Growing Native Plants
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Upcoming Open Garden – Completed
Calgary Horticultural Society’s
Open Garden at Reader Rock Garden
Sunday, September 12th, 2021.
11:00 am—3:00 pm
Free Public Event, Self-Guided tours, however …
The CHS & FoRRGS will be on the Main Lawn to answer your questions.
Please remember to bring a facemask if you need to enter the house,
otherwise we’ll be at the tent, safely outdoors in the fresh air.
Hope to see you there!
2021 Annual Plant Sale – Completed
This year’s Plant Sale was a tremendous success for FoRRGS despite the hurdles from public health restrictions. For those who were lucky enough to snag plants from our exclusive plant sale, we hope that you are enjoying a little piece of Reader Rock Garden at your home.
Special acknowledgement to the dedicated Directors who made the Plant Sale possible, especially: Daniel Walker, Fabian Patino, Liz Lunney, Karen Hogan and Sue Gryzenhout– thank you! In addition, a shout out to Market Wines who generously supplied us with cardboard trays to facilitate transporting the precious cargo to their new homes. As a not-for-profit organistion, we are much obliged for this community support!
FoRRGS would also like to take this opportunity to thank all who have renewed annual memberships despite limited activities due to COVID-19. This greatly supports our initiatives at the Garden, such as our FoRRGS Plant Sale.
Interested in participating in next year’s FoRRGS exclusive members-only plant sale? Remember to sign up for your FoRRGS membership next year and watch this space for updates in the spring.
Spring has finally sprung
Hope everyone has been enjoying the longer daylight hours and gearing up for the upcoming gardening season!
The CHS Virtual Garden Show is taking place on April 24 & 25 from the comfort of your home. This will likely be our only event in 2021 to promote the garden, so if you are attending, please consider visiting our virtual booth.
Are you interested in participating in our virtual Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Sunday, May 2? If so, please contact us and we will provide the online meeting details to you separately.
The FoRRGS live Plant Sale & Garden Stroll has been cancelled this year due to COVID-19 considerations. Don’t worry though, FoRRGS is excited to be hosting the 2021 Virtual FoRRGS Plant Sale in May. This is a great opportunity for our members to purchase our popular plants at a deeply discounted price. Stay tuned for details! Interested in taking part in this members-only FoRRGS Plant Sale but not yet a member? Join us by clicking on the Get Involved menu above and we will make sure that you are included on the invite list.
After much consideration, we have decided to pause our popular Garden Tours to maintain the safety of our volunteers and guests. We are closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation and have been in communications with our volunteer tour guides. Please stay tuned for updates.
Have you checked out our new Events Calendar? This is a quick snapshot of upcoming events for the year. Take a peek!
Last Weekend for a visit to the Cafe!
Just a gentle reminder … Reader’s Garden Cafe will be closing for the season after this weekend. Last day to take in the awesome views and sample their yummy goodies is Sunday, Sept 27th, 2020. Don’t wait, contact them at : http://www.readersgardencafe.ca/ and enjoy! ♥
The Buzz @Reader Rock Garden
Hope you are staying well in this ongoing pandemic? Nature soldiers on regardless of what world challenges are among us.
Reader Rock Garden is well-known for its extensive plant diversity and rich historical content. But there are also other narratives that escape everyday observations. One of these is the vast communities of local wildlife residents. Just like every healthy garden, Reader Rock serves as a home for a wide array of insects, most being beneficial, but some have a harmful impact. Olds College has an ongoing research study onsite pertaining to the Red Lily Beetles; these buggers are of the nasty variety. The Head Gardener, Daniel, has started a bug collection for educational purposes too. Similarly, Bob Germain, a regular photographic contributor recently shared his close adventures at Reader’s; see link below. While our group is knowledgeable on many topics, none of us are Entomologists. We simply appreciate the Garden for its biodiversity and environmental quality. Hopefully, Bob’s fun visual journey in the attached brings a new perspective to the Buzz at Reader Rock Garden! (click on this link) Enjoy.
Vandals at Reader Rock Garden -Alert!
Our beautiful National Historic Site, the Reader Rock Garden was hit by vandals recently. The memorial plaque that was installed in 1944 to honour Mr. Reader’s efforts and celebrate the park being named after him, welcomed visitors to the garden for decades. However, with COVID-19 physical distancing measures curtailing attendance at the park, vandals took advantage of the ideal quiet time on-site for their nonsensical mischief. The plaque was ripped off the rock cairn at the entrance at the base of the hill. We were hoping that this historical plaque would be located elsewhere at the garden during Spring clean-up. But no such luck … so, … we are asking you to take a good look at the photo below. If you know of its whereabouts, we would be very grateful to have it returned and restored to its rightful, honourable place at the garden. Furthermore, we appeal to the public to remain vigilant and report “questionable behaviour” when visiting Reader Rock Garden. This historic site belongs to all of us and we must be stewards for its preservation for future enjoyment. Please help us keep the Garden safe!
