Viv O’Donnell can’t wait until spring when she and her fellow horticulturists will be able to get there hands in the dirt again ready to plant for another season.
Having already held their first meeting of the year, the Fort Frances Horticultural Society has made a tentative list of the upcoming events it will hosting and O’Donnell is looking forward to each one.
“One of the things that I am anticipating is the guest speaker that we will be having in April,” she said. “Chris Graham from the Royal Botanical Gardens will be coming here to talk about new perennials.
“We are going to be inviting Rainy River, Atikokan, and Emo to the talk. It should be very interesting.”
Although the event currently is not open to the public, O’Donnell is hoping that will soon change.
“Right now, we are looking to find a bigger place to hold the talk,” she admitted. “If we can find a bigger place, then we will open the talk up to the public.”
With the success of last year’s guest speakers, O’Donnell is hoping Graham will be just as interesting and informative.
“Last year we had a person come in and talk to us about making rooms in your garden,” she recalled. “The guest speaker was very popular because a lot of people in this area love to landscape their yards, and the talk dealt directly with that.”
Meanwhile, having recently celebrated its 30th year in the town, the local Horticultural Society is looking to get some younger people involved.
“We currently have about 72 members and only one child,” said O’Donnell. “It would be nice to get more children involved.
“Every year we have a flower and vegetable show at Robert Moore School. At the show, we have a children’s category and it would be nice to get more children in it,” she added.
The society also has made an effort to honour long-time members with a plaque commemorating the work they’ve done.
“When you go in the front door of the library, there is a plaque hanging on the wall,” O’Donnell noted. “We made this plaque to honour those people in the community who have contributed to horticulture in the area.
“It is our way of paying tribute to all their work.”
Though spring is still officially seven weeks away (depending, of course, on what the groundhog sees on Friday), O’Donnell already is excited about the upcoming year and the events that have been planned.
“Last Saturday at our meeting, it was wall-to-wall chairs,” she enthused. “It was very nice to see that many people turning out to be a part of the meetings.
“We have a really good bunch of workers who work very hard all year round,” she noted. “Last year we had quite a few younger people who joined the group. The program was really good and they wanted to be a part of it.
“I am hoping that this year it will be the same.”
For more information on how to join the Horticultural Society, call O’Donnell at 274-7903.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
