Welcome to the Georgian Bay Garden Club in Owen Sound
Our Club, founded in 1990, is the most northerly in the Garden Clubs of Ontario, to which we have belonged since 1991. We share in the GCO’s purposes, to encourage a knowledge and love of horticulture and floral design, to aid in the protection of native trees, plants, birds and the soil, and to encourage civic planting and the beautification of the countryside. We also maintain an organizational membership with the Royal Botanical Gardens
Key to our Club’s activities are the opportunities for learning, and the sharing of experience and friendship with fellow gardeners. We meet monthly throughout the year for informative presentations across our areas of interest, with refreshments and socializing. A summer picnic and a Christmas lunch are also on the schedule.
The ongoing development of members’ skills and talents through education is an important focus.The sharing of information so we can learn from others in the Club is ongoing, and we plan periodically for flower shows, and floral design courses for our members.
Since its inception, the Club has engaged actively in enhancing the beauty of Owen Sound: we were instrumental in achieving Communities in Bloom recognition for the city in 2005 and we give financial support annually for the “flowers on the bridges”. In 2000 we created, and we continue to maintain on behalf of the city, the very extensive Garden on the Bay beside the Bayshore Community Centre, a source of enjoyment for residents and visitors alike. And every summer, members create the planters at the entrances of the Library and the adjacent Tom Thomson Art Gallery on the west shore of the Sydenham River. We assist the Canadian Mental Health Association with the purchase of seeds for their community garden, and provide financial and volunteer support for the Owen Sound Fall Fair in the floral design and horticulture sections.
The Club annually provides an award for the best student in the Horticulture program at the Owen Sound District Secondary School, and a substantial bursary to a student pursuing post-secondary education in Landscape Design, Horticulture, Environmental Studies or Floral Design.
To support all these activities, we undertake a variety of fundraising projects. These may vary from year to year, but currently, a sale of Christmas urns inserts in November and a plant and bake sale in May are our major initiatives.
To everyone’s relief, we returned to in-person meetings in 2023, for our first full year of operation after COVID: and a very successful year it was ! Our annual Plant and Bake Sale in May and Urns Sale in November brought in better-than-expected returns, and we were able to fund the purchase of a new computer and audio-visual equipment, set up a new and improved website, and introduce some cast-bronze amphibians (2 toads and a tree frog) by way of “discovery art” to our Garden on the Bay. These life-size little creatures have been a source of great delight to children of all ages as they stroll through the garden. Our 2023 bursary winner was Taylor Legge, and a biography of this very accomplished University of Guelph student will be posted shortly on our website. On a sad note, we lost the last of our Club’s founding members, Mim Cady. Her celebration of life in September brought out a large number of members of the Garden Club and the Owen Sound community to which she contributed so actively.The “blue butterflies” art installation she donated to the Garden on the Bay in 2022 serves as a lasting memorial. The Garden is currently asleep under quite a lot of snow!- and it will be a few months yet before it calls us back. In the meantime, we are starting to prepare for the spring plant sale, and welcoming several new members. We look forward to what their talents and energy will bring to the Club in 2024.
The hard-working members of the Urns Committee
At our Christmas lunch on December 12, the President’s Pin (a gift from founding member Mary Jobe) was handed from Judy Campbell to incoming President Bridget Bonnici.
Outgoing President Judy Campbell presents incoming President Bridget Bonnici with the President’s Pin – December, 2022
As warmer weather arrives we will again spring into action with clean-up and planting at the Garden on the Bay, which we maintain on behalf of the city of Owen Sound. The garden was enhanced in 2022 by the addition of an art installation, “Blue Butterflies” – a generous gift from Mim Cady, one of our founding members
The President's Pin
Currently, it is proudly worn by President Bridget Bonnici
Program 2024 Membership Meetings
March 11 2024 BonsaiGardening: History& Techniques DominicEtynkowski
April 8 2024 Orchid Quest: Photographic Search for All 49 Species of Grey-Bruce Orchids Willy Waterton and AudreyArmstrong
May 13, 2024: Best Eco-Practices for a Healthy Garden. Vicky Thompson (Master Gardener)
June 10, 2024: Potluck Lunch: and How to Have the Garden You Want; A Guide to Assessment, Design & Plant Choices SusanCox
Note: June 21, 2024 (Friday): Extra Event: A field outing to view Queen Lady Slipper Orchids (Cypripedium reginae) in bloom, at the Mahar Farm, Limit: 14 attendees - not suitable for those with mobility issues. BrianMaher
July 8, 2024: Annual Summer Picnic at the Mahar Family Farm (Bring a bag Lunch) Lenore Gervais ShannonWeitendorf
September 9, 2024: Ohara School of Ikebana Design Demonstration NormaPiggott
October 21, 2024: Ontario Invasive Plant Council How Can Gardeners Help? (Azoompresentation) EmilyMitchell
November 11, 2024: Members’ Meeting; Members Bring an Image of Their Favourite Plant to Share
December 9, 2024: Annual Christmas Lunch
Note: All meetings begin at 1:00 p.m. except the June & December meetings which start at 11:30 a.m., and the July picnic which starts at 12:00 noon
Note 1. Unless otherwise noted, all in-person meetings take place at: New Life Centre, 199 4th Avenue West, Owen Sound, ON.
Note 2. All meetings start at 1:00p.m. except Pot Luck Lunch and Christmas Lunch which start at 11:30 a.m., and Summer Picnic which starts at 12:00 noon
For more information, please visit our website here
