Pakenham kicked off our 95th Year as a Hort Society with our Feb 2020 meeting. Then COVID19 hits Canada and all events are cancelled. Our March meeting was cancelled, our April meeting cancelled but the speaker added audio to her presentation and saved it to Youtube so our members could listen to virtually. Then the first week of May, our Board of Directors meets to discuss May events. The annual plant sale scheduled for the May long weekend was postponed to September and we decided to cancel the May meeting, but to host our Spring Flower Show virtually instead.
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| Toby Barratt - Class 47 - The Queen's Birthday - a centerpiece design with a candle |
We could not be more pleased with the results. Over 160 entries, submitted via email then resized and saved by Class on Google Photos to share with the members. Pakenham Hort is well known in the Ottawa Valley for its Flower Shows. We simply could not let the virus interrupt the flower show traditions that have been happening here for decades. So a little bit of of technology to the rescue. While it is not the same as prepping the flowers for a proper show, and having the hall smell glorious with fresh flowers, the virtual show comes in at a close second. We threw away most of the flower show rules, we allowed members to use their phones to snap pics of the specimens in the garden, and we had overwhelming support for this fun flower show event. We even had three floral designers enter the design classes.
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| Kara Lafreniere - Class 21a - Hyacinth |
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| Judy McGrath - Class 19 - Daffodil Collection |
To view the whole virtual spring flower show follow this link
We hope you enjoy the virtual show as much as our members that participated in this fun event, during an unprecedented time in recent history.
