NSAGC Convention

A large contingent of members from both the Chester Garden Club and Basin Gardeners (a neighbouring club located in Chester Basin) attended the recent NSAGC* Annual Convention in North Sydney, Nova Scotia. The convention's theme, Blooms of Culture ~ Roots of History, provided a springboard for at least one speaker, who described early plantings made by Acadian settlers in the late 1700s and talked about the many plants from around the world that were brought to Alexander Graham Bell's summer estate in Baddeck, Cape Breton, over the years.

The weekend's program also included workshops, tours, raffles, displays by vendors and entertainment. Shown above are two entries made in a workshop for creating small arrangements.

Chester Club's current president, Sheila Knowlton-MacRury, and past president Brenda Garland along with Brenda's husband, Robert, were among the guests at the banquet on Saturday evening. Saturday's full program included the Annual General Meeting and a number of interesting speakers whose topics ranged from wildflowers to birds to heritage gardening. One of the highlights was a demonstration of unique ways to create arrangements using "found" objects.

The above arrangement, composed of such everyday components as grass and weeds, was created by the speaker during the demonstration. It was later won by a member of the Chester club in a "draw".

After spending the weekend enjoying the hospitality and the interesting program offered by the Cape Breton District gardeners, members of the two clubs (Chester and Chester Basin), shown here wearing their promotional tee-shirts, are looking forward to co-hosting the next convention, in June 2011, in Lunenburg County.

---------

* NSAGC is short-hand for Nova Scotia Association of Garden Clubs.

[Thanks to Sylvia McNeill for sending in this photo story.]