Dear <<First Name>>

Here is your first newsletter for the 2016-17 Open Gardens Canberra Season.

kind regards

Sheree Minehan
Secretary

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NEWSLETTER
SEPTEMBER 2016

Wow! What a difference a few short months make. Now as the new President and filling some very big boots of the wonderful past President Shirley Pipitone, it goes without saying Open Gardens Canberra owes a great debt of gratitude for the work Shirley almost single handedly has done. During our last committee meeting it was decided to offer Shirley an Honorary Life Membership of Open Gardens Canberra in recognition of her efforts.

So much support has been forthcoming from a very active, new and full committee. It never ceases to amaze me, the potential of busy people to fit just that little bit more work in. This, I am sure, comes from the contentment gained from working in their own gardens. Should any members wish to become more involved in Open Gardens Canberra by opening your own garden or really by offering any spare time or talent you are more than welcome. Just give me a call or email me some details - I love talking all things gardening.

I am once again working toward opening my garden to the public on the 15th and 16th October. I’m also really excited to announce that 3 other gardens will be opening during October including Valerie Bigg’s garden for the first time. Although small in size Valerie has managed to fit so much in, her garden is inspiring. Please see the Open Gardens website for details about the two open gardens on 15 and 16 October - further details on all four gardens for October will be sent by e-flyer to you shortly.

This newsletter also includes very important details about our new membership system.

kind regards, Trevor Fuller
President - Open Gardens Canberra Inc

Annual General Meeting - New Committee

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held at the Hellenic Club on Monday 15 August.

The meeting was chaired by Geoff Corner due to the illness of former President, Shirley Pipitone. Approximately 20 members attended. Geoff spoke about the key achievements of Open Gardens Canberra which members can read about in greater detail in Shirley’s report which can be read on the Open Gardens Canberra report.

The one year milestone for Open Gardens Canberra was celebrated after the AGM with a magnificent cake featuring our logo and other refreshments.

The AGM saw the election of the following office bearers:

• President - Trevor Fuller
• Treasurer - Merryl Bradley:
• Secretary - Sheree Minehan
• Membership Secretary - Ian Davenport (also Public Officer)

At a recent meeting of the Committee, Jane Vincent agreed to be the Publicity Officer.

The following are general committee members:

• Tom Baker, Ann and Chris Lord and Deirdre Kiorgaard

The one remaining vacant committee position is Vice-President. If you are interested in this position, or if you are interested in joining the committee as a general member, please email your expression of interest to:

president@opengardenscanberra.org.au

The Committee expresses its appreciation to the Hellenic Club for its generosity in hosting this meeting and others throughout the year.

More about the Committee - in their own words:

Trevor Fuller – turf management, horticulture and landscaping have all been a big part of both my personal and professional working
life over more than 30 years. As an apprentice greenkeeper, then head greenkeeper, I enjoyed the high pressure of producing very
fine quality bowling green surfaces at a number of bowling clubs in Canberra. A new opportunity then lead me from the fringe of the
parliamentary triangle right to Parliament House where I worked predominantly on turf, irrigation and horticulture. My own
landscaping company has now been established for more than 15 years with 11 staff who form a great team and produce outstanding work.

Massage is also a passion I have been involved in for many years. I am trained in Swedish, Ka Huna and Lomi Lomi techniques. A recent massaging highlight was giving a massage on Stradbroke Island with the whales playing just off the shore.

Merryl Bradley – I recently joined Open Gardens Canberra to undertake the role of Treasurer. I have experience working for a not-
for-profit organisation being the former Business Manager and current Treasurer for the Australian Network for Plant Conservation
Inc. I am a keen gardener and enjoy the challenge of blending Australian natives with the exotic trees and shrubs that do well in
Canberra.

Sheree Minehan – I joined the committee of Open Gardens Canberra in April this year as Secretary after being so impressed after
visiting some of the exquisite gardens in Canberra, Bywong and Queanbeyan. I get a lot of enjoyment from gardens and really enjoy
the different ways I can support the activities of Open Gardens Canberra.

