Thursday, October 10, 2013

Visiting Gardens While Traveling

Dianne and Gary Westlake, Peterborough

(Published Previously in the Peterborough Examiner in the summer of 2008, so the date references  are a bit off.)



Buchart Gardens

We love to visit gardens while we are traveling. This year we went to Seattle, Vancouver and Victoria in the spring. We traveled to Wales, Scotland and England in the fall and this summer we visited Quebec. At each of these places we found great gardens to visit and this is the time for you to start planning a trip for next year.

In the spring of 2007, we went to Amsterdam to see tulips. We also saw the auction house where they sell and export millions of flowers. Unfortunately, the weather was unusually warm, and although the display gardens at the Keukenhoff were wonderful, the fields where they grow tulips for the bulb market were nearly finished. Fortunately, this year we found similar fields of tulips in the state of Washington that were at their peak.

We spent a whole day at the botanical garden on the campus at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. The garden had an enormous collection of plants from all over the world. It is well organized and labeled. It had a great vegetable garden with espaliered fruit trees in amazing configurations. There was even a pear tree trained on a wire a foot off the ground. It was a great place for a walk and was not very crowded. Places like this are under a lot of pressure from building development, in this case from the University. If gardeners do not visit, they may succumb to development, so go have a look at this great garden while it is still there.

In Victoria we saw Butchart which is like Disneyland for gardeners especially in the spring. There were seas of spring flowers and a views from the top of an old quarry filled with gardens that cannot be missed. Every time we turned a corner in the garden there was another beautiful view.

This summer, we had an opportunity to visit Les Quatre Vents in Quebec. You have to plan well ahead for this one by booking on the website. Now would be a good time to do this. It is only open to visitors a few days in the summer but it is well worth the day-long drive to get there. Situated in La Mal Baie a couple of hours drive past Quebec City on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, this garden needs most of a day to see properly. The drive along the north shore through the Charlevoix area is beautiful.

This would be a great trip for gardeners going to the east coast of Canada, to stop at the Montreal Botanical Garden, spend a day or two in Quebec City seeing the old area of the city, then on to Les Quatre Vents and across the river by ferry to Reford Gardens on the Gaspe. Then you could either take the long route around the coast or cut across through the picturesque Matapedia area on highway 135 to New Brunswick. On the way back in St. Jacques, New Brunswick, there is a great garden just before the New Brunswick-Quebec border called le Jardin Botanique de Nouveaux Brunswick.

On our trip to the UK this fall we had a number of surprises. Some gardens like Tatton Park that we were looking forward to seeing, were not as impressive as we thought they might be. Some we chose to visit at the last minute turned out to be wonderful. We had a great time in the Alnwick Garden in Northumberland and the Biddulph Grange Garden in Staffordshire and neither were on our list of gardens to visit. There are also gardens open for charity in England with hundreds of private and commercial properties. You can find the information by purchasing the guide called the Yellow Book at the National Garden Scheme website www.ngs.org.uk for £12.99.

Now that we have seen Hyde Hall and Harlow Carr, we have visited all of the Royal Horticultural Society's official gardens. These gardens are all grand places. Even though we live in Canada, we are members which gives us free entry to these gardens as well as discounts at others. The monthly magazine alone is worth the cost of membership. The Botanic Garden of Wales in southern Wales is wonderful as are the Botanic Gardens in Glasgow and Edinborough. Although we were late in the season, there was lots to admire. If the weather is nasty, they offer glasshouses full of plants from other climates. The Bodnant Garden in northern Wales was one of our favourites. When we were in Wales, there had been a lot of flooding and the stream going through the garden was a raging torrent, but the garden was amazing and spectacular even in the rain.
Because the weather was bad in northern Scotland we decided to go to Bressingham, north east of London and were pleasantly surprised. It looks like a regular garden centre from the road with a train amusement park attached, but the display gardens are great. The gardens have a huge number of perennial borders and island beds to get ideas from. Whether it be close at home or far away, we hope you will start planning a trip for next year now and that you will include gardens in your itinerary.


We are not getting any younger, and putting these trips off is not an option. We are already starting to feel our joints creak as we go up and down the stairs. Please let us know if you find any gardens we should see. Here you can see a few photos from our trips.


