Planting award season seeds
By Chris Simon

Photo by Chris Simon The Gilford and District Horticultural Society's new president Mona Rea also won first place in the centennial tulips category, at the group's annual awards dinner Sunday. About 70 people attended the event.

Mona Rea has been gardening since her childhood.

She's let the passion foster and grow. Since joining the Gilford and District Horticultural Society, she's been a president, and helped on Community in Bloom projects. She's won several horticultural awards, and added another into her collection Sunday, during the society's annual awards dinner at the Churchill Community Centre.

Rea was given first prize in the centennial tulips category.

"It's neat," she said, holding a picture of the brightly coloured bulbs and a red first place ribbon. "We've had this photo competition for many years now. The society is something we can do throughout the year. All the shutterbugs in our society can show their talents."

While the award is an honour, there are other reasons why Rea decorates her garden each year. It's relaxing, for the most part, and gives her an opportunity to be creative, she said.

"It becomes an addiction," she said. "You start out small and over the years you learn more. If you like being outside it's an ideal hobby."

Most of the society's 124 members tend to gardens and beautify their neighbourhoods for the same reason, said Kathy Barraclough, the society's past president.

"It's fun," she said. "It's nice to be outside and be digging in the dirt."

Society membership is growing. Over the last year, 23 new members have joined the group, which helps run Bloom and other beautifying projects throughout Innisfil. The group does important work, raising awareness of environmental issues and making the town aesthetically pleasing at nine different community gardens and an arboretum, said Barraclough.

"We had a successful year fundraising, as well as (maintaining) our arboretum," she said. "Right now, we're looking at redoing a lot for our gardens so they're drought tolerant, because of global changes we're seeing right now. (We try) to make our environment healthy and make everything look lovely. We do a lot of work in the area."

The dinner helps give members recognition for their hard work throughout the year, said Barraclough.

"We're celebrating winners from our flower shows that we put on all year," she said. "It's a time of celebration."

As part of the dinner, Rea was also named president for the upcoming year.

"She will be our president for the coming year," said Barraclough. "We introduce everybody to our new president and thank our executive from (this) year for all their hard work."