Dig in the Dirt With Some Wonderful People!

The East Gwillimbury Gardeners are our guest bloggers this week, just in time for the spring planting season!

Are you a keen gardener? Are you new to gardening? Are you looking for a fun place to learn and connect with others who like to dig in the dirt? Then look no further! East Gwillimbury Gardeners is a club for you.

East Gwillimbury Gardeners gather together on the third Tuesday of each month at 7 pm to learn from garden experts on a variety of horticultural topics. We are a fun and friendly bunch! Everyone is welcome to join the meetings for free. Or you can become a member and receive our fantastic Yearbook publication which includes information on the club and flower shows; an informative bi-monthly newsletter; invites to pop-up garden tours and garden day trips; entry to our flower and photography competitions and more.

Learning from the pandemic, we have decided that online is the way to go for those dark and not so great weather months of February, March, April and November. The EGPL has generously offered tech support in this area- thank you EGPL!

Then when the weather turns nice, we will meet in person, Covid restrictions permitting, May, June, July, September and October at the Mount Albert Community Centre, 53 Main Street, Mount Albert.

Won’t you join us for one or all of our meetings? Below is our speaker schedule for 2022. If you would like to become a member, email us at to receive a link for any of the online meetings, register through the library

2022 SPEAKER PROGRAM

Meetings start at 7:00 pm, either online or at the Mount Albert Community Center, 53 Main Street, Mount Albert. For in person meetings, please check our website, eastgwillimburygardeners.com, for updates regarding Covid restrictions.

Previous meetings:

February 15th: “Invasive Species in the Garden” with Derissa Vincentini via Google Meets

March 15th: “The Garden doesn’t end in August: Extending interest in the Garden” with Sean James, via Google Meets

Upcoming meetings:

April 19th: “Fusion Gardening: Low Water, Low Maintenance, Low Impact” with Mike Prong, via Google Meets

May 17th: “How to attract Wild Birds to your Garden” with Paul Oliver. First in person meeting in over 2 years! We will have some fun things going on to celebrate! The evening will include a judged Flower show and a non-judged share table to show off what is growing in your garden.

June 21st: “All about Clematis: Our Loveliest Vine” with Marion Jarvie. The evening will include a judged Flower show and a non-judged share table to show off what is growing in your garden.

July 19th: “Grasses: Essential Plants for the New Perennial Garden” with Ingrid Jannsen. The evening will include a judged Flower show and a non-judged share table to show off what is growing in your garden.

September 20th: “Posies and Tussie-Mussie bouquets- Joys of the Cutting Garden: designing your garden for a season of cut flowers, and classic methods of creating handheld bouquets. Wedding planners take note! ”with Michael Erdman. The evening will include a judged Flower show and a non-judged share table to show off what is growing in your garden.

October 18th: “Who Speaks for the Trees” with Heather Charles. The evening will include a judged photography show (slide presentation of entries) and will also be our Annual General Meeting.

November 15th: “Growing Cannabis legally” with Julie Dorssers, via Google Meets

May 28th 10 am to 12 pm Plant Sale Mount Albert Community Centre Covid restrictions allowing. Consult our website or email us for updates

EG Gardeners also maintain five public gardens in East Gwillimbury, two of which feature drought-tolerant plants. Volunteers from the club spend a few hours each month doing some weeding and pruning and having a laugh together. And we always learn from each other in the process.

Volunteers keep our club running and to that end we love to recognize their hard work with GardenOntario and President’s awards and Ontario Volunteer Service Award nominations.

Our Junior Gardeners’ program runs monthly in April, May, June, September and October for youth ages 6-16. Junior Gardeners learn horticultural skills and how to take care of the environment through the garden. The Junior Gardeners club was very popular this year and enrollment is full.

We contribute to the community in many ways by planting trees, purchasing sculpture to enhance our gardens, donating generously to the local food banks, working with the EGPL to establish a seed library, running programs for CHATS and other initiatives with the town of EG and EGPL.

Yearly membership: $20 single, $25 couple, $5 youth and $30 family

Our amazing website has great information and resource links: http://eastgwillimburygardeners.com

Connect with us on social media where we are always happy to answer your questions.

http/facebook.com/eastgwillimburygardeners

Instagram@eggardeners

And check out our fabulous YouTube channel where you will find some informative videos on gardening. YouTube@eastgwillimburygardeners

A bit more about us:

East Gwillimbury Gardeners is a not-for-profit association of new gardeners and old hands passionate about beautifying our community.

We were originally founded in 1925 as the Mount Albert Horticultural Society, and changed our official name to East Gwillimbury Garden & Horticultural Society in November 2014.

We are governed by a membership-elected President and Board of Directors guided by a set of bylaws. We receive funding from the Town of East Gwillimbury, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), dues paid by our members, and our fund-raising activities, namely our plant sale which is renowned in the community.

East Gwillimbury Gardeners is a member of The Ontario Horticultural Association (OHA/ Garden Ontario) District 5

President: Brenda Near Past President: Anne Hill

___________________________________________________