Great Gardens of England

Joy Cullen, Nothumberland


White Garden, Syssinghurst

In July 2013, two Northumberland Master Gardeners and two friends embarked on our first Road Scholar trip “Great Gardens of England and Hampton Court Flower Show”.  This was a well-organized excursion with a small group of compatible travellers which included all meals, entry fees and had an education component.  A retired professor of horticulture and garden history provided five lectures.  Gardens visited included:  Great Dixter, Goodnestone Park Garden, Sissinghurst Castle Gardens, RHS Wisely, Hidcote Manor, Kiftsgate Court, Painswick Rococo Garden, Stourhead, Blenheim Palace and Hamptom Court Flower Show.

I am generally not a fan of roses but would be if I could grow roses like I saw in England, shrubs, climbers, teas.

Haha Used to Control Livestock

Christopher Lloyd at Great Dixter loved to experiment – I found the very formal topiary under-planted with a wild flower meadow. Had never seen a haha before – much nicer than a fence.

We enjoyed the golden arboretum at Goodnestone Park, planted to celebrate a 50th anniversary. The White Garden and the Rose Garden at Sissinghurst were spectacular. The panoramic view from Hidcote in the Cotswolds was stunning.

Painswick Rococo garden is the only complete survivor of an 18th century pleasure garden. It is a very theatrical garden style – a place for the squire to have fun.

Stourhead had the most amazing collection of trees.

Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill has a Capability  Brown Landscape Garden.
Hampton Court defies description.  It was huge and crowded. The grower’s demonstration gardens showcased large numbers of just about every flowering plant you could imagine.

To sum up, for me English gardens are large old trees, amazing roses and interesting hedges.


A Gardener’s Staycation

Edythe Falconer, Ottawa-Carelton

Les Jardins d’Emmarocalles

My Staycation included a group trip to Les Jardins d’Emmarocalles near Ripon, Quebec – about an hour’s drive from downtown Ottawa.  Although the five-acre garden is only six years old it has already expanded to include more than 1500 daylily cultivars and a thousand varieties of perennials.  Divided into twelve different sections or sub-gardens it is aesthetically pleasing and educational with each garden representing a different style and different growing conditions.

Les Jardins is part of a network that exemplifies local self-sufficiency, community building and agri-tourism.  On their own site they cater luncheons that feature locally grown products – fruit, vegetables, cheeses and meats.  They also sell some of the plants they grow.  Within easy reach of each other are sources of goat and sheep-milk cheeses, free range beef and poultry, berries and fruits, maple syrup and locally produced arts and crafts. No 3000 mile products here!
Agri-tourism – Tourism Outaouais – Day trip www.outaouaisgourmetway.com

Diana Beresford-Kroeger

Beresford-Kroeger is many things – author, renegade scientist, botanist, medical biochemist, speaker, and a major force in movements to reforest the planet. Her primary focus is to collect and preserve rare and endangered species and to that end she travels the world.  In fact, she and her husband were in Russia at the time of our group tour to her large and fairly secluded property.  One of her associates acted as our guide.  It was certainly an interesting and unusual experience.

There is nothing here that feels like being in a conventional garden with the possible exception of the vegetable plot. Everything else looks wild and unplanned.  However contained within this wildness is a considerable collection of rare and endangered species along with many of our old stalwarts.  Here is a fine example of permaculture whereby everything has more than one use, garden needs are supported in more than one way, biodiversity is celebrated and cultivated, native species are more than welcome and biological resources are not hauled off to the nearest dump. Rambling trails wend their way through Diana’s laboratory, knowledge is shared and discussed and an illuminating afternoon was enjoyed by all.

 

XXXX - My Renewed Romance with Annuals

The welcome “mat” at the front of the house cost a bit up front – literally – but has been worth it in so many ways. Because the harsh looking, heat-radiating tarmac was anything but welcoming and was surplus to our parking needs, I contracted to have five planters installed late last fall. This spring I filled them with mostly annuals and the result has been utter joy.  Ever since they started to bloom pollinators have been swarming the site. The most popular plant is a self-seeded boneset that’s regularly covered with bees, small wasps and flies. I’ve been delighted to see goldfinches on the cosmos – something I wouldn’t have believed possible until I saw it myself.

Grasses

I could wax poetic about my self-administered course on Ornamental Grasses but enough is enough. I’ve had a very satisfactory Staycation and am pleased to be able to share some of it with you.


