Hort Society celebrates its new digs
Members of the Creemore Horticultural Society’s design team have raised a glass in celebration of the move to their designated gardens at the park in the centre of the village.
After more than three years in the making, the gardens at Creemore Village Green are planted with perennials and shrubs that will fill out as they mature over time.
Beginning in 2019, Gail Cocker, who has a certificate in horticulture from University of Guelph and is a board member of the Master Gardeners of Ontario, assembled a team to come up with the designs for the seven garden spaces allocated to the Hort Society.
The team is comprised of Kathy Meeser, experienced grower and Hort Society member since 1993; Melissa Doherty, a Creemore Horticultural Society board member, tireless volunteer, community booster, and an avid gardener with a proficiency and passion for colour combinations; and Connie Hunter, a long time Mulmur resident and Master Gardener with extensive and varied gardens at her country property, with experience in planting the entrance gardens at the Toronto Botanical Gardens.
Hort Society members have been maintaining the temporary gardens behind the library for three years and the members of the design team are thrilled to have the permanent gardens planted.
Doherty said it has been a pleasure to be out working in the main gardens again where people often stop to ask about the plants and compliment their work.
There are intentional themes for each of the Hort Society’s seven gardens: The beds in front of Station on the Green are defined as “ornamental gardens” with a wide assortment of plants and shrubs in a subdued colour palette that would be complementary to wedding photos; The large, sunny space beside Foodland was devoted to a pollinator garden with new and different plants to educate the public on how to build their own garden for pollinators; A maple tree creates a shade garden intended to be serene and restful, with many plants re-housed from the original “Hort Park.” A small space beside the storage shed ended up being more shady than expected so it was reimagined in the colours of the Red Hat Society, red and purple;
The showstopper entrance gardens front onto Mill Street are designed to be colourful and interesting, while inviting pedestrians to come in and enjoy the village green.
Meeser says one remaining task is to transplant a number of daylilies from the holding beds to create a border along the main entrance to the park, and annuals will be added to increase the bloom time and fill in some holes.
After the themes were agreed upon, garden design and plant combinations were developed and schematics were drawn up to scale. The plants and shrubs were cross referenced to the inventory that was removed from the Hort beds and plants were earmarked to be re-located from the temporary beds behind the library to the Village Green. The balance of plant material was then sourced from a number of nurseries. Special peonies were sourced and planted in the fall of last year and lists of springtime bulbs were also developed and, in the fall of 2021, Cocker organized a community bulb planting day to get 1,600 bulbs in the earth.
Earlier this year, additional garden soil was added to the beds as the original soil had settled. The plants to be moved from the temporary beds were dug up, roots thoroughly washed to remove all traces of weeds and then potted up. On June 5, the new plant material was delivered to the Village Green. The next two days saw the design team on-site and placing the plants and shrubs in the appropriate spots in the gardens. Natural Blends followed behind and put the plants in the ground.
Creemore Horticultural Society volunteers will continue to maintain their gardens with continuous weeding, pruning, and deadheading every Tuesday morning at 9:30 a.m. New volunteers are always welcome. The gatherings offer a chance to meet new friends, gain experience, and get some free exercise. Everyone is welcome to show up with tools and gloves at the ready.
As is the case with gardening, things will be tweaked, moved, replaced and added to over the course of the summer.
