Hort Coach Tour 2012 - Norfolk County

Saturday July 14 - Fletcher Coach Tour’s Elaine Melito, who organized last year’s excursion, has confirmed the date for Saturday, July 14, to Norfolk County, Ontario. We leave from the Keele subway station parking lot at 8am sharp, returning to Keele again around 6pm. The price of $66 per person includes: deluxe motor coach transportation; stops at all the below-mentioned venues; all taxes, service charges and HST.

Pat Mulroney is looking after the ticket sales. Please send your cheque, (made out to the Hort Societies of Parkdale & Toronto) along with your contact information to the address indicated below for receipt before July 10^th. Also, please let Pat Mulroney (pmulroney@yahoo.com) know by email so we can keep track of the numbers.  If you have already registered your interest by signing up at the last meeting, Pat still needs to receive your information and your cheque. NOTE: You can bring your cheque and registration information to the Hort BBQ on June 28. This event is open to the public, so get your cheques in as soon as possible to avoid missing out!

If you are taking the subway, use the Indian Grove exit to the parking lot off Indian Road. If you are driving, parking there is free on Saturdays. BRING YOUR PICNIC LUNCH, WATER, SUN HAT, SUNSCREEN AND COMFORTABLE SHOES.

THE TOUR 

8:00am sharp:  Depart Keele St. subway station (Indian Grove side).

There will be a coffee stop en route to our first stop of the day.

10:15am–11:45am: Whistling Gardens  

Tour, shopping and browsing. Nearly 18 acres have been sculpted into 6 major gardens. This is the largest public collection of conifers in the world with over 2,200 species, hybrids and cultivars on site. There are dancing fountains, a full nursery and so much more to see. This stop is sure to be a highlight of the tour.

12–1:45pm: Bonnieheath Lavender Farm  

Lunch stop, tour and shopping. The day we have chosen coincides with their Lavender Festival! There will be a lot going on, including a short wagon tour of the lavender fields with commentary. A seating area makes this a lovely spot for us to enjoy our picnic lunches. There may not be food vendors here so do remember to bring your lunch! All that is Lavender will offer their products and possibly plants for sale.

2:15pm–3:00pm: South Coast Gardens

Exciting shopping! Kevin Kavanaugh’s nursery is a collection of the rare and unusual with display gardens and lots of shopping to be had. He will be there and will speak to the group. The unusual assortment of plants includes perennial palm trees that will grow here.

3:15pm–4:00pm: Burning Kiln Winery  

Tour and wine tasting. What better way to finish our day than with a little drop of the local wine! We will savour their wines and see their facility.

Please note that the driver’s tip is NOT included in the price. We do require 40 paid passengers to make this a go.

Send your $66 cheque made out to the Hort. Societies of Parkdale and Toronto, inculding your name, phone number, and email address to Pat Mulroney, 153 Westminster Ave, Toronto, M6R 1N8, before July 10^th.

Does Your Garden Need A Lift?

Would you like garden advice at a bargain price?

This is your chance to get a garden consultation and plants at a good price. Thanks to Designs by the Yard on Annette St and Plant World on Eglinton, we are offering our members the opportunity to bid on a garden consultation (value $150) and gift certificate (value $25) – a total value of $175. Funds raised will support the Hort’s community garden projects.

How will it work?  This will be a blind silent auction in which the highest bid over $50 will receive the prize. If there are multiple bids at the same price it will become a draw. 

How to bid?  Email your bids to info@parkdaletorontohort.com or telephone Diana Baxter at 416-653-1404. 

When you bid, please tell us: Your name, your bid amount (over $50) and your phone number.

If you send email, we will confirm your bid has been received.

Deadline:  Bids must be received by August 1, 2012

Garden Tour 2012 - Bloor West Village

June 10, 2012, 10am - 4pm. The Hort presents a self guided walking tour of 25 beautiful gardens in a charming pocket of Bloor West Village between Jane and Durie Streets, Bloor and Annette Streets. The area is convenient to reach, either by car or from the Jane subway station. It is flat terrain and the gardens are all close together for ease of walking and are rich with ideas to delight and inspire you. Tickets are $18 each and are available at: 

• A Changing Nest, 572 Annette St.
• Another Story Bookshop, 315 Roncesvalles Ave.
• Sweetpea’s, 163 Roncesvalles Avenue.
• The Flower Room, 776 Annette St.
• Windergarden, 664 Annette St.

We are still looking for volunteers to be ‘garden sitters’. If you would like to do the morning or afternoon shift, or both, please contact Marjory at gardentour@parkdaletorontohort.com. You will have the opportunity to have a preview of the gardens and be invited to the after-party.

For more information about the Garden Tour click here.

We hope to see you on Sunday!

Summer Kick Off Bazaar

Juen 11, 2012 at 11 am - Presented by the Parkdale Community Development Group is the Summer Kick Off Bazaar. Located at Queen Street West and Cowan Avenue, it starts at 11am and runs until 6pm. There will be a Kids’s Art Zone and face painting while you shop at the 25+ local artisan and vintage vendors. The Parkdale Bazaars are held several times during the year. 

For more information click here. 