What I Learned At The IMGC

Tena van Andel, Toronto


With giddy anticipation and five bottles of local Seattle wine, fellow Toronto Master Gardener, Elizabeth A. Stewart, 998 other Master Gardeners and I walked the gangplank of the Westerdamn ready to experience an International Master Gardener Conference at sea.   Lesson one – don’t call it a ‘gangplank’, it’s a ‘gangway’ and don’t spell Westerdam with a ‘n’.  This will make the crew frown.

For the 16 Canadian delegates, the cruise started on high seas.  We were very loud and proud when it was announced at the Search for Excellence Awards that our very own Thunder Bay MGs had won!  Their very fine work on coping without pesticides caused a collective gasp from the American audience – gardening without pesticides, no way!  Lesson two – although some US MGs and some of the speakers decried the use of pesticides it is still a prevalent practice that will not go away anyway soon.  We, who have been gardening without pesticides for years now, were shocked, smug and then sad.

The conference was a veritable buffet of breakout sessions and keynote addresses.  And, believe you me; by the end of the cruise, I gained much at the buffets -  about ten pounds, in fact!  Lesson three – not everything at a buffet is worth the calories.  About half of my eight breakout sessions were very informative – how to use QR codes in garden education, plant diagnostics, MGs and plant phenology programs and an objective update on GMOs.  Did you know there is a genetically modified tobacco seed that can detect landmines?  Yup, when the plant grows over a landmine, it turns a rusty red colour.  My other breakouts were not so filling.  One speaker actually told us what a perennial is – you know, ‘those plants that come back every year’.  Shoulda spent that session in the Crow’s Nest Bar partaking of the drink of the day (mmmm, strawberry basil bellinis)

It was very interesting how different the American MG system is as compared to ours.  Paid University Extension staff manages most of the groups in the States.  Groups may not be funded, but they enjoy the free resources of university scientists, communication departments, state administrators, inexpensive training and special MG liaisons.  We, by contrast, are totally self-governing.  Lesson four – we should be so proud of what we accomplish as highly motivated, dedicated VOLUNTEERS.

The cruise was wonderful.  We had amazingly sunny weather, saw lots of whales, sea otters, sea lions and bald eagles.  We visited Juneau, the Glacier Gardens with the upside down trees, Sitka, Ketchikan and Butchart Gardens in Victoria.  Just lovely.  However, I’m not sure a cruise ship is the best place for a conference.  They did not have the facilities to host all the sessions they offered.  We had breakouts in the piano bar and in a dark, ‘make out’ lounge – terrible locations for both speakers and the audience.  Even the best rooms suffered during our day of rough seas with seasick speakers and jiggling projectors.  Lesson five – folks who say these cruise ships are so big you never feel them move and have all sorts of stabilizers so you never feel the waves, LIED.

Of course, the best part of the conference, of any conference, is the gardeners you meet.   We met kindred spirits from all over the USA – Florida, California, Arkansas, Oregon, Washington, West Virginia and even a delegation from Korea.  BTW you are all invited to the Korean MG conference next spring.  Lesson six – conferences are the best opportunity to be inspired by other Master Gardeners and to make them friends.   Even with the glaring difference in pesticide policy, we had lots to talk about, lots to learn and lots to look forward to when we meet again at the next International Conference organized by Iowa and Nebraska in 2015.  By then I hope to have lost the souvenir ten pounds!


Mosaicultures Internationales Montreal 2013

Diane Marchese, Guelph and Wellington County

Chameleon With a Closeup

The largest exhibition of horticultural art in the world, staged every three years in a city selected by an international committee, this year's theme was Land of Hope, which aimed to illustrate the beauty and fragility of life on earth.  This year the Montreal Botanical Garden hosted and what a perfect venue it was!

This is when the word awesome is appropriate to use in discussion.  My friend and I stopped so many times just to slowly take in all the aspects of these sculptures.  Many of them like The Man Who Planted Trees was large, encompassing running horses, a herd of sheep, a huge sheep dog and an enormous man kneeling in the act of planting a tree.  They weren't all of this magnitude, a little scaled down were playful pandas or a lone chameleon on a branch embossed with Echeveria secunda 'Glauca' or 'Vert'.

The 3D structures were designed on paper and then realized using steel.  The sculptor-artist-welders formed superb metalwork, checked by structural engineers to make sure the frames would be strong enough to hold the horticultural materials assembled by a crew specifically assigned to the design.  Then there is the upkeep by maintenance people who work seven days a week shaping and watering each structure.  Teams would work together, manicuring their display and then keeping each other in the know as to what needs to be done the next day.  The bottom line I was told by a one of the gardeners is "to find the areas that require cleaning up and trimming before the visitor sees it."

