On a blustery winter day, what could be nicer than watching someone make a beautiful spring flower arrangement? The Yorkton and District Horticultural Society will be holding their first meeting of 2018 on Wednesday, February 21 at 7:00 p.m. at SIGN on North Street in Yorkton. Our special guest will be Maira Waechli from Florissima, and Maira will be showing us how to do a spring flower arrangement. Maira has a sparkling personality and makes stunning floral designs, so I know we will learn a lot from her expertise and really enjoy her presentation! Hope to see you there: everyone is welcome, you don’t have to be a member to come to the meeting.
One more date to remember: the 8th Annual Seedy Saturday is on Saturday, February 24 at the Victory Church, 38 Bradbrooke Drive in Yorkton, from 12:30 till 4:00 p.m. Guests can visit seed vendors and various booths, and there will be lots of interesting gardeners to chat with about this year’s garden. Admission is a non-perishable food item.
While you have your calendar open, here are some other events that you might want to attend if you happen to be in Saskatoon: On Friday, June 1, it’s the U of S Fruit Program Annual Plant Sale, from 9 a.m. till 2 p.m. at the 14th Street Field Facility. And on July 5 and 6, there will be a Haskap school and field day at the U of S. Find out more by logging on to www.fruit.usask.ca/extension and click on “upcoming events”.
A yard is always a work in progress. Now is a good time to look at your yard and think about what you’d like to accomplish when spring arrives. Do you still go out for a daily tour? I do; it may not be a long tour, depending on the temperature and the wind chill! But when we’re out shovelling the snow or feeding the birds I like to take a look around the garden.
If you are just beginning a yard, or if you have a young yard, there are a number of things to consider for the season ahead. Think about what you would like to do in your yard: relax in the sun, relax in the shade, have a play area for the little ones, or grow a garden. Your needs will determine what comes next. You’ll also have to work around certain features that are permanent parts of your yard: a driveway, sidewalks, and a shed. You already know that you will have to be sure you have good soil before you start working.
But from different things I have read in my gardening books, it seems the main thing to keep in mind when you begin is to be patient. Wait for a year or two to see how your yard will work best for your needs before you plant anything big and permanent. It is easy to work with bright, cheery annuals in planters, moving them around in your yard. But not so with a tree. So take time and consider carefully.
If your yard is established, most of your landscaping work with be maintaining what is already there, or possibly even removing some specimens that have overgrown their space. We only have the space we have, and while our inspiration is boundless, our gardens are not! So we can use these next weeks to consider how to make the best use of our garden space. Even if your garden area is very small, you can still have the features you’d like, but it just takes some planning and careful plant selection. There are great gardening books at the library, so stop in and borrow some: you’ll find lots of beautiful ideas for your own garden oasis!
Visit us at www.yorktonhort.ca and have a great week!
