President Colleen Green welcomed 30+ members and new members to the meeting and noted that the next society meeting was the Annual General meeting to be held on November 27 immediately after the 6:00pm Pot Luck Supper. Colleen gave a brief outline of the recent District 3 event in Tweed and reported that, based on what was learned, our society is headed in the right direction. Congratulations to all concerned!
The Horticultural Society has been invited to create a tree for the Festival of Trees in late November.
Colleen then introduced the evening’s featured speaker – OHA District 3 Director Penny Stewart. During the informal session before the meeting started, Penny was resplendent in full Hallowe’en mode including the witch’s crooked hat. (Un)Fortunately, there are no photographs of her in full regalia.
Penny’s topic was ‘Flower Arranging’ and she reminded everyone that it’s supposed to be fun – hence the flowing black dress and witch’s hat (and the bats) – fitting into the presentation theme of spooktacular.
What followed was a highly animated display of constructing TWO show arrangements with hints and tricks of the trade being showered on the audience.
First came a ‘mass’ design involving a small pumpkin as the topical container as Penny explained style, balance, size, colours, and textures as they applied to winning displays. No sooner was that completed then Penny moved on to the large design (and a large pumpkin) with lines of hawthorn and corn stalks for balance and volume as well as the colours and textures that make flower arrangements so appealing. The pictures below show the overall effects of the designer’s art … and the bats were there because it’s all meant to be fun!
For those who missed it, or were busy watching the display construction, here are Penny Stewart’s Notes [32 kb pdf] on her presentation.
Mini-Show
The mini-show topic was ‘anything pruned over the year from your garden or environs, dried and/or still green’.
Mini-show entries were judged by the members at large. 1st place went to Pat Stuckey [image at right], 2nd place to Sheila Simmons [image below left], and 3rd place to Mary Jenkins [image below right].
Click the images to see larger versions.
Photo-credit: Bert Jenkins
The beautiful images posted for mini shows, garden shows, and our meetings are from photographs created by member Bert Jenkins.