Many of the plants used were different types of Alternanthera dentata like 'Purple Knight', 'Fine true Yellow', and 'Christmas tree'.  Santolinas, Echeveria rosettes, sedums of all kinds and grasses like 'Black Mundo' to name of few.  Close to three million plants were used and they were chosen for their uniformity, texture, ability to tolerate the unique growing conditions, to be trimmed regularly for a bushier look and, most importantly, disease and pest free.  I have a new respect for ground coverings.

Most importantly the pieces made you stop and receive their messages that were so carefully thought out by the designers – from The Woman Who Loved Cranes, based on a true story from China, to the Tree of Birds, with each branch supporting an endangered bird.  The tree symbolizes all the biodiversity that surrounds us and how fragile it is.  This reminds us that we are not more important than anything else in nature and that we should be modest and mindful of our existence within it.

Here is a link to the mosaiculture site. and a link to a number of photos of Mosaiculture Montreal 2013


What's Growing On - 2013 Fall Newsletter


Master Gardeners of Ontario
Serving Ontario for Over 25 Years

Join the email list and have the newsletter sent to you directly. Send an email to editors@mgoi.ca with your name, email and group. 602 Master Gardeners are already on the list.  Are you?

DSC_0305

In this Issue....


Mosaicultures Internationales Montreal 2013
Diane Marchese, Guelph and Wellington County
camelionThe largest exhibition of horticultural art in the world, staged every three years in a city selected by an international committee, this year's theme was Land of Hope, which aimed to illustrate the beauty and fragility of life on earth.  This year the Montreal Botanical Garden hosted and what a perfect venue it was!  Read more...

What I Learned At The IMGC
Tena van Andel, Toronto

alaskaWith giddy anticipation and five bottles of local Seattle wine, fellow Toronto Master Gardener, Elizabeth A. Stewart, 998 other Master Gardeners and I walked the gangplank of the Westerdamn ready to experience an International Master Gardener Conference at sea.   Lesson one – don’t call it a ‘gangplank’, it’s a ‘gangway’ and don’t spell Westerdam with a ‘n’.  This will make the crew frown. Read more...

EdytheA Gardener’s Staycation
Edythe Falconer, Ottawa-Carelton

Les Jardins d’Emmarocalles
My Staycation included a group trip to Les Jardins d’Emmarocalles near Ripon, Quebec – about an hour’s drive from downtown Ottawa.  Although the five-acre garden is only six years old it has already expanded to include more than 1500 daylily cultivars and a thousand varieties of perennials.  Divided into twelve different sections or sub-gardens it is aesthetically pleasing and educational with each garden representing a different style and different growing conditions. Read more....

kent_2005_078-2Great Gardens of England
Joy Cullen, Nothumberland
In July 2013, two Northumberland Master Gardeners and two friends embarked on our first Road Scholar trip “Great Gardens of England and Hampton Court Flower Show”.  This was a well-organized excursion with a small group of compatible travellers which included all meals, entry fees and had an education component. Read more...


DSC_4653.JPGVisiting Gardens While Traveling
Dianne and Gary Westlake, Peterborough
(Published Previously in the Peterborough Examiner in the summer of 2008, so the date references  are a bit off.)
We love to visit gardens while we are traveling. This year we went to Seattle, Vancouver and Victoria in the spring. We traveled to Wales, Scotland and England in the fall and this summer we visited Quebec. At each of these places we found great gardens to visit and this is the time for you to start planning a trip for next year. Read more....



MGOI Happenings Fall 2013
Jane Beck, President
Jane.JPG
Jane Beck
September does feel like the start of a new year; I hope everyone had a good summer and is now looking at their garden in appreciation.  A cool start to the season and plenty of rain has made my newly planted garden take root and look like it has been there for years.

This fall Master Gardeners in Ontario will see their annual reviews in a beautifully updated Annual Report 2012-2013.  That Annual Report is required of our organization by law.  The updated report features your photos, your reports and graphs of data that had been rows of numbers before.  You supplied the content to our Provincial Administrator and Simcoe County Master Gardener, Charlotte Vorstermans; and then Claudette Sims, Halton Master Gardeners and VP MGOI took over.  Kudos to Claudette for her vision and her expertise, both computer and layout skills, with your photos and input.  The 2012-13 MGOI Annual Report is available on our website, mgoi.ca.  Go have a peek at how good you look. I, for one, am so very impressed not only with the community work done across the province, but how well presented your efforts are this year.

