Over the past year we held 10 meetings in total, 1 via zoom, 3 off site and 6 in house.
February we joined with Gloucester and Maxville societies to share the cost of a Zoom presentation by Sean James. Two of the offsite trips were to local places of interest the first at Jeff Turners where we learnt about growing hascaps and their health benefits. The second we went to Legault's Garden Centre where we toured the greenhouses and had questions and answers sessions with the staff in each department. The third was further afield in Almonte where we saw the most amazing daylilies and garden art at Whitehouse Perennials.
In house we had a good variety of interesting speakers, basic garden and growing cut flowers and putting your garden to bed. We also celebrated 30 years of Mill Street Park where our society created the flowers beds, which we have maintained ever since. This occasion was marked placing a plaque in the park followed by tea and a celebration cake at Knox Church Hall and judging of the May flower and photography competitions.
The competitions held at September's meeting were well supported by our members showing variety of colourful and skillful floral designs and photographs.
In the community, we continue to maintain the flower beds at the 4 township signs, Higginson Tower and Mill Street Park. We donated plants and bulbs to local non profit organizations and continue to partner with the library, donating seeds to their seed bank and prizes for the annual Little Green Fingers competition.
We were invited by Legault's Greenhouses to celebrate their 60th Anniversary and we attended the honey fair at The Pioneer Museum in Dunvegan. At both of these events we set up a booth to promote horticultural societies in general and the importance of creating pollinator friendly gardens.
Our plant sale was held at a new location, across from Scotiabank, and having more space enabled us to set up more tables and were able to have ones solely for indoor plants and pots.
For the first time we organized a Christmas turkey supper for members and their guests, which was held at Knox Presbyterian Church hall. The evening was filled with presentations, competitions and recognition awards. The meal catered by the church ladies was wonderful and many door prizes were given out. The evening was well attended and deemed a success.
The newsletter continues to be a great source for keeping our members informed, updated, and in contact especially throughout the winter months when there are no meetings.
Generally our society is running well, is in good standing and looking forward to an exciting year ahead.