made our own WORM FARM!!!
Our Summer program has some huge events planned. The plants that you are growing now will be tall and strong when we start again on May 24. We’ll be at the Plant Sale that day selling a few of our plants and making a collage of images and words with the theme “What I like about Gardening?”
The next weekend on May 31, we will tour one of the local nurseries. We’ll be back at the library the next two weeks for a Storytime and more gardening fun! On June 21 (the first Day of Summer), we visit the Flower Show at Northgate Square. I encourage you to enter a picture or an arrangement of flowers or a plant or a vegetable. And for our last meeting that session, we’ll have a Garden Tea at the Library.
Permissions slips for the field trips will be with the Registration Forms.
Keep an eye out for more info on our new session and our summer workshop in the next couple of weeks!
An interesting website for adults and parents is www.gardening-with-kids.com
If you have any questions, you can always reach me via email at
[email protected] or by telephone at (705) 752-1826.
Remember to ask your parents or a responsible adult for permission first!

Tin Can Scarecrow - we’ll do this in the summer session

Making a tin can scarecrow recycles and keeps the crows and other critters away. It's a fun project for your family and adds personality to the garden.

You Will Need:
Twine
Tape
Straight blade Screwdriver and Hammer
Empty, clean, dry cans of assorted sizes. Try to make sure there are no sharp edges. The "Institutional" sized cans (available from schools, hospitals, nursing homes, etc) make a good size for the body and head. Other sizes make good arms and legs.
A hat (optional)
An old chair (for the scarecrow to sit on. He is tied to it, so it gives him support).

Instructions:
Use screw driver and hammer to put a hole in the center of each can lid. The hole should be large enough to thread the twine through.
Wrap a small piece of tape on the end of the twine to create a firm tip for threading. Cut a long piece of twine and put a big knot in end leaving a "tail" of 12 inches in length.
To make the trunk of the body, thread the twine from the inside of an institutional sized can, through the hole, and out of the lid of the can. Pull all the way through to the knot to secure it in place and tie another knot against the can lid.
Thread through the next institutional sized can the same way. When finished you should have 2 large cans, one on top of the other. Tie to the seat and back of the chair with another piece of twine.
With the original twine piece, thread through another institutional-sized can and place the can horizontally on the top can. Pull the Twine through and secure to trunk cans and chair. This is the head. Brace up using bamboo stakes along the back to ensure that it will stay above the trunk.
Using smaller cans threaded together the same way, make 2 arms and 2 legs. Fasten the legs to the body using the 12 "tail of twine and then secure the legs to the chair legs. Fasten the arms to the twine between the head and the trunk. They can be posed however you wish.
Tie hat onto head of scarecrow anyway you can. Punch a hole through it and tie twine through the hat and into the head.
You can decorate with paint or markers, we left ours plain with no face. After a few weeks he will rust a bit and not be so very shiny.
Place in your garden. If wanted, plant morning glories at his feet and on chair legs and have them climb the scarecrow.

Eleanor Giddens (nee Haufschild) 1935-Feb 27, 2008

Eleanor was the mother of 5 boys and predeceased by one of them and her husband, James. Although I did not know any of her family, I have had the great pleasure of knowing Eleanor through the North Bay Horticultural Society, which I only joined in 1998 and she had been a member of for many years. Eleanor was an inspiration to me because she, in her quiet way, just always gave of herself. As team leader of the lilac bed with the Heritage Gardeners since 2000, whenever I called the team members for gathering at the bed, Eleanor always showed up with a big smile and diligently worked hard to do her part. I will miss our entertaining and insightful conversations. I had recently been in the hospital with pneumonia and on December 16 we emailed each other. I told her that I had quit smoking and she told me that she had quit smoking as well because cancer was discovered in her right lung. I was shocked. Eleanor always enjoyed the comic strip of "Maxine", who spoke her mind freely. She brought me a very young tamarack tree to my home in Callander 2 years ago. She was also looked up to by many other members of the Society and I could easily see the respect they had for her. A very gentle and tender-hearted individual, she will be sadly missed, but we will have fond memories of her to hold onto.

