GORE GARDEN CLUB

Southland Times, Issue 20539, 16 July 1928, Page 4

GORE GARDEN CLUB

THE NEW EXECUTIVE. FIRST MEETING HELD. Mr J. Speden (president) occupied the chair at Friday night’s meeting of the executive of the newly-formed Gore Garden Club. There were also present Messrs J. McK. Miller (secretary), T. Brown, J. Duncan, A. T. Newman, J. Harper, J. Lenihan, Mesdames A. L. Dolamore, H. G. Wallis and E. G. Wilson Misses A. Ross and E. Young.

It was decided to recommend to the club that the Gore School building be secured for the four-weekly meetings, which should be held on Tuesday evenings, commencing at 7.30 o’clock. Membership tickets were issued, and it was resolved that the joint fee for husband and wife be 7/6.

The president and secretary were appointed to negotiate a banking account to be opened with the Invercargill Savings Bank.

The secretary was authorized to obtain all necessary books and stationery, and members of the Gore Horticultural Society (now defunct) are to be consulted regarding vases and stands available for display of cut flowers.

Mr Speden submitted a tentative programme of subjects for demonstration and discussion during the year, and this was fully discussed. The syllabus was considered most promising and helpful, embracing the following subjects: Seed-sowing, diseases of potatoes, some useful flowering shrubs, pruning, early spring flowers, sweet peas, planning a kitchen garden, narcissi (some favourites and their cultivation), favourite annuals, common vegetables and how to grow them, summer spraying of trees, cabbages and cauliflowers, the planting-out of annuals, floral decorations, tomatoes and how to grow them, rhododendrons, azaleas, etc., plants for cool greenhouse and window, rockery-making and planting, good perennials for herbaceous border, the making of a lawn, hedges suitable for town gardens, roses (best kinds and how to prune them), planting of winter vegetables, carnations (how to propagate and grow them), the Croydon Domain and how it may be improved, autumn sowing of vegetables, gladioli, the Gore Gardens, spring flowering bulbs, dahlias, useful fruits (their pruning and cultivation), chrysanthemums and how to grow them, improvement of garden soils; native trees, shrubs and plants (a lantern lecture by the president), suggestions for improvement of private gardens, compost heap and potting soil, friends and foes of the garden, plant botany, garden tools and their care. At all meetings time will be set aside to give opportunity for members to ask questions on any phase of gardening. The suggested programme also includes an afternoon in Mr Speden’s garden, a visit to the Gore Municipal Gardens and a whole day at Croydon Domain.

The syllabus follows the seasons step by step, and was generally approved by the committee as most useful and conducive to the education and entertainment of members. Lectures and demonstrations by experts in various branches of the gardening art will be secured, and membership of the club promises to be wide and representative.