25 Years of Grey County Master Gardeners!

2021 marks the 25th year Grey County Master Gardeners have been active in our community. Over this period of time, members have organized and participated in hundreds of gardening/garden- themed events.  Speaking engagements, advice clinics, plant sales, seminar days, tree planting, as well as programming for schools and social services, are among the many ways we’ve had the privilege to serve. All of these different activities have required the hard work and dedication of a team pulling together.  And so, the retirement of members, valued friends and colleagues, has been keenly felt.

Since we last updated our group’s history in 2016 for our 20th anniversary, we’ve said goodbye to some of our longest serving members. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank each of you for all the hard work and fun we were able to enjoy together. Without your dedication and determination, our group wouldn’t exist today! Below are the MG retirees and an update on their current gardening connections:

Ursula Karalus: Ursula continues to plant more trees around her Chesley area farm. Her dedication to the growing of native species has always been a focus, and this year’s work is no exception.   Ursula maintains a large veggie garden and raspberry patch.

Verna Beckenhauer:  “From planting potatoes beside my Dad at the tender age of five to watching my children and grandkids delight in gardening, I have always had a love for Horticulture. Thus, I spent twenty years of my life as a member of the Grey County Master Gardeners club. Five years ago, family obligations forced me to withdraw from participating in G.C.M.G. activities but it was never far from my mind. One sunny room of my house is completely devoted to house plants which allow me to garden all year around. I currently have 44 plants in my house some of which will be planted in the garden come Spring along with dozens of annuals which I start from seeds. Aside from working with plants, I am constantly looking up information on gardening in the range of books on Gardening that occupies a large section of my bookcase. I am quite often called upon to share gardening tips with friends and neighbours. Once a gardener always a gardener."

Paul Statia:  “I was a founding member and received a twenty plus name tag prior to leaving the group. I was a transplant from Huron county.  I thoroughly enjoyed the years as a Grey County Master Gardener. Great memories of a unique, dedicated, knowledgeable and energetic group. Looked forward to various activities including information sharing, seminars, social events and even meetings.  Spend my time these days maintaining our property and enjoying our family and friends. Changed our vegetable garden into a wildflower area which is thriving. We stay busy with community activities and our hobbies.”

Sue Connelly: After retiring from GCMG, Sue sold her Flesherton home and moved to Owen Sound. Her new place doesn’t have the light or space to take on the large gardens she once maintained. These days, Sue enjoys long walks with her camera in hand. The landscapes she photographs are the inspiration for her many paintings. 

Pat Wyszynski:  I joined the Grey County Master Gardeners in 2000 and resigned in 2018. The highlights of my years as a Master Gardener are about what we accomplished as a group. We truly exemplified the meaning of the word synergy.  The fall gardening seminars grew from 12 attendees in the O.S. Legion to capacity attendance in the First United Church and Harmony Centre.  No other MG group in Ontario with an average membership of 12 carried out the quantity and quality of our annual activities year after year after year.  This was acknowledged by MGOI.  These days my gardening is focused on creating and maintaining habitat. I use the definition 'what is needed for a species to survive and reproduce'. Whether it's my property or someone else's, private or public land the interest is the same. In 2020, COVID-19 restrictions prevented me from reconnecting with the CMHA community gardens in O.S. and beginning as a new 'gardening' volunteer with Chapman House: Residential Hospice. I hope that 2021 will bring me these opportunities. 

Margaret-Anne Brennan: Margaret-Anne was a member of GCMG for 9 years. During this time, she played an active role in our group serving as a co-coordinator and participating in the many speaking engagements, advice clinics and activities we undertook. These days, her focus is primarily on container gardening, although this spring she will be “putting down mulch until my back tells me to stop”

 Diana Lenk: Diana was a founding member of GCMG and she retired after moving out of our area. She writes:

Haliburton was challenging for gardening. Our bungalow was set on quite a slope but did enable some flower borders near the house and a bit of vegetable gardening in containers on the deck. Deer were the problem. They liked to have supper in my garden and I could have as many as 10 at one time. Since coming back to Owen Sound, I was able to get a raised bed in the Community Garden for the past 2 years and have enjoyed growing a few veggies there especially garlic. I also have a good -sized south - west facing balcony on which to grow some tomatoes, herbs and flowers.

Gary Kenny: I joined GCMG as an MGIT in 2017 after retiring from a career in international human rights and development, most of which involved working with a spectrum of organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa. I have nurtured a life-long affinity with an interest in plants (and Nature generally) through a variety of gardening pursuits, and particularly like organic vegetable gardening and learning about and working with native plants. I subscribe to the notion, as do Indigenous people, that we humans are not separate from but intimately part of Nature and that all things, animate and inanimate, are imbued with Spirit. I enjoyed immeasurably my two years working with, learning from, being inspired by, and having fun with my GCMG friends. 

 Margaret McDonald: Margaret was our oldest founding member who freely shared her lifelong wisdom of gardening.
She continued vegetable and flower gardening well into her mid-80s.  Even when she moved to long term care her orchids and amaryllis came with her.  So did her Bougainvillea which found a new home on the deck.  The windowsill and top of her bureau were full of houseplants.  Margaret was even coaching a young PSW on watering them.  She never retired from giving horticultural advice!

Roberta Brignell: I graduated with my Master Gardeners Certificate in 2003 and worked with the Bruce County Master Gardeners for 5 yrs. At that time there was a very large Garden Club at Sauble Beach and another in Wiarton and so our group presented frequently, helped to create community flower gardens, community food gardens and plant sales. Over the years the Master Gardeners in the group retired and sadly the group folded. Gardening is my passion and I missed the interaction of fellow gardeners, so a number of years later I approached Grey County Master Gardeners for a chance to join and was accepted. It has been a pleasure to meet and work with all the members of the GCMG and with 5 new members this year, I'm sure this vibrant group will continue long into the future.