Betty Foy

Callander Blooms

Join the Callander Horticultural Society at Callander Blooms on Friday, April 18th from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm and on Saturday, April 19th from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. There will be a Tea Garden and admission is $6:00 for the weekend. Master Gardeners will be present to answer your gardening questions as usual. Also on Thursday evening, June 12th they will host "An Evening with Ed Lawrence" at the Callander Community Centre. Tickets are $10.00 and there will be refreshments available.
Contact Colleen Haddow at 472-8016 or at [email protected].

Publishing our Green Thumb newsletter costs the Society about $2000 per year!
Please consider requesting the email version to help us reduce our costs!

Thanks!
Your Executive.

PLEASE, PLEASE REMEMBER TO LUG YOUR MUG!!
Help us protect the environment!!

Website of the month

Need to contact us with comments, questions or suggestions?
North Bay Horticultural Society
P.O. Box 1482, North Bay, ON P1B 8K6
Website : Go to www.gardenontario.org and follow the links!
Email : [email protected]

Treasurer’s report to Feb. 29/08

Investment savings $3630.78
Bank statement as of Oct 31/07 $ 839.71
Last month’s outstanding cheques -
$ 636.90
Deposit + $1745.00
Expenditures - $ 229.42
This month’s outstanding cheques +
$ 229.42
Total current account $1947.81

Expenditures
Horticultural meetings $ 50.00
Green Thumb $ 161.53
Bank charges $
OHA & products $
Social & gifts $
General office $ 17.89
Workshops $
Total expenditures $ 229.42

Receipts
Membership $ 195.00
OMAFRA grant 1000.00
T-shirts 300.00
Donations 250.00

Total receipts $ 1745.00

Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Held at Christ Church, 890 Vimy St.

President Darlene Lecour called the meeting to order at 7:00 and thanked everyone for their yummie contribution to our potluck. 41 members were in attendance, on the sign in sheet.

Business – Minutes of the November general meeting, as printed in the Green Thumb, were moved to be adopted by Debbie Caldwell. CARRIED.
Correspondence – Veseys and Richters Herbs and Seed Catalogues, Trillium Newsletter
Canada Blooms – March 12 - 15, 2008. Check out their website. http://www.canadablooms.com:80/site/visit/scheduleMar14.htm
Gathering Place – Thank you for the non-perishables goods donated by our members Nov 30, 2007. The Gathering Place has fed 90,000 people since opening its doors in Sept 2003.
Treasurer’s Report – Motion to accept the Treasurer’s Report as presented in the Green Thumb by Geri Openshaw.
Induction of Officers – Since the weather was so bad in November the induction took place tonight by Adrian van der Bijl. The ceremony was very brief as Adrian asked everyone if they accepted their responsibilities in their perspective positions and everyone replied, in unison, “I do”.
Members of the Executive for 2008 are:
President ………………………….. Darlene Lecour
Vice President ……………..……… Louise Cicci
Secretary ………………………….. Betty Foy
Treasurer .……………………….… Ruth Wright
Youth ……………….…………….. Janet Vos (Shania L.)
Phone/Contact ……………………. Audrey Morton (Maureen Ranger, Darlene Lecour)
Programs ………………………….. Geri Openshaw
Membership …………………….… Maureen Ranger
Civic Beautification ………….…… Ruby McLeod
Green Thumb ……………………... Geri Openshaw (Helen Bannerman, Rosalyn Charland)
Publicity-Advertisement, T-Shirts .. Maureen Ranger (Kathy Thomas)
Social …………………………….. Judy Watling (Jane Watling, Mary Glass, Annie McGee, Ida Clavelle)
Assistant Director ………………… Lorne Cutts (Vickie Wiemer, Daphne Andrews, Sue Finnis)
Plant Sale …………………………. Pat Madill
Flower Show ……………………… June Charette (Donna Williams, Janet Vos, Fara Chenette)

