By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Celebrating 165 years, the Cobourg Garden club hosts a Summer Flower Show and Tea Aug. 10, 1:30-3:30 p.m. at the Cobourg Public Library.
Last August, the club welcomed more than 100 guests to enjoy a wide assortment of exhibits in many categories in classes for annuals, perennials, fruits and vegetables, house plants, design, preserves and photography. Among the floral classes are separate sections for dahlias, roses, hydrangea, containers and collections, plus shrubs, garden foliage, herbs and ornamental grasses.
This year’s design section has the theme Celebrating Our Club’s 165th Anniversary, with classes Two for Tea, A Victoria Style Design and The White Rose of Cobourg.
Though this year’s mild winter and rainy spring could prove challenging for summer gardens, club members generally succeed at adapting – while gardening in different zones from the Lake Ontario shore to the surrounding Northumberland Hills. Each has challenges, but also brings opportunities to grow different plants specific to every garden’s micro-climate.
The Cobourg Garden Club actually precedes Confederation, founded in 1859 by a group of men as the Cobourg Horticultural Society. Early activities and events were faithfully recorded in the local newspaper, with the annual flower show and exhibition a much-anticipated summer highlight.
Thanks to such records, we know that the first flower show in July 1859 brought out 500 people (a huge number, given Cobourg’s population at the time). With three categories (Flowers, Fruits and Vegetables) and many classes, there was ample opportunity for new residents to learn which varieties might produce the best yield.
Over the years, the group has undertaken such community projects as the Edwin Haynes Memorial Rose Garden in Victoria Park, the Millennium Garden at the Five Corners, and beautification at the Golden Plough Lodge and Northumberland Hills Hospital. At the Millennium Garden, which members maintain, there is a little free library of horticultural books.
On June 5, the club commemorated its milestone anniversary with the planting of a Bitternut Hickory Tree by town staff at Tracey Park (next door to the Columbus Community Centre). Town staff’s beautiful Victoria Park floral clock has also been planted to feature the club’s anniversary.
For more information on the Flower Show and Tea, call convenor Sarah Holland at 905-349-3710 or visit www.cobourggardenclub.ca
