Whether you realized it or not, this gardening column has been provided by the Saskatchewan Perennial Society for the last nine years. It is just one of the many community activities the society is involved with.
Founded in 1989 as a provincial non-profit organization, its mandate is to promote the knowledge and use of perennial plants as well as other hardy landscape plants in Saskatchewan public and private gardens.
Over its history, the SPS has organized garden tours of Saskatchewan and neighbouring provinces, been a founding member organization of the Gardener for the Prairies (now simply the Gardener) and on the initial organizing committee of Gardenscape.
If you’ve enjoyed the beauty and tranquility of the Meditation Garden or the Heritage Rose Garden at the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park and Zoo, you’ve benefited from the work of the hundreds of volunteer hours put in by members of the SPS in the design, construction, planting and maintenance of these gardens. And during the work bees, novice gardeners have a chance to learn from more experienced members.
Through the winter months from October through March, the SPS organizes free public educational talks on subjects ranging from ornamental grasses to the favourite perennials of local authors, a history of gardens and much more. Scheduled for 2016 are: Tulips from Amsterdam, Dividing Perennials the YouTube Way, Iris, Cultivating Nature’s Palette - With Native Prairie Perennials and Victoria’s Lesser-known Gardens.
Tours of local gardens (also free and open to the public) featuring perennials are popular activities in June and July. As well, the SPS supports the annual NEST garden tour in August.
The only event that is restricted to members is our ever-popular plant exchange and sales, held in May and September (but memberships are available at the door).
These are all good reasons to become a member of the SPS or to give a gift membership to a friend – especially someone new to gardening, new to perennials or new to the Prairies! They make great stocking stuffers at only $10 per year (or $27 a year that includes a subscription to the Gardener magazine).
And there’s more! With Christmas just around the corner, two SPS fundraisers make excellent gifts for gardening friends, both under $20 each. One is the latest (77th) edition of the annual Prairie Garden. The other is the perennially popular hand hoe. Money raised goes to support the maintenance of the two gardens at the zoo, speaker honourariums, and to supplement a growing horticulture library available to members.
This year’s Prairie Garden ($16) focuses on fruit and berries. With more people than ever wanting to grow their own food, it’s a timely subject. There are detailed articles on growing saskatoons, lingonberries, haskaps, gooseberries, sour cherries, cherry plums, sea buckthorn and ones focusing on the Ure pear and Norkent apple. (Having just juiced a more than bumper crop of sea buckthorn and made about 60 jars of its jelly, I was gratified to find additional uses for this prolific if thorny fruit by way of additional recipes.) Other topics include clematis breeding by Saskatoon’s own Jim Sullivan, information about the University of Saskatchewan’s vegetable cultivar trials and several articles on roses. It’s a horticultural feast not to be missed.
The Japanese hand hoe ($17) has been gracing Saskatchewan gardens for more than two decades. With a stainless steel blade and a tough hardwood handle, it’s durable (I still have one of the originals from way back when), easy to use, and ideal for on your hands and knees weeding. It gets the weeds but not the plants you’re weeding around.
To purchase an SPS membership for yourself or a gardening friend, a copy of the Prairie Garden or a hand hoe call 306-343-7707 or email bernievangool@sasktel.net.
For more information, visit the SPS website www.saskperennial.ca or www.facebook.com/saskperennial.
— Sara Williams is the author of the newly expanded and revised Creating the Prairie Xeriscape; Gardening, Naturally: A chemical-free handbook for the Prairies; and the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo: A Photographic History. Sara will be offering tours of England and Iceland (with cohost, Melanie Elliott) in 2016. For more information contact Ruth at ruth@worldwideecotours.com or 888-778-2378.
