Grand Bend & Area Horticultural Society
P.O. Box 706 Grand Bend, ON, Canada

NATURE... always finds a way.

Do you know your PEONIES????

SPRING CONTAINER...GO CRAZY!!

How To Grow Rhubarb - 2 Great Fall Tips Plant dormant crowns between fall (autumn) and spring. Prepare the ground by digging in two bucketfuls per square metre/...yard of well-rotted manure, then spread out the roots and plant so the tip of the crown is just visible above the soil. For existing crowns when the top growth dies back in fall, remove the dead leaves to expose the crown to frost - this will help break dormancy and ensure a good crop of stalks the following year. See more

To all our gardening friends and Society supporters. Click on picture for message.

https://www.natureconservancy.ca//n/christmas-tree-1.html

A different kind of garden.... ... or a winter project for your garden

I need some helping hands!! I’m involved in the 2021 Spring Tulip Garden Pottery Project. To celebrate 25 years of Paint Ontario, the Pottery Program at the Gra...nd Bend Youth Art Centre is reaching out to the Lambton Shores community to construct a pottery tulip garden. The colourful exhibition of 2021 pottery tulips will be on display at the Lambton County Museum in May 2021. During these unprecedented times, we would like to engage the community to come together to implement this vision. Many hands can create marvelous results! We are looking for students, seniors and all Lambton Shore community members to help build our pottery tulip garden. All tools, materials and instructions will be supplied for each volunteer to create at least 2-3 tulips. Of course, more can be arranged and kits can be made for groups. Let me know if you are anyone you now can help. We are looking to make 2021 tulips.

Don't be a neatnik. Prepare your yard for winter by leaving the leaves. Leaf litter provides a winter home for insects and the insects provide food for songbi...rds like the Hermit Thrush and American Robin. Leaf litter can be raked away from structures and pathways and used as mulch in garden beds. Don't deadhead your annuals and perennials. Instead, leave the seedheads intact for the Dark-eyed Junco, American Goldfinch and White-crowned Sparrow to enjoy a winter bounty of seed. If you can't resist deadheading, tuck the clippings around your garden beds so the seedheads are still available for the birds. If you have the space and it is fire-safe to do so in your area, create a brush pile with trimmings from trees and shrubs. Brush piles provide shelter for many ground-dwelling and mid-story songbird species like California Towhee and Bewick's Wren as well as insects. Don't be a neatnik. A less tidy garden will provide songbirds and the insects they love with food and shelter all winter long.

At Auxsable Foresty we strive to bring beauty and decor to your home, all the while striving to be environmentally conscious and plan for a brighter future. So ...in an effort to bring our products to more front doors than ever before, we are asking for your help to extend our reach with a Like & Share to win 2 amazing, fresh, local Christmas Urns - valued over $100!! For a chance to win, Like and share our page, and tag someone who would love these eco-friendly Christmas pots. - Re-used plastic (you can still recycle it ) - All decorations are organic - All decorations are locally sourced and sustainably harvested Help us get to 1000 page likes or more so we can spread the message of a greener & brighter Christmas - brought to you by nature! Winner will be announced November 19th! Good luck everyone! See more

It's the Great Pot Round Up! Do you have extra pots from all your native plant shopping? Not sure what to do with them all? Before any plastics go into our recy...cling bins, we try to reuse our plastics as much as we can. We will gladly take any pots that are still in good shape and can be reused. Drop by anytime from Wed - Saturday 9am - 4pm or send us a message for more details! See more

What a great idea!

The Jingle Bells Group is looking for Volunteers

Don’t miss this great opportunity to fill your property with beautiful native plants and trees. Join us for our native tree and plant sale in partnership with F...riends of Pinery Park this Saturday, October 3, from 9:00 am to 12 noon at the Lambton Heritage Museum. Covid safety protocols will be in place. One of our growers, Auxsable Forestry, will have on hand the following: White spruce, white pine, white cedar - $15 each 2 gallon Button Bush 7 gallon $60 Carex pensylvanica (forest grass), little bluestem $7.00 Switchgrass $15.00 Tulip tree, white oak, maple $15.00 Come out and meet Jessica Smeekens, the owner of Auxsable Forestry https://www.auxsableforestry.ca/ Other local growers will include Heavenly Earth, Vandermolen Nursery, and Hoaonaadia Nursery.

