What is Organic Gardening - Master Gardeners of Ontario

Master Gardeners of Ontario ­ Summer 2011 Page 3
25 Years in Lanark from page 1
lege and written articles about plant care and culture
for local newspapers. Each year we have training
sessions to upgrade our knowledge.
In recent years, we faced many struggles. Our Bank
Account was rapidly dwindling and our numbers fell
to only eight members. We were having problems
recruiting new members. The cost of the courses
was $1,000 and we were recruiting from a small
population base. Membership fees rose 133% in 6
years. Many new members found it a challenge to
complete the courses and their volunteer hours. We
were spending more and more time talking about
fund raising, instead of about gardening.
Our turnaround happened with a Recruiting Open
House. We had 15 visitors and signed up 2 new
MGiTs. The publicity, before and after, drew in
more inquiries and within a year, we had 6 new
MGiTS. With more members, we could provide
more support to our Advice Clinics. We also started
partnering to a greater extent with the various local
Horticultural Societies. Virtually all our members
are also Horticultural Society Members.
This past year, we worked with the local Algonquin
College and provide both Fall and Winter series of
Horticultural Seminars. We partnered with a Horticultural
Society and ran a very successful Plant Sale
and Rain Barrel Sale, selling 120 Rain Barrels. Our
bank account is as healthy as it has ever been. In recent
years, we have participated in Zone wide Technical
Updates. This year, we are hosting the
Technical Update in Lanark County in the beautiful
town of Carleton Place on October 15. We value
working as a part of an International Organization.
We are active supporters of the mg­list and the
MGOI Newsletter. As a part of this organization, we
have professional signage and handouts and are able
to have our own website that receives over 250
‘Unique Visitors’ per month, all things we could not
manage on our own. We hope that we can continue
to keep new members joining and more importantly
can keep our existing members excited about providing
Master Gardeners services across Lanark
County.
Ontario Horticultural Association and
Master Gardeners of Ontario Inc.
Working
Together
Here is the latest issue OHA's newsletter the Trillium.
MGs in Action
An Open House Like None Other.
Mychelle Primeau, London
Wednesday, the 13th of April 2011 the Master
Gardeners of London held an Open House at the
Civic Garden not only for entertainment purposes
but to acknowledge several of our members.
Donna Slater hosted the ceremony.
Elmer Jorgensen and Eve Norman­Vestergaard received
their 25 year badges and we also were very
lucky to welcome Rhonda Persichilli as the newest
Master Gardener. James Lee, Bob Worthy and Ron
Rossini offered their congratulations to those very
deserving members. Once more, our warmest
wishes to those three very important members of
our team.
The entertainment consisted of a fabulous presentation
by our member Julie Dorssers on the plants
and vegetation of the Galapagos Island and we
were also joined by the king of combined gardening
and humor, Denis Flanagan, who proceeded not
only with a slide show but also distributed several
gifts for the members and visitors, by asking
“tricky” garden questions.
Brochures and books were available on the main
table, and quite a few visitors were solicited to join
our group in the future. Nancy Abra was the queen
of photography for the night. Following the
presentations, coffee, tea and fabulous pastries
were served along with a cake celebrating the occasion.
Not many of us left without Julie’s fabulous
Dutch lemon cake.
Every member of our team got involved in this
great event which once again shows the dedication,
the drive and the camaraderie of the Master
Gardeners of London.
Philadelphia Flower Show
Joy Cullen, Northumberland
On Monday March 07, fifty­four avid gardeners
and shoppers left Peterborough, Port Hope and
Brighton headed for Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia
Flower Show.
Day one was a travel day with late afternoon arrival
at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, right next door to King
of Prussia Mall, the second largest Mall in USA.
Lots of places to shop and eat!
We spent day two at the Philadelphia Flower Show
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