Enjoying the social aspect of local hort club.

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I belong to several specialty clubs, mostly focusing on hardy geraniums and other alpine plants. Many of these are in the UK (I’m in Canada), so I never get to actually meet the other members… This is why it is nice to go out to the local horticultural society (garden club) to enjoy the social aspect of the group.

For several years, the tradition for the Elmvale and District Horticultural Society June meeting has been to hold it off-site… This year we gathered at Huronia Nurseries.

Huronia Nurseries is located on Baseline Road in Tiny Township (here in central Ontario). Those of us getting there early had a chance to look around the nursery.

They mainly produce trees and shrubs, but also have a selection of annuals and perennials. These Mock Orange bushes were in peak bloom!

Soon, all the members and guests had arrived and we set up our chairs outside for a talk and demonstration on pruning and general tree and shrub care.

We were all seated in our lawn chairs, and Joanne opened the meeting, giving us a little history of the nursery, and introduced us to Darrell Leonard, the third generation to run the nursery. We did not know it at the time, but all those potted trees would be used as show-and-tell in Darrell’s informative presentation.

Darrell gave a great talk and demonstration, starting off with the tools of the trade and how to keep them in good working order.

He demonstrated how nurseries will trim shrubs from small rooted cuttings in 4 in. pots up to 2nd and third year plants. He showed us how to trim spruce and apple trees.

We were shown a tree that he had removed from a property and explained problems trees can have. He rolled an even larger tree out to show how a tree can be damaged by frost cracking… Many of us had never heard of that

All to soon it was time to head inside for fresh strawberries and ice cream… The sky was looking pretty as we moved indoors.

The evening was getting a little chilly, so it was nice to be inside for our treats… Another ‘tradition’ for the June meeting.

Our President Joanne was busy scooping out ice cream and serving up the strawberries!

It was a perfect evening, and as we left, the sky provided the perfect ending… Thanks to all who planned, hosted, and ran this enjoyable and informative event.

• 24 Jun, 2016
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