Gatineau Valley Gardeners/Les Jardiniers des collines
Upcoming Speakers Series 2021-2022
All meetings are at St. Mary Magdalene Anglican Church, 537 Highway 105 (across from the Freshmart).
Meeting time is 7:30-9 pm (unless indicated differently).
Meetings will be for members only. For all indoor meetings, all members must be double vaccinated. So you will have to show a proof of vaccination at your first meeting with either your phone app or a hard copy. Members will need to wear masks during the meetings.
Sunday, September 12
Time: 3:30-4:30 pm, 4:30-5:30 pm
Speaker: Julia Ostertag
Topic and Tour: Julia will speak about Community Gardens and will lead a tour of the Moore Farm Community Gardens
The Moore Farm (670 Alexandre-Taché Blvd, Gatineau), originally built in 1910, features buildings with ornamental gables and a central cupola. Pioneers cleared the land for farming here in the early 19th century. In 1973, Virginia Parker-Moore bequeathed the 12-hectare (30-acre) estate to the NCC, with the understanding that it would continue to be used for agriculture related endeavors. In 2018, a group of dedicated gardeners began the community gardens in their current location, which covers an acre of impressive vegetables and flowers.
This presentation will be a walking tour of the beautiful and extensive Jardins Communautaire de la Ferme Moore and the exciting gardening projects at the Coopérative d’habitation l’Alternative (raised beds, fruit trees, chicken coop). Julia Ostertag, who has Masters and PhD degrees focused on garden-based education, will share her experience coordinating various community gardens and the challenges and benefits of different models.
Monday, October 25
Topic: Preparing your Garden Beds for Winter
Speaker: Mary Sherman Reid, owner of Green Thumb Garden Centre, Ottawa; Certified Landscape Professional and Master Gardener
Mary will discuss the tasks undertaken to prepare our gardens for winter and will describe the benefits and challenges of different approaches. We will also have a seed swap during this meeting. Please bring seed from your garden in labelled envelopes (name of plant, colour, growing conditons, etc) to share with other garden members.
Monday, November 22
Time: 7-9 pm (note earlier start time)
Workshop: Indoor Winterscaping for the Holidays Cost: $30/person
Speaker: Danielle Shami of Franktown House Flowers in Wakefield
In this workshop, you will learn simple skills to design a natural indoor winterscape just in time to decorate your home for the holiday season. Create a piece or two to take home with you! Attendance will be limited to respect social distancing. The cost is $30 per person for the basic materials that Danielle will be supplying. Participants are invited, but not required, to bring additional seasonal materials (ribbons, bows, decorations) or natural elements (e.g. dried flowers, pinecones, milkweed pods, acorns), an empty tin can (such as a soup can from the recycling bin), as well as sécateurs or small garden shears.
The Executive of GVG would like to recognize the wonderful support that the membership provided over the past year, in terms of attendance at sessions, emails with positive comments and plant donations to the annual plant sale. As a token of our appreciation, we will cover $10 of the $30 fee for the holiday workshop. Therefore cost to members will be only $20. We look forward to seeing you at the workshop!
Monday, January 24, 2022 (Virtual via Zoom)
Topic: Growing Fruit Bushes in the Outaouais
Speaker: Anne Skarzenski of Drüp Fruit in Brennan’s Hill, QC
Anne’s farm specializes in the production of organic fruit. Since 2014 she has planted 8000 haskap, 6000 aronia and 1000 seabuckthorn plants. In her presentation, she will talk about her farm and the fruit bushes that work well in our area, their growing conditions, and the rewards and challenges of growing fruit in the Gatineau Hills.
Monday, February 28, 2022
Topic: Creative Concrete
Speaker: Jennifer Currie
Jennifer, a past Executive member of the GVG, will do a presentation on creative concrete. She will show us how to build, in your own back yard, a bird bath, stepping stones, troughs and wall hangings.
March 28, 2022
Topic: Tree Pruning Workshop
Speaker: Robert Glendinning, Groundskeeper/Propagator at the Central Experimental Farm
Robert who works in the Arboretum of the Central Experimental Farm, will do a presentation of how to prune small trees and bushes. He will also demonstrate proper cuts with branches that he will bring with him.
May 2, 2022
Topic: Perennials for the Gatineau Hills
Speaker: A panel of 4 experienced garden members from our Club
April is the time for dreaming about how to make your gardens more beautiful. Each panel member will name their favourite flowering plant for each season (April/May, June, July, Aug/Sept) including growing conditions, challenges and tips and tricks to optimize the plant’s beauty. The descriptions of the plants will be accompanied with a slide show. Come out and learn from these very experienced gardeners about plants that grow well in our area.
Monday, May 16, 2022 (Raindate: Tuesday, May 17)
Topic: Outdoor AGM Social at Alanna Keenan’s home
Now that Covid restrictions are being lifted, we want to have an outdoor social where all Club members can come and enjoy some refreshments, hear about how our Club is doing and tour through Alanna’s gardens. At this time of the year, her gardens are usually full of flowering spring bulbs, a sight to see. She also has a gushing waterfall, surrounded by shade loving plants. If you want a tour of her gardens, please arrive by 6:30 pm. At 7 pm we will have a very short AGM (20 minutes at the most) followed by more refreshments, tasty goodies and a catch up with good friends.
Saturday, June 4, 2022
Plant Sale – Our plant sale is back! It will be part of the Anglican Church’s Tailgate Sale that takes place that day. Plants donated by Club members are sold at very reasonable prices. This is our biggest fundraiser of the year.
Summer – June-July (Dates still to be determined)
Several members of our club will open up their gardens for us to view.