Land O’Lakes Garden Club gearing up for the season

Lynn Oborne | Apr 03, 2019

The Land O’Lakes Garden Club (LOLGC) is a very active group in our community. Our members come from not only Cloyne, Northbrook and Flinton, but Plevna, Verona, Belleville, Whitby and beyond. Many of our members live in the area but others are cottagers who also love it here.

Not too many of us are “master” gardeners but what we have in common is our interest in making flowers or vegetables grow, whether in pots, hangers, rock gardens or right in the soil. The joy of picking the flowers or harvesting the vegetables is unmistakable.

In 2017, our group painted the 13 Provincial and Territorial Flowers as part of the 150th Celebration of Canada’s Confederation. These plaques can be seen every year from June to October on the exterior walls of the Cloyne Pioneer Museum. We also donated a bench and planted many of the trees in the Benny’s Lake Park, which is adjacent to the museum. We honoured the First Nations by arranging for the design and installation of a large Turtle Island Plaque which explains the significance of this area. It can be enjoyed year-round in this same park.

In 2018, we had another busy year in that we replaced the 25 Planter Boxes, which can be seen in front of many of our local businesses. We in fact made 30, so if any business is interested, please contact us by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

We host many interesting speakers at our meetings, which are held in the Pineview Free Methodist Church (Hwy 41 in Cloyne), on the second Thursday of each month, from April to October at 7:00pm. Our first meeting will be April 11th with a presentation by Tim Hobbs and Donna Pass who will talk about “Rediscovering Daylilies” - just the topic after this long cold winter.

Other guest speakers:

May 9th Joe and Hazel Cook from Blossom Hill Nursery in Peterborough. “Peonies -Discover the Passion”

June 13th Cheryl Harrison, Master Gardener from Campbellford “The Many Wonders of Mulch”

July 11th Laura Moses from Seeleys Bay “Pots that Wow”

August 8th Jennifer Nash from Prosperity Acres in Corbyville “The Best Dirt, why Compost is so Important”

September 12th Doug McCrae from Brighton Backyard Birds “Bird feeding, habitats and Native Plants for Birds”

October 10th Deanna Groves from Quinte Botanical Gardens “How the Gardens were created and why we did them”

Besides our regular meetings, we help to maintain the gardens in the Pioneer Cemetery in Cloyne and the Township Halls in Cloyne, Harlowe and Flinton. One of our most rewarding projects is at the Seniors’ home, Pine Meadow, in Northbrook, where we rake, cleanup and plant the gardens and boxes for the residents to enjoy. Two of our members make up and deliver flower arrangements at Easter and Christmas for the homebound clients of the Meals on Wheels program. We have started to partner with the Lennox and Addington Resources for Children (LARC) in developing and running a one-day speciality program that involves the children in a plant/garden related activity. Last Spring we made fairy gardens with the children and in December had live pine trees for them to decorate for Christmas, with the idea that they will replant them when the soil thaws. We hope that these activities will start an interest in gardening and the love of what nature provides. Every year, we make 400-500 corsages which we hand out at our local Santa Claus Parade. We donate to the Lions Club and Community Services so that Christmas gifts can be bought for young children and teenagers. We give a Scholarship award at our local High School every year to a student planning a career in Horticultural, Landscape Design, Forestry, Agricultural and Environmental studies and who is recommended by the North Addington Education Centre (NAEC).

One of our biggest events is our Plant Sale, which will be held on Saturday, May 25th starting at 9:00am at the Barrie Community Hall in Cloyne. This is a very popular event, so come early to purchase organic vegetable, herb and flower plants which have been grown and then donated by our members so you know that they are acclimatized to our unique environment of rock and soil. The proceeds go back to help us maintain our ongoing projects in our community.

We welcome guests to our monthly meetings, so please come and check us out and hopefully join our active group as you do not need to be a gardener to enjoy our topics and our enthusiastic membership.