T-Shirts – Can be ordered from Kathy Thomas @$30.00 each, fill out form, men’s and women’s sizes, cash or cheque in advance, with a 2 week waiting period and a minimum order of 12 t-shirts.
Sweetman’s Gardens – Adelaide Saeger, his neighbor, co-ordinates the volunteers who help 84 year old Mr. Sweetman look after this treasure. We will discuss this at the next executive meeting.
Name tags – Please wear them so people will know who you are. Linda Graham has large letters on her name tag so it’s very easy to see.
The North Bay Nugget “Living Green” Gardening Articles – We have 20 articles to write and are looking for volunteers. Geri spoke about how easy it is to start writing your article and before you know it, you have a wonderful story to share with interested readers. Rosalyn Charland is our Editor. A sign up sheet was passed around. The articles will run every Tuesday from May 20, 2008 to Sept 30, 2008. Articles should be about 250-300 words and submitted prior to Apr 1. This is great exposure for our Society and also a great way to share your gardening experiences and contribute to your Society. Darlene will provide a list of topics so as not to duplicate subjects. Betty Foy, Archivist, brought the History Book to show last year’s write-ups.

“Beautiful Yards - An Advertising Feature of the North Bay Nugget” - We would like to submit our gardens for the Nugget again this year, since it was such a success last year. If you would like to have your garden featured, please contact Geri Openshaw at 476-1894. A photographer from the Nugget will come to you home when your garden is ready and take pictures of your gardens for their feature presentation. Last year it was published on Thursday, August 23, 2007. Fifteen gardens were featured.
Memberships – can be purchased as a gift idea for Mother’s Day, present, memorial gift or for a youth.
Committee Reports -
2008 Program Line up – Geri Openshaw
? Feb 26 - Potluck, Adrian van der Bijl - Starting Your Garden Indoors
? Mar 25 - Jim Merrick, Hostas and Hosta Virus
? Apr 22 - Bryan Herdman - Climate Change & Gardening, “Earth Week”
? May 24 - Plant Sale – Christ Church
? May 27 - Growing Herbs & Vegetables in Containers - Home Depot or Bonnie Cappadocia
? Jun 21 - Annual Flower & Vegetable Show - North Gate Mall
? Jun 24 - Strawberry Social and Honey Bees and Cross-Pollination Today
? Jul 22 - Ella’s Picnic – 12:00 (4th Tuesday in July) Kinsmen Shelter at the waterfront
? Aug - No Meeting
? Sept 23 - Potluck, maybe Chef Daniel Esposito
? Oct 28 - Bouquet D’Amour - Mark
? Nov Workshop - Christmas Wreath
? Nov 25 - Dr Rod Johnston - Waterfront Update, Annual Executive Elections and Workshop
? Dec & Jan - No Meetings
Flower Show - June Charette - June 21 – The first day of spring. The North Gate Mall is confirmed and commercials are lined up. We need volunteers to help bring in entries, setup and take down. You’d be surprised with what you can do and what you have in your gardens. She will call those that want to help.
Youth – Janet Vos will be starting another youth program for 6 weeks at the Library from 10-30 - 11:45, the 2nd Saturday in March break. The kids are having a wonderful time and they will have something in the flower show. The next session will be after school, nothing in July and August. The cost is 5.00 for a membership and 15.00 for craft sessions for ages 4 – 10. Janet thanked Geri for helping out with the Library, as a meeting place.
Membership – Maureen Ranger reported that renewals and name tags can be picked up from her at the membership table. Membership totals for 2006 was 121, 2007 was 164 and 2008 is 68 so far.
Green Thumb – Geri Openshaw – She would like to e-mail as many newsletters as possible in order to keep the cost down. $1.00 from every membership goes to printing, stamps, envelopes and labels.
Social – Judy Watling will need 3 volunteers for sweets for next month. Sharon Johnson, Janet Vos and Catherine Minkowskyi volunteered. Thank you.
Miscellaneous –
Construction of the Waterfront overpass will start in early spring of 2008.
Next month there will be a sign-up sheet for the various upcoming workshops.
Seed exchange is on the back table at this meeting.
Guest Speaker, Ed Lawrence will be at the Callander Community Centre on Thursday, June 12, 2008. Tickets are $10.00 each and can be purchased in advance from Lorne Cutts. There are only 375 tickets.
Door Prize winners were: _____?_______, ________?__________, & ________?___________.

Adjournment -
There being no other business to discuss, the meeting was moved to be adjourned at 7:50 by ___?_______. SECONDED by ______?________. CARRIED
The guest speaker was Adrian van der Bijl on “Starting your Garden Indoors”.
The next general meeting will be on Tuesday, March 25, 2008.