So what’s going on with the Sault Ste. Marie Horticultural Society? Well, the new year has been chock full of awesome activity!

Many seeds were exchanged (and sold!), composting worms sorted, butter tarts eaten, and a few tears shed during the screening of the poignant film Vanishing of the Bees (never fear, we gardeners know what to do: PLANT MORE FLOWERS!).

And very exciting for us, we welcomed 30 memberships during the event. Our thanks to the many volunteers who helped make this event successful: members; college, university and high school students; and others!

Click here to read a sootoday.com article about Seedy Saturday; it includes quotes by our own Suzanne Hanna.

Two days later was the March monthly meeting of the Horticultural Society. We were thrilled to see several new members who learned about us at Seedy Saturday! We experienced a fantastic presentation on culinary herbs, courtesy of one of our board members, Jeanne Huntley. We learned many useful tips about growing, using, and preserving herbs—including a live demo of how to dry them in the microwave (tip: microwave drying preserves the lovely green colour of your herbs!).

The highlight, however, was getting to sample honey-mint butter on fresh-baked scones, as well as the most delectable buttery rosemary shortbread! If you missed this meeting but would like to get copies of the wonderful handouts Jeanne provided, please email us at [email protected].

During the meeting we also got to see young tree peonies that one of our members has grown from seed—no small feat, as these extremely expensive perennials (as much as $75 per plant!) that were once prized by Chinese emperors are tricky to germinate.

In other news, our canal greenhouse committee is gearing up for another growing season! This group has come together to get a jump on germinating their spring annuals by making use of the greenhouses at the Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site. In return for the use of the greenhouses, these dedicated green thumbs grow extra flowers for the canal site staff to use in beautifying the grounds.

The canal greenhouse group still has room for a few more gardeners to join them; if you are interested, please contact Veronica Bahun through our gmail account ([email protected]). You must be a Horticultural Society member to participate.

And finally, we are happy to announce that the 2014 forms for our Rose Garden memorials and tributes are now available on our Community Programs page. If you would like to remember a loved one who passed away or pay tribute to someone for a special birthday, retirement, or contribution to the community, check out this program! For $20 we will order a set of brass plaques—one engraved with the name of the honoree and one with the donor’s name—and post them on one of the signs in the Rose Memorial Garden on the east side of Bellevue Park.

Finally…what’s coming up?

Don’t miss our April 7 Lift and Separate program with Maria Smith, Algoma Master Gardeners. She will speak about propagating perennials. The meeting will start at 7 p.m. sharp—bring a friend; members of the public are welcome!

If you’d like to get more involved in the Horticultural Society, email us at [email protected]!

And please share this information with other gardeners in your life.