The MGOI Annual General Meeting is scheduled for October 5th at the Landscape Ontario offices in Milton, followed by the Coordinators’ Conference that same day.  The Coordinators’ Conference does have a full agenda.  We will have a presentation from MGOI’s Insurance provider followed by a Coordinators’ workshop in the morning.  We will be highlighting the Awards of Excellence projects so that all groups will get the opportunity to hear about the excellent projects that take place across the province.  We will celebrate the Thunder Bay International recognition with their project for Northern gardeners. This is your opportunity to consider how these projects could work in your community.

Your local websites and the MGOI website will be key topics for discussion; this session will be facilitated by our very capable web-master Jim Cook. Coordinators, come with your questions for Jim.
Highlights of the recent Education Survey will be reviewed by June Streadwick, a Niagara Master Gardener and chair of our provincial Education Committee.

Most hopefully you will find this an informative and helpful agenda and walk away with the solutions you need to implement.

MGs in Action
What are Heritage Fruit Trees?
Thanks to the Grey County Master Gardeners (GCMG), Ursula Karalus and Karen Young, visitors to the Moreston Heritage Village, Grey Roots Museum and Archives, can see the humble beginnings early settler took to establish fruit trees in this region.

montmorancycherry
Montmorency Cherry
Heritage trees are usually varieties regionally developed from chance seedlings.  Records indicate that in 1892 there were 878 different species of fruit trees in North America.  By 1922 the number had dropped to 100.

In keeping with the historical time period and typical rural landscape, fruit trees were chosen for two sites.  Around the 1885 log cabin, two Damson plums, a Bartlett Pear and Clapp’s Favourite Pear trees were planted.  On the east side of the 1920 farmhouse a McIntosh apple, Golden/Yellow Delicious Apple and a Dolgo Crab Apple can be found.  Between the two houses a Montmorency sour cherry was planted.

The only way to keep these heirloom trees from disappearing is for homeowners or community groups to plant heritage fruit trees.

International Plowing Match
Many thousands of people visited the Stratford Master Gardeners booth during the five-day International Plowing Match the week of September 16 in Mitchell.  It featured a living pizza garden with most of the plants from the MGs own gardens.  About 1,500 children also received handmade garden buttons for answering a garden question.

Events
October 8 – 14 – Visit the Norfolk MG display and advice booth under the Grandstand at the Norfolk County Fair and Horse Show, Simcoe, ON

Saturday, October 19 – 8:30 a.m. – 3:45 p.m. – Fall Technical Update – From the Ground Up at the Harmony Centre (former Knox United Church), 890 4th Ave East, Owen Sound.  Programme:  Carol Dunk, Simcoe County Master Gardener Emerita, Past President Ontario Horticultural Association – Soils:  Love That Dirt!  Secrets of Great Soil; Marnie McIntosh – Thyme for You Heirlooms Heirloom Vegetables: Our past and our future; Carlo Balistrieri, Head of Horticulture, Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) –  Chalk Talk:  Plants for Alkaline Soil.  Lunch: a list of restaurants will be provided or feel free to ‘brown bag‘’ it.  No charge for admission, donations to the GCMGs are appreciated.  As space is limited, please reserve your spot by contacting GCMG coordinators:  Sue Connelly: 519-924-0207 or Patricia Draves:  patriciadraves@gmail.com

October 22 – 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. - "The Orchid: Daunting Diva, Evocative Evolutionary or Humble Houseplant" with guest speaker Tena van Andel at Eising Greenhouses and Garden Centre, 814 Cockshutt Road, Simcoe, ON  Everyone welcome.  Free admission.   For more information please contact norfolkmg@yahoo.com

October 26 – 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. – Technical Update – The Modern Victory Garden at St James Church, 225 Edmund Street, Carleton Place.  Registration starts at 8:30 a.m.   Programme:  Introduction to Permaculture Principles – Douglas Barnes; Victorious Vegetables: Bringing it to The People – David Hinks and Tom Marcantonio;  The Modern Victory Garden – Janette Haase;  Pests and Diseases – Monique Pare  Enjoy a delicious Lunch and snacks provided by Ottawa Carleton and Lanark County.  Shop at our Gardener's Silent Auction and participate in the Read and Seed  Exchange -– Bring an item – Take an item.  Cost $30.00.  For more information contact Dale Odorizzi @ 613 264-8135 or email lanarkmg@gmail.com  See  www.lanarkmastergardeners.mgoi.ca.

