Group of gardeners gives back to local organizations
The Selkirk and District Horticultural Society is well-known in our community for maintaining some of our amazing local parks in the summer. This year, they’ve set their green thumbs to giving back to our community with donations of $1000 to both Nova House and Our Daily Bread Soup Kitchen this holiday season.
Selkirk and District Horticultural Society fundraised this money through their annual plant sale. The proceeds of the plant sale are used to keep the group going throughout the year but this year they noticed that they had a little more than they needed.
“We decided that we would like to donate it to the community,” said Kris Kubay, president of the Selkirk and District Horticultural Society.
She said that the group felt that they wanted to help the community and that they voted on the groups within the community that they wanted to support this year.
The Selkirk and District Horticultural Society is a garden club that has been in our community for almost 30 years.
“We started the plant sale just to support the club so we could get guest speakers in to talk to our membership. But, the plant sale has become an event, not a sale. We are able to offer to the community, very reasonably priced plants, not only to beautify your yard or feed your family, but I call it partnering with Mother Nature. We support the environment by helping the bees, birds and butterflies,” said Kubay.
She says that supporting the community makes perfect sense as gardeners are nurturing people by nature.
Though many of the group’s members are from outside of Selkirk that doesn’t stop the group from continuing to maintain the Main St. Garden, Red Feather Farm and the Veterans Memorial Gardens in Selkirk.
Many residents might not think to join a gardening group at this time of year but Kubay says that they are still active in the community in the winter.
“We would love to have new members. We meet on the third Tuesday of each month. We have guest speakers. We exchange information with each other about gardening and gardening tips,” said Kubay.
Their guest speakers cover a large variety of topics. In the past, they’ve had people speak about bees, mulching, looking after soil, and different kinds of plants. These speakers are decided on based on what the group would like to learn about.
In their January meeting, the group is going to be hearing from an expert on trees.
“We welcome all people if they’d like to come. [It doesn’t matter if they] are a seasoned gardeners or want to learn about gardening. We have very interesting guest speakers that we get and we meet at seven o’clock at the United Church at 202 McLean [Ave. in Selkirk],” said Kubay.
Potential new members are welcome to show up at a monthly meeting and introduce themselves.
If you are a plant enthusiast looking to support this group look out for their plant sale information this spring. The Selkirk and District Horticultural Society always plans their plant sale for the last Friday in May.