Annual St. Christopher House Barbeque 2012

• Thursday, June 28, 2012
• 5:00pm - 8:30pm, Rain or Shine
• St Christopher House Courtyard Garden
• NW Corner of Dundas and Ossington

This is our 14^th annual Garden Party to which every Hort member is invited. Extensive changes have been taking place since September of 2011 in the St. Chris courtyard, which is one of our Hort gardening projects. This will be an ideal time to see the dramatic new garden look while enjoying a meal in the company of Hort friends and gardeners in this convivial setting. Hort members and guests have been enjoying this event for years. Do come and join in the fun.

Please note that there will be a slight variation in the menu this year. The Hort will provide chicken, marinated and barbecued as usual by Bill Cheng, and there will also be corn on the cob roasted on the grill and melon for dessert. Please contribute by bringing your own choice of beverage. In addition, I would appreciate it if some of you would volunteer to make and bring ready-to-eat salads, vegetables or rolls and butter to round out the meal. Your help to make this a pleasant and enjoyable evening will be very welcome.

Mark the date on your calendar and RSVP to me at billcheng@eol.ca, at 416-703-2956, or sign up at the May meeting. It is important that you reply by June 22 at the latest, so we can confirm quantities for the grocery shopping list. If you plan to contribute to the menu it would be helpful to let me know in order to avoid duplication.

Kathy Andrachuk

How to Make a Pollinator Garden - a Talk by Clement Kent

• Thursday, May 31, 2012 at 7pm 
• Freeman Real Estate Ltd, Brokerage, 988 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5R 3G6.

“How to Make a Pollinator Garden” shows you in a step-by-step way how to create a beautiful garden of native plants that helps restore the ecology of urban Toronto, by helping our native pollinators. Learn how to attract birds, butterflies, and bees to your home or school garden! Presented by Clement Kent, President of the Horticultural Societies of Parkdale and Toronto and 2011 Pollinator Advocate of the Year for Canada.

Space is limited, so please contact elden@freemanrealty.com to find out more.

Rain Barrels for Sale 2012

GN21 (Green neighbours Ward 21)  is selling high quality rain barrels at an amazing price.  Here is your chance to capture rain for your garden and save on water bills, take better care of the environment and support GN21’s Eco Fair.

Each of these 180 – 220 L (45 – 55 gallon) rain barrels comes fully equipped with a leaf and mosquito filter basket, an overflow adapter that permits multiple barrels to be connected in series, 1.2m of overflow hose and a spigot that attaches directly to a garden hose. They’re made of durable food-grade plastic – in fact the barrels themselves are re-purposed wholesale food containers. They come in 5 different colours!

GN21 is selling these barrels  for just $60 each – about half the cost of most commercial models of the same size. To order yours, just go online to www.rainbarrel.ca/GN21 between now and May 29. You can prepay online or just reserve them and pay cash on delivery.

They will have the barrels ready for you to pick up on Sunday, June 3 at Freddie’s No Frills parking lot, 243 Alberta Ave. (north of St. Clair), Toronto.

Merry May Meeting - May 28, 2012

(Note the location: the Merry May Meeting is held at St. George the Martyr Church, 197 John Street, between Beverley and McCaul, north of Queen Street West.)

This fun, informal meeting is the perfect end to the Horticultural Society year. It is held in the historic and charming yellow brick church of St. George the Martyr, set in Grange Park. Arrive anytime after 6:30pm. The meeting usually commences at 7:30pm. Help yourself to coffee and cookies; enjoy a stroll around the beautiful enclosed garden and admire the newly planted hanging moss baskets, two of the Hort Societies’ gardening projects. Activities for the evening include the Spring Flower Show; slide shows by members of their own or visited gardens; a chance to purchase Raffle tickets, Garden Tour tickets, pre-read garden magazines and Green Elephants (garden related white elephants); draws for the door prize and the annual Raffle prizes; and the popular Horticultural Trivia Quiz for which everyone receives a prize.

Barry Parker - Gardens of Wales and the Border Counties

Monday April 30, 2012, 7pm. Barry Parker will give us a personal tour of gardens on both sides of the border of Wales and England, with interesting side trips to Norman castles and the Abergyvenny Food Festival. It’s a journey involving the pleasurable enjoyment of gardens, history, and food.

Check out barrysbog.blogspot.com

To find out more click here.

St. George Moss Baskets

I am calling for 15 enthusiastic volunteers who would like to assemble hanging moss baskets at St. George the Martyr Church on Sunday, May 20. I need one volunteer to come from 10am to noon to help with preparations, including lining the baskets with moss. The rest of the volunteers gather in the garden at 12 noon, rain or shine. If it rains, we shelter the tables under the generous eaves as we work. Do not worry if you are a novice and would like to learn how to do this; there is always someone experienced with whom you can team up. Over about 2 ½ hours, we assemble 11 hanging masterpieces, chat and laugh with our fellow creators, and afterward, linger in the garden to enjoy refreshments and admire the baskets as they are hung in their niches.

It is the long weekend, I know, but the following weekend is Doors Open Toronto and we would like the baskets to be beautiful and in their places when visitors come to view the Church and garden. Later in the summer you can take a stroll through the garden to admire how lush and full they grow. Wear clothes for the weather. Bring your garden gloves and a hat. I look forward to working with you. Sign-up sheets will be available at the Hort meeting on April 30. Or contact Kathy at info@parkdaletorontohort.com to participate.

Kathy Andrachuk