Despite the ravages of drought and voracious, thirsty deer, the Garden Club is hosting an Open Garden this Sunday at the home of Ron and Lea Rochon, 977 Village Drive, on Cate’s Hill.
The Rochons inherited the ‘good bones’ of an existing garden when they moved to the island five years ago. Since then they have planted a variety of espaliered fruit trees in their mini orchard including apples, pears, plums, lemons and peaches.
With serious intentions to grow their own food, a vegetable garden has been developed and an irrigation system installed which takes some water from the roof. Lea ruefully admits that the food she can produce isn’t so much limited by the size of her veggie plot but more by the limitations of personal energy. Isn’t this something that at some point we gardeners all have to confront! The irrigation system however, conserves the energy that would otherwise be consumed in dragging hosepipe from one end of the garden to the other!
The Garden will be open to both club members and the general public from 2 – 4pm on Sunday, August 2. There is a small charge for non-members but full annual memberships ($20 per family) can be bought on site. As parking can be a problem visitors are advised to leave their vehicles outside the ‘two pillars’ on upper Cate’s Hill.Come and join us for an opportunity to learn more about gardening, bump into old friends, and perhaps make some new ones. Juice, coffee, tea and cookies are included with the price of admission.
Daffodils
This year the Garden Club’s daffodil queen, Sheila Webster, has a full slate of bulbs to choose from. They are as follows:
• King Alfred $27 per 100 (mid season - classic all yellow daffodils 40cm tall)
• Tete a Tete $20 per 100 (early season - mini all yellow daffodils 25 cm tall)
• Tahiti $42 per 100 (mid season - double daffodil flecked with orange 40cm tall)
• Minnow $20 per 100 (mid season - soft yellow with multiple small blooms per stem 25cm tall)
• Suzy $33 per 100 (early/mid spring - yellow with orange cup and multiple small blooms per stem 40cm tall)
• Snowdrops $35 per 100 (early spring)
In addition Bobbex, the deer repellant, is also offered at $12.75 for the 1 litre spray bottle and $22.52 for the concentrate.
Orders should be placed with Sheila before September 15 at [email protected]
Please note that the bulbs are available to all Islanders at pretty much cost. The program is now in its 10th year resulting in 150,000 bulbs waiting to astonish us in the spring!
Get your order in soon.
