Pine Ridge Garden Club August News

by Helen Nicolaou

Summer heat and longer spells than normal, without rain, have been a challenge in our gardens. Looking around, the trees have definitely begun to drop green leaves, which have dried before any signs of frost. Depending on the location, there have been restrictions in place on the use of water. Is it time to consider drought-tolerant plants that will survive these long spells without natural rainfall?

 The Tuesday, August 5th, General Meeting was a very popular and well-attended night. Barb Twiner, Ontario Horticultural Association (OHA) and Competition Judge and Norma Haney, Pine Ridge Garden Club (PRGC) Show Chair, demonstrated several designs. There were four water viewing designs, an L-shaped line design, and a design incorporating a combination of flowers, fruit and or vegetables. Very knowledgeable information was given on the assembly, bringing these unique designs to completion. Thank you, Barb and Norma, for once again being available to share your knowledge, while educating our members on design, and entertaining them as well. Members were delighted to be able to purchase tickets for the designs, which were donated as door prizes.

Tuesday, September 2nd, will be a busy night, as this is the last Flower Show for 2025. The Fall Flower and Vegetable Show is the biggest of the year, with 39 Horticultural classes and four Design classes. Entries must be placed between 6 and 6:45 p.m. There will be assistance available at the Work Table for anyone needing help to fill out entry forms. Please refer to your Yearbook Show Schedule, pages 22 to 23, for information regarding the correct number of species, height requirements, proper grooming, conditioning, and also that “flowers must be shown with own foliage, including gladiolus unless otherwise specified.”

Our guest speaker for this evening will be Darryl Cheng, with the topic, “An Engineer’s Approach to Houseplant Care.” This is the time to ask your questions about bringing in plants from the outdoors and what can be done to restore ailing plants back to health.

Members, please remember to start gathering your photos for the 2025 Photo Competition. The entries need to be submitted at the October 7th meeting. Please refer to your Yearbook for the classes. Also, there will be a sample of the Holiday Workshop available for viewing, at the membership table. This year, the workshop will be an “Outdoor Planter.” The planter will include: fresh pine and spruce boughs, cedar, boxwood, dogwood branches, pine cones and sumac berries. Members, sign-up and payment can be made this evening, for the workshop scheduled for the November 4th meeting. The cost is $30.

Guests are Always Welcome. Enjoy refreshments, see Gloria or Kim for door prize tickets and don’t forget to “Lug-a-Mug.”

Pine Ridge Garden Club-Where Gardeners come to Bloom