January 11, 2014 – Toronto Master Gardeners' Technical Update at the Toronto Botanical Gardens – Urban Agriculture: Growing Food in Cities from the Macro to the Micro.

April 11, 12, 13, 2014 - Peterborough Garden Show,  at the Evinrude Centre, Peterborough. Don’t miss the most exciting and interesting garden show run by gardeners for gardeners.  Great speakers, demonstrations, over 125 vendors and exhibitors, the innovative Children’s Garden, floral arrangements plus several new ideas and events that are planned for 2014.  Admission is only $7.00 per day and advance tickets will be available in November from Joan Harding at harding@i-zoom.net.  Just in time for Christmas.  Check out www.peterboroughgardens.ca for pictures of the 2013 show.  Anyone interested in being a vendor should go to showcontact@peterboroughgardens.ca or contact Sandy at 705 761 9220.  The Peterborough Garden Show is presented by the Peterborough Horticultural Society and the Peterborough and Area Master Gardeners.

Milestones
New MGiTs
Haliburton – Lynn Barber, Celine Duguay, Lou Loree
Mississauga – Christopher Deschenes, Andrea Leiba, Amy Petersen
Peterborough – Lee Edwards, Deb Gordon, Lesley Peace, Amy Woodward
New MGs 
Essex-Windsor – Susan Boucher, Susan Kelsh
Haliburton – Wendy Bunt
London-Middlesex – Linda Armstrong, Curtis Peterson.
Peterborough – Kathy McMahon
Stratford – Susan McLennan
5 Years
Lanark – Kevin Long
Peterborough – Margaret Higgins, Joanne Windrem
Quinte-Tweed – Barbara Fowler, Marlene Phillips
10 Years
Essex-Windsor – Christine Childs, Jane Hilbers
Peterborough – Gladys Fowler, Sally Rye
15 Years
Mississauga – Diana Pooke
20 Years
Essex-Windsor – Barb Morden
25 Years
Essex-Windsor – Sandy Ellenor, Joyce Ray, Elanor Sfalcin,
Welcome
Stratford – Lisa Courtnage who has transferred from Calgary, Alberta
New Coordinator
Northumberland – Mark Gordon
Ontario Volunteer Appreciation Service Awards 
Essex-Windsor – 25 years, Sandy Ellenor, Joyce Ray, Elanor Sfalcin; 20 years Barb Morden; 10 years, Christine Childs, Jane Hilbers
Farewell
It is with regret that Huron MGs bid goodbye to a longstanding member and past coordinator, Elizabeth Rowcliffe.  Elizabeth is moving to Seattle to be closer to her family and assures us there is a small challenging garden awaiting her attention.  We wish Betsy every happiness and success in her new home.

MGOI Board of Directors
President: Jane Beck – president@mgoi.ca
Vice President: Claudette Sims
Treasurer: Connie Hunter – treasurer@mgoi.ca
Corporate Secretary: vacant – secretary@mgoi.ca
Past President: Ralph Bullough - pastpresident@mgoi.ca
Directors:
Zone 1: Donna Russell – zone1@mgoi.ca
Zone 2: Dave Kechnie – zone2@mgoi.ca
Zone 3: vacant - zone3@mgoi.ca
Zone 4: Anna Peterson - zone4@mgoi.ca
Zone 5: Claudette Sims – zone5@mgoi.ca
Zone 6: Suzanne Zacharczyk – zone6@mgoi.ca
Zone 7: Kelly Noel (interim)
Zone 8: Kelly Noel – zone8@mgoi.ca
Zone 9: Pam Love - zone9@mgoi.ca
Zone 10: Tena Van Andel & Connie Hunter - zone10@mgoi.ca
Zone 11: Kevin Van Andel - zone11@mgoi.ca
Newsletter: Dianne & Gary Westlake – editors@mgoi.ca
MG List-serve: Kelly Noel – listcoordinator@mgoi.ca
Website: Jim Cook - webmaster@mgoi.ca

OMAFRA Representative: Helen Scutt – omafra@mgoi.ca
Provincial Administrator:Charlotte Vorstermans – info@mgoi.ca - 113 Mill Street, Creemore, ON   L0M 1G0
Landscape Ontario Rep: Denis Flanagan – landscapeontariorep@mgoi.ca