Join us at our fall tree and plant sale this Saturday, October 3, from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon at the Lambton Heritage Museum in partnership with Friends of Piner...y Park. COVID protocols will be in place. Heavenly Earth, one of our growers, will bring a variety of native and Carolinian trees and shrubs, including white pine, tulip, white cedar, red and white oaks, witchhazel, spicebush, serviceberry, as well as native perennials including butterfly weed, swamp milkweed, cardinal plower, lanceleaf coreopsis, prairie Smoke, sky bule aster, smooth aster, riddell goldenrod, Joe pye weed, round lead Hepatica, Foam flower, and other odds and ends. Other local growers who have been with us before include Auxsable Forestry, Vandermolen Nursery, and Hoaonaadia Nursery. https://heavenlyearth.ca/

Idea for a Fundraiser

Have you been noticing an abundance of Monarch Butterflies recently? In this video, we join Barb, as she explains how Monarchs migrate and the process of tagging Monarch Butterflies to track their long journey to Mexico.

The summer-to-fall garden transition proceeds in September, while garden tasks continue: planting, weeding, fertilizing and collecting seeds. This month is a go...od time to take stock of your garden, reflect on the season, and look ahead to changes. Native trees, shrubs, and perennials can be planted this month, providing weeks of warm soil temperatures for the plant roots to establish before soil temperatures drop. You will not see much growth above ground, but new roots developing now will provide a quick start for your plants next spring. Next summer these fall-planted gardens will grow quickly and look similar to long-established plantings. This is a good time for plants to be divided or transplanted from existing native gardens. Use the current habitat (where the plant is thriving) as a guide to choosing new locations. Fall fertilization of your shrubs, garden and plants is important as well! It leads to a beautiful, healthy spring garden it’s the ideal time for feeding if you do it right. When temperatures drop to 40 degrees or lower, plants are stimulated to produce higher concentrations of the materials they need to resist freezing. Fertilizing in the fall helps plants be hardier when the temperatures drop. This month is also a key time to explore and find interesting fruits and seeds dispersing in your garden! When fruits and seeds are mature, collecting some will still leave seed to germinate on the site. To determine maturity, watch for splitting pods and capsules or for the earliest wind dispersed seeds on plants like Asters, Goldenrods, and some grasses. September may give you time to look at your garden in a new way, bring new observations! See more

Many of us, myself included, suffer from hay fever - allergic rhinitis. Which is typically associated with spring. And yet, the late summer and early fall yield...s abundant amounts of ragweed. A plant that creates the most allergic reactions of any flora that grows throughout the country. The parade of sneezing and wheezing leads to an intense hatred of this time of year. But what is perhaps more significant is the fact the bitterness is directed at an entirely different genus of plants! Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis). I must admit to being guilty of this myself. Though they grow at the same time of year, that is the only similarity between Ragweed & Goldenrod. And most significantly, ragweed's flowers are green. Most species of Goldenrod, in contrast.. are golden and quite pretty! The greatest difference between these species is the way they pollinate. Ragweed pollinates through the air and can travel hundreds of miles, which is why it is such a troublesome allergen. Goldenrod however, is not only prettier to look at but it does not cause allergies as it is pollinated by insects and not the wind. Since they flower late in the summer, they are an important source of both nectar and pollen for bees, butterflies, and some wasps. Bumblebees absolutely love it! If you want to attract a variety of bees to your pollinator garden, goldenrod is a perfect choice! And for us allergy sufferers, make sure you identify and remove the correct species from your yard! Goldenrod is a late-summer feast for our pollinator friends and really should be given rock star status for its value to our native wildlife!! See more

If you have plants that you can divide up and donate we would be happy to take them. Since we couldn’t have our Annual Plant Sale, Auction and BBQ and count on... that fundraiser we are planning to have a couple of locations for a driveway sale on October 3rd. More information on times and addresses will follow. Let us know if you might have anything to contribute- including lawn ornaments that you don’t want anymore See more