Wildflower Gardening
The Wye Marsh Gardeners work in the gardens weekly on Thursday mornings from10:00 am to 12:00 noon. "Brown bag" lunch and meetings as required follow from 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm.
For more information on how to join this enthusiastic group, please call Wye Marsh or
e-mail us at info@wyemarsh.com
The Wye Marsh Wildflower Gardens celebrated its 20-year
anniversary July 25, 2008. In beautiful sunshine, visitors and
volunteer gardeners enjoyed light refreshments and strolled the
gardens to the delightful refrains of the Lefaive Family of
Lafontaine. The gardens, which are magnificent at this time of year,
are open 9am-5pm daily with volunteer
gardeners on-site every Thursday to answer questions.
The Wildflower Gardeners first chairperson and five
subsequent presidents: left to right are Verna Ives, Helen Riggin, Peggy Duhig,
Barbara Tyrrell, Nancy Hunter, Linda Charters.
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Beautiful music by the Lefaive Family, Lafontaine. |
In 1987, an enthusiastic group of volunteers with a dream and a New Horizon's grant, began the arduous task of planning and breaking ground for the Wye Marsh wildflower garden. Since then the gardens have continued to expand. As members seek to introduce more indigenous plants, the gardens continue to represent the wildflowers of our area.
As you walk up the pathway to the entrance of the visitors centre of Wye Marsh, you will see five specific areas you can stroll through and enjoy.
1) the flora of Simcoe County
2) the flora of Ontario
3) a woodland garden with a pond
4) a lush herb garden where visitors are encouraged to taste and smell
5) a mixed garden of wildflowers and cultivars attracting bees, birds, and butterflies
Wildflowers offer a refreshing alternative to traditional gardening. Cost and effort are considerably less since there is no need for fertilizing or spraying and planting a mixture of annual and perennial species creates the most natural and long lasting wildflower effect. The most wonderful benefit that both types provide is they reseed themselves at the end of each season.
The Wildflower Gardeners are a group of volunteers united by a shared love of wildflowers and the environment in the Georgian Bay region. They are currently looking for new members to assist during the spring and summer on Thursday mornings to work in the gardens, and in fall and winter to harvest and package seeds and enjoy listening to guest speakers and presentations from fellow members.
This group of volunteers provides Wye Marsh with an invaluable amount of exposure to the wildflower gardening world which we hope to expand on in the future.
To become a member call Helen Riggin, President, 705-527-4019 or Brenda Wright, VP, 705-534-6277.
WILDFLOWER SEEDS
AVAILABLE FROM THE WILDFLOWER GARDENERS
AT THE WYE MARSH
FOR $1.50 PER PACKAGE
