Cuttings
Barrie’s Garden Club May 2013Open Meeting Tuesday, May 07/13
Southshore Community Centre 7:15 pm
‘Fever, Hosta Fever’ is the topic of the evening,
so all you hosta fanciers come on out to hear
Cindy Mitchellshare her passion for this group
of plants.
Out and About – Other Events & Venues
Saturday May 18th – Creemore Hort Society’s GiantAnnual Plant Sale at the Station on the Green, 10 Caroline StreetEast from 8:30 am to 1:00 pm (or until sold out). Sale will feature many unusual & hard to find perennials.
Please bring your own bags or boxes.
Saturday May 25th – Oro-Medonte plant sale. Starts at 10:00 am & goes till sold out. Location is the Oro Fairgrounds at Line 7 North (off Hwy 11) & 15/16 Sideroad. Choose from a wide selection of hardy, reasonably priced perennials & a good assortment of native plants. Bring you own cardboard boxes to carry your treasures away.
Huronia Rose Society will be selling Potted Rose bushes at the Barrie Farmers’ Market
Saturdays May 4TH, 11th 18th 2013, 8 am till noon.
Purchased from Ontario rose growers as they suitablefor our climate.
For further information please contact
Ellen: 705 739-9101 or check our website
for list of roses being sold.
Saturday May 25th- Barrie Garden Club’s very own plant sale is now in partnership with the Barrie
Farmer’s Market. Starts 8:00 am till 11:00 am or sold out. Individual vendors will have their plants for sale. Come browse, come buy, come have fun!!
Barrie Garden Club Plant Sale
The club is holding a plant sale again this year, and this year it will be in conjunction with the Farmer’s Market. Deposit $25.00 with Tede de Boeck to reserve a space. Her contact phone number is 705 727-1881. At the end of the day, thisdeposit will be returned to you. Plus, you get to pocket all the monies from the sale of your gorgeous plants.
So, start as soon as you can to lift, divide &
re-pot everything you have too much of.
Labels should include plant name, sun/shade preference,bloom colour & plant height & spread.
Early Spring Flower Show –Tonight
Believe it or not, it’s time for the first flower show of the season. Although spring has gotten off to a slow start, I’m sure there are some hardy specimens in your garden you can pluck & display. If you have a show package from previous years, continue to use that. New contributors can pick up a package of their own for use for the remainder of the year.
Visit the Club’s website to familiarize yourself with the revised categories.
Spring Bulbs are In
For those of you who bought spring bulbs last fall, you will be able to pick up the Crocosmia at the Open Meeting on 07 May. Please remember to bring your receipt. Carol Craig will be manning the table & distributing the packages upon proof of purchase.
Communities in Bloom (CiB)
The official kick-off for the 2013 Communities in Bloom season is Saturday,11 May from 10:00 am
to 2:00 pm at Botanix Barrie at 375 Bayview Drive.
This is year 16of the City’s annual participation in the CiB competition at the national level.
Members of the CiB committee will be on hand to answer questions about the program & accept registration forms. Goody bags & prizes to be had.
Check the City of Barrie link for more information:
Moon Gardens
What exactly is a ‘moon garden’? Quite simply it is a space that features flowers which glow in low light conditions – white, cream, light yellow, silver,
The most celebrated example of this is the White Garden in Sissinghurst, Kent England created by Vita Sackville-West.
But you too can create a peaceful retreat in which to relax by following a few simple guidelines.
Regardless of the space available give consideration to site/sight, sound, seating & scent.
Site: Take care to locate your moon garden in an area mostly free of shadows. Check airflow around the chosen site & place plants upwind of the seating area to take advantage of scented flowers.
Sight: Choose a focal point. Install solar lights to illuminate your pathways.
Sound: Place a water feature – the melody of gently flowing water is hypnotic & soothing. The white noise will deaden outside street noises.
Seating: Install comfortable chairs with cushions so you can sit & inhale & absorb the atmosphere.
Scent: this is the essential element of a moon garden. Many white flowers give off a scent only
at night in order to attract a specific pollinator. Consider these fragrant annuals: Angel’s Trumpetmoonflower vine, flowering tobacco,night scented stocks , Four O’clocks & heliotrope.
When it comes to perennials, try to have something blooming in each season: spring, summer, autumn. In winter, your garden will be white anyway!!
Spring: snowdrops, primrose, daffodil/narcissus, trillium, hellebores, crocus, iris, bleeding hearts.
Summer: daises, phlox, lilies/daylilies, evening primrose, alliums, sweet peas, white coneflower, gas plant, pussy toes, peonies, roses.
Autumn: anemone, bugbane, verbascum
Don’t forget to include plants with silver, grey-green or variegated foliage as they add reflective depth & contrast. These include pinks, lamb’s ears, Russian sage, sea holly & small tufted blue grasses.
The variegated foliage of lungwort, dead nettle, & hostas with white or cream margins add interest.
For the space challenged, ‘grow up’ with white flowering vines such as clematis, climbing roses
or climbing hydrangea.
Space permitting, include a white flowering shrub or white barked tree as a focal point. Consider serviceberry or paper birch if suitable. Plum,
apple & crabapple trees put on a fragrant show in the spring. Japanese lilac, mockorange, spiraea, &
varieties of viburnum will provide white blooms together with scent for a long period of time.
I hope these ideas have inspired you to venture into something new & unique for your garden. Make white combinations in any sized space.
Just do it!!
Oshawa Peony Festival
If you love all things ‘peony’, then you will want
to be on board the bus going to Oshawa on Saturday, 08 June to visit the peony festival.
Creemore HortSociety is organizing this trip
for the incredible price of only $25.00. There
will be a pick-up in Barrie behind the Koslov Mall
at the grocery store end. To reserve your seat,
send a cheque in the amount of $25.00 to Linda
Cockton, 17 Johnston Street, Creemore, Ontario
L0M 1G0. Phone number: 705 466-2027.
Link to festival:
Last Word
‘The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
One is nearer God’s heart in a garden,
Than anywhere else on earth’
Dorothy Frances Gurney (1858 – 1932)