​Ripley Horticultural Society celebrates achievement, gardens, beauty and harvest

The Ripley and District Horticultural Society had a lot to celebrate at the Oct. 16 meeting, held at the Ripley-Huron Community Centre.

Members donated items for the annual bake, bulbs, produce and preserves sale which featured a delicious variety of baked goods, jams, meat pies, squash, applesauce and bulbs – evidence of a bountiful harvest.

The business portion of the meeting included updates on happenings with the young horticulturalists which include some changes to the leadership roster and motions to direct donations of funds to the Ripley Lions Christmas Hamper program and to the Bruce Botanical Food Gardens.

Congratulations were extended to “For Our Youth” leader Melody Smillie, recipient of the Pine River Watershed Initiative Network (PRWIN)’s Environmental Award of Merit, and to Shirley Galloway, the society’s recording secretary, recipient of the Ontario Association of Agricultural Societies (OAAS) Award of Merit.

The group is also very proud of Maria Morais, 2024 junior ambassador of the Ripley-Huron Fall Fair, and a long-time member of the “For Our Youth” Club.

Christine Roberts spoke about the seven habitat gardens she and her husband, Jim, have created under the auspices of the horticultural society and with financial and maintenance support from Huron-Kinloss Township.

Thanks to funding received from the Huron-Kinloss Community Well-Being Program (in 2023 and 2024), the Ontario Horticultural Association (OHA) in 2024 and the Ripley Horticultural Society, more than 500 native plants and shrubs have been planted in Ripley and in public spaces along the lakeshore, between the 6th and 2nd Concessions.

Seeds from the wildflowers have been harvested and donated to the Bruce County Public Library’s seed library and are available free to the public.

During the refreshment break, society members were busy making purchases at the sale, ordering society T-shirts and reunion planters, and voting for their favourite photos submitted by members.

The four winning images were captured by Joan McLaughlin, Kimberlee Feick-Lowry, Fran Farrell and Christine Roberts. The photos will become the covers of blank note cards which are being sold in sets of 12 (three copies of each image) for $20 and are available to order by contacting christineroberts153@gmail.com.

The Nov. 20 meeting will be another busy “make-and-take” event with members advised to bring wire cutters, scissors, bits of ribbon, pine cones, artificial greenery and berries and the like. The group will be making Christmas candle wreaths – an eco-friendly craft using only natural and recycled items. It will take place at 1:30 p.m. in the social room of the Ripley-Huron Community Centre.