Our society delegates to the 2016 Ontario Horticultural Association (OHA) Convention that took place in Kitchener, Ontario from July 29 to 31 brought home several awards this year, fully documented in the Fall issue of the OHA's Trillium.

Three of our society publications won awards as follows:

• Membership brochure - First place (Class 6 brochure)
• Yearbook cover - Third place (Class 2 yearbook cover)
• Newsletter – Honourable Mention (Class 8 newsletter)

As well, society members brought home:

• First place in the “Apple of My Eye” Arts competition
• First place in a “Gardening Success” Creative Writing competition

As the OHA is made up of 270 societies and more than 30,000 members, it is an achievement for us to bring home awards again this year.

The September-October issue of The Garden Post, available to our members (click here), contains a reprint of the award-winning “Gardening Success” short story, as well as photos and reports from our event delegates.

The SNAPD Richmond Hill team of Joanne and Jonathan Witt visited the ten gardens participating in the Richmond Hill Garden & Horticultural Society's 2016 Open Gates Fairy Garden Tour, and were inspired to take many gorgeous photos.  

Click here to enjoy their photography.

Joanne and John Witt, of SNAPD, posted twelve great photos of The Richmond Hill Garden & Horticultural Society's May 7, 2016 Plant Sale at the McConaghy Centre to the June 2016 Edition of SNAPD Richmond Hill.

Most of the plants at this year’s sale were grown by our own members, either in the greenhouse at the Alexander Mackenzie High School, or in the gardens of our members. As well, the Garden Sunshine rose, honoring our society’s 100th anniversary, made its debut.

Click here to view all the SNAPD photos of our successful event, which included garden accessories, books, and hand-crafted items from L'Arche Daybreak artists.
 

As noted in the May 5th, 2016 issue of The Liberal newspaper (click here for article), the Garden Sunshine rose, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Richmond Hill Garden and Horticultural Society, has arrived. 

If you didn’t pick up one of these beautiful, fragrant, disease-resistant roses for your garden at the society’s May 7th Plant Sale or at the May 14th Healthy Yards event, don’t despair. More roses will be available at the society’s Mill Pond Splash booth on Sunday, June 5th, and at our upcoming General Meeting on Tuesday, June 7th.

Serendipitously, rose specialist Shari-Lyn Safer’s June 7th presentation is entitled the “A-Z of Growing Roses.”
 

Earlier this month, the Richmond Hill Garden & Horticultural Society logo was added to the upper left corner of the four Service Clubs signs that greet residents and visitors entering the Town from the North, South, East and West.

The sign in the photo is located on the East side of Yonge Street, just north of Highway 7. The other three signs are located at Yonge and Bloomington, Major MacKenzie and Leslie, and Major MacKenzie and Bathurst.

Our society's Publicity Convenor worked with the Chamber of Commerce to add the logo of our 102 year old society, featuring the Garden Sunshine Rose, to these signs. 

SNAPD Richmond Hill's Joanne Witt has posted fourteen great photos of our society's December 1st awards and holiday celebration to the January 2016 edition of SNAPD Richmond Hill. Photos include flower show tropy and special award winners, attendees having fun, and red bag raffle fundraising items.

To see the full coverage of our event, click here. 

During a gala celebration at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts on September 17, the following gardens were announced as having earned the highest number of points during the judging that took place in early August.

Ward 1:
1st - 75 Sandbanks Drive
2nd - 10 Snively Street
3rd - 14 Coates Crescent

Ward 2:
1st -  21 Anglin Drive
2nd - 195 Neal Drive
3rd - 15 Sussex Avenue
 
Ward 3:
1st -  32 Libra Avenue
2nd - 4 Avery Court
3rd - 90 Spadina Road

Ward 4:
1st - 84 Centre Street West
2nd - 7 Keble Court
3rd - 150 Carrington Drive

Ward 5:
1st -  3 Denham Drive
2nd - 138 Pemberton Road
3rd - 71 Pemberton Road
 
Ward 6:
1st -  53 Pathlane Road
2nd - 15 Compton Crescent
3rd - 67 Somerset  Crescent

Congratulations to the owners of these lovely front gardens!

More information is available in the October 1 issue of the Richmond Hill Liberal. The story is also available online (click here).

A map of Richmond Hill Wards, published by the Town, is available online (click here). 

Our society delegates to the 2015 Ontario Horticultural Association (OHA) Convention that took place in Ancaster, Ontario from July 17 to 19 brought home many awards this year, fully documented in our Autumn issue of the Garden Post and the Fall issue of the OHA's Trillium.

Five of our society publications won awards as follows:

• Membership brochure - First place (brochure)
• Open Gates Water Garden Tour Passport - First place (special event brochure)
• Bookmark - First place (bookmark)
• Yearbook cover - Third place (yearbook cover)
• Open Gates Water Garden Tour Poster - Third place (special event poster)

As well, adult society members brought home:

• First place in an Arts competition
• Multiple awards in Design, Horticulture and Collections

And, two of our Youth members garnered more than a dozen awards, including a Best in Show and a Judge's Choice rosette.

As the OHA is made up of more than 280 societies, many of whom participate in these annual competitions, it is an achievement for us to bring home so many awards.

now Available Online

Raf Ollivierre, host of the Richmond Hill Garden & Horticultural Society's 2015 Photography Competition, revealed this year's top scoring photos and their associated photographers at the Society's General Meeting on August 4th.

A website enhancement posted today enables Society Members to view competition results (click here), including all 29 photos that earned an Award of Merit or Honorable Mention designation from the judges, accomplished photographers and members of the Richmond Hill Camera Club.

The Society has been organizing a popular photography competition nearly every year since 1990.

Judging of the one hundred twenty lovely front/side gardens selected by Town representatives has concluded. The identities of the three top-scoring gardens in each of Richmond Hill's six wards have been communicated to the Town. Next, property owners will be contacted and invited to an awards celebration in September. Click here for details.

The judges, who are members of the Richmond Hill Garden & Horticultural Society, reported visiting many beautiful gardens and having delightful conversations with the gardeners. They would like to thank all participants for contributing to the beautification of our Town!