Ian Davenport - married to an avid gardener and as such, I am skilled at many aspects of garden digging, moving, feeding, constructing, demolishing and other labours inherent to the overall gardening practice. As membership Officer, I proposed and am implementing a new process to fulfil membership requests which I hope you’ll find easy to work with. I’ve also taken on the function of Public Officer for the Association to ensure we abide by our ACT Government Incorporation requirements.

Tom Baker - I have been gardening since I was 8 years old and have worked as a gardener for the last 15 years on the 5 acre site of the Warrigal aged care facility in Queanbeyan. I have been involved in sustainability issues for 30 years and one reason why Open Gardens Canberra appeals to me is because one of our six objectives is to promote garden design and ecological sustainability. My garden was opened in November 2015 and I found this very fulfilling and I recommend it to others.

Deirdre Kiorgaard – as a child of two keen gardeners, I’ve enjoyed gardening for more than 50 years. I’ve ruined lots of pairs of
shoes along the way as quick trips to the garden to pick a flower or a herb turn into marathon sessions weeding and pruning.

Open Gardens for 2016-17

We have four beautiful gardens to present in October with not just one – but two - bumper weekends featuring two gardens simultaneously.

Please see the website for more detail and photos of these gardens.

Please note the following dates in your calendar:

15-16 October - 10 am to 4pm

Gollion - 93 Westmead Lane, Sutton

Kathleen - 21 Downey Street Queanbeyan

22-23 October – 10 am to 4pm

Davenport Garden - 31 Bainton Cres Melba

Valerie's Garden - 21 Lort Place, Chisholm

We hope to publish our Calendar of Spring open gardens later this month on the website. We are planning to also email our e-flyer
to all members (or post to those without an email address) and to publicise the remainder of the season widely within Canberra and
on the website.

Welcome to New Members

A warm welcome to all our new members including number 500 – Ms Maureen Boyle. We hope to expand on our solid membership further. You’ll find details about our new and renewing membership procedures below.

New Membership Process

Shortly all members will receive a new membership card. This is a permanent issue card and will not be replaced each year.

The card will have a coloured sticker on it if you are a financial member. If no coloured sticker, you are unfinancial as at the time of preparation of the cards.

Each year a new sticker will be provided to financial members when they first attend an Open Garden or an Open Gardens Canberra Inc function. There will be no mail out of new cards/stickers for renewals. You may renew your membership in one of two ways:

1. Payment by mailing a cheque or bank transfer as per details on the website; and

2. Cash or cheque payment when you attend an Open Garden or an Open Gardens Canberra Inc function.

Where Option 1 above is chosen by a new member, a process is in place to mail out a membership card promptly.

This new process has been implemented to reduce administrative work, reduce our postage costs and improve the efficiency of membership payments and card issue.

Would you like to open your garden?

We encourage members to consider opening their gardens so that we can bring the diversity and splendour of the gardens of Canberra and other rural regions to garden lovers. We are looking for a broad, cross section of garden styles and sizes including more rural locations. Open Gardens Canberra promotes diversity. We also hope to visit another community garden this season, after the success of the visit to the Queanbeyan Community Gardens in Autumn 2016.

We are also exploring the idea of visiting a series of natural landscapes over the next few seasons.

The committee has a sub-committee of Trevor, Tom and Deirdre looking for new gardens to feature in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons.

If you are interested and would like more information - please contact Trevor at president@opengardenscanberra.org.au.

Tom's tip for today

A good source of weed control guidelines is the Molonglo Catchment Group Weed Pack -

http://www.molonglocatchment.com.au/Weeds/index.htm

Best wishes and happy gardening from the Open Gardens Canberra committee.

We hope to see you soon at one of our Open Gardens!

NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2016

NEWSLETTER
SEPTEMBER 2016