President's Message
By Suzanne Maranda
Wishing you a ‘normal as there is’ New Year! It is certainly not starting as we had hoped for. However, I believe that gardeners are a resilient bunch: who else can weather nature’s unpredictability? So, like our gardens, we can hibernate for a while…but also make plans and dream of spring.
As far as plans go, in early December, your board members visited a new venue for the potential return to having meetings in person. We have an agreement in principle, but we need to wait, for obvious reasons. In the meantime, you can take a look online at the Kingston Unitarian Fellowship site. There is ample parking and although rooms are available on various floors, there is an elevator and an accessible entrance. Once in-person meetings re-start, the availability of Wi-Fi at the new venue will also allow us to continue with the Zoom option for those who aren’t yet ready to meet in-person.
We were hoping to invite you all to visit the site and at the same time pick up some of the seed packets that were donated to us in the fall. There are thousands of packets! Flowers and veggies. Seeds of dreams? Dreams of seeds? Hopefully the next newsletter will offer a date for such a visit, or maybe it will be in March…patience is another gardene r’s forte, no?
I am also poised to contact our mayor about the Year of the Garden. I will repeat my request for your potential involvement: please contact me if you’d like to brainstorm about what we could do in Kingston to participate.
Here’s to great plans and dreams. But first, do stay healthy!
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Zoom Meeting
Thursday, January 20th at 7:00
Catherine Kavassallis speaks about “Fabulous Ferns”. She describes ferns as the quintessential plant: charming, elegant, graceful, delicate yet strong and adaptable. Come learn about weird and wonderful ferns from the desert to the Arctic. For your garden or home, there is a fabulous fern for you!
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Registration required by Wednesday, January 19th
Learn, Grow, Share
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Never Zoom'd before and don't know where to start?
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Check out these resources:
- Zoom FAQ's
- Step-by-step Guide (PDF)
- Video and Tutorial
- Or send us an email kingstonhortsoc@gmail.com and we'll try to help you out
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Mark Your Calendar
Thursday, February 10th
The February Zoom Meeting will be help as usual, on the second Thursday.
Join us for “Thugs, Bullies and Sneaks” with Rebecca Last.
Further details and registration will be included in the February newsletter.
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OHA's Trillium Newsletter
Interested in seeing what other societies in the province are doing? Stay updated with the latest OHA news. Follow the link to the latest issue of the OHA’s Trillium newsletter.
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Volunteer Hours
Remember to submit your Volunteer Hours to Veronica Butler.
Did you know that the following activities can be counted as Volunteer hours?
- Working in your family’s, friend's, neighbour's, or community garden like the Paterson or Pollinator
- Digging, preparing, and potting plants for our plant sales
The form is on our website under the Membership tab. We hope you will contribute to our grand total – every hour counts
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Richters Catalogues
For many years Richters catalogues have been ordered and then distributed at our meetings. Since we are still unable to meet in person, here is a link to their website where you can shop on-line, download a catalogue, or request a copy by mail.
Click here
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Gravel Gardens
By Wanda Slawinski
I attended our December 2021 meeting at which Ben O’Brien gave a presentation on Gravel Gardens. It piqued my interest so I also visited his website: wildbydesign.ca. There he has some additional photos that were not shown in his presentation. Even if you didn’t attend the meeting, check it out.
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Fungus Gnats
By Denise Owsianicki
As spring approaches and I try to decide what seeds to plant indoors this year, I think about my experience last year with what I believe were fungus gnats. It wasn’t a happy experience. So, I’m preparing myself with some new tools and research to help salvage my 2022 seedlings.
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Grow What You Like to Eat
By Rebecca Kelly
It’s that time of year again, when seed catalogues tempt you with a cornucopia of wonderful seeds. There is so much to choose from. There are long-established heirlooms, which your grandparents might have grown, to the latest hybrids, which promise better plants by virtue of selective breeding. If you have limited space, what do you choose?
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Gardener's Journal
Gardening Kingston Members tell their stories.
Learn along with them.
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Maureen's Story
I patiently waited all summer for my potted amaryllis bulbs to die back. Somehow, they didn’t understand the instructions to take a 6–8-week rest. Several of them sent up new flower stalks and rebloomed–a great surprise in August.
Remembering how thrilled I was last year at the variety of colours available, I set out to buy more but was disappointed at the limited selection this year.
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Your Story
Do you have a story to tell about your garden? Share something you've learned or some project you're working on, so that we can all grow together. Contact me at columbine.editor@gmail.com
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