The Cobourg Garden Club will host a Summer Flower Show and Tea, on Saturday, 13 August, 2022, from 1.30 – 3.30 pm. at the Cobourg Library.
Visitors are most welcome.
This annual Flower Show did not take place in either 2020 or 2021, so members of the club are pleased to return to hosting the community, celebrating a return to a regular schedule. The Show includes classes for annuals, perennials, fruits and vegetables, houseplants, design, preserves and photography. Among the floral classes are sections for dahlias, roses, hydrangea, and collections ranging from garden foliage to ornamental grasses.
The Design section of the Show has a theme of “Around the World”, perhaps appropriate and engaging when actual travel around the world has been so limited for the past two or three years. Guests can travel virtually with designs titled, Northern Dwellers, African Safari, The Dessert, or The Rain Forest. The Photography section offers Warm Colours in the Garden, or Cool Colours in the Garden.
The late spring this year, and almost instant summer may perhaps affect the contributions, but garden club members are generally very able to adapt, and will no doubt exhibit a wide variety of materials. They garden in different zones, ranging from downtown Cobourg to the surrounding hills, each with its challenges, but also opportunities to grow different plants, specific to their garden’s micro-climate.
The Cobourg Garden Club was founded in 1859, named at that time, the Cobourg Horticultural Society. It has been in operation since, continuing to hold monthly meetings with speakers, even during the pandemic, using Zoom technology. The Society’s early activities and meetings were regularly recorded in the local newspapers, with the annual flower show and exhibition a highlight of the summer. Five hundred people would attend the annual show in Victoria Hall in the 1860s, and records show that most of the award winners were men. The impressive variety of fruits, shrubs, flowers and vegetables exhibited at these early shows demonstrates the importance attached by the new residents of Northumberland County to learning which varieties would produce the best yields.
The Cobourg Garden Club holds flower shows in May and August, and occasionally in December. Other activities include a popular annual plant sale each May, speakers at monthly meetings, and garden tours, sometimes in association with three neighbouring societies. The club presents an annual scholarship to a Cobourg high school graduate pursuing post secondary education in horticulture or related studies.
Among the beautification projects undertaken by the club over the years are the Edwin Haynes Memorial Rose Garden in Victoria Park, the Golden Plough, the Northumberland Hills Hospital, and the Millennium Garden at the Five Corners. Garden club members continue to maintain the Millennium Garden for the enjoyment of the citizens of Cobourg and visitors.
For more information about the Flower Show and Tea please call the Flower Show convenor, Sarah Holland, 905.349.3710, or visit: www.cobourggardenclub.org
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
