
A Chapter of The North American Rock Garden Society
&
Member Society of OHA District 2


2024-2025 Meeting Calendar
Sat. Feb 8th 2025 1:30
Mary Ann Van Berlo - Pushing the Zone Limit
**ZOOM ONLY ** Link published on day of meeting & newsletter
​Discover plants that will grow in our area despite being ‘not hardy’ according to their label. Mary Ann will share information on some of the unusual plants that she’s successfully grown in both her former rural Ottawa garden and in her current Maitland garden. She will provide some cultivation tips that she’s learned from trial and error over the years.
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Mary Ann Van Berlo is an avid gardener who enjoys everything horticulture. She collects plants and her 2.4-acre garden on the St. Lawrence River has many uncommon varieties. Mary Ann is not afraid to push the zone limit, and grows a number of plants that shouldn’t really be hardy in this area. In June 2017, Mary Ann’s garden was featured in Ontario Gardener Magazine.
Sat. Mar 8th 2025 1:30
Ben O’Brien - Growing in Grit
Hybrid Presentation : viewable by Zoom or @ St Marks (Speaker will be remote)
Ben is a landscape architect. He will be giving a talk about grow plants in a planting medium mostly composted of grit think granular-A the material used to construct road beds.
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See his article on Ontario Landscape Architect Association
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Sat. April 12th 2025 1:30
Ken Allison - Exciting Plants in the Alvar
Guest fee $5 at the door
Full description to follow
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An alvar is a unique type of grassland or open woodland found on shallow, nutrient-poor soils over bedrock, often with a flat, rocky surface. These ecosystems are characterized by sparse vegetation and high biodiversity.
These plants are well-adapted to the harsh, dry conditions of alvars.
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ABOUT US
​The Ottawa Valley Rock Garden & Horticultural Society (OVRGHS).
We are affiliated with both the North American Rock Garden Society (NARGS) and the Ontario Horticultural Association (OHA).
Our Society was formed in November 1992. Although the faces have changed somewhat since then, the objectives of the Society have remained the same: to promote and support "rock gardening" on a non-profit basis.
Over the years, we have built upon the solid foundation of the original group. We offer our members:
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monthly meetings from September through May featuring local, national and international speakers,
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periodic newsletters per year
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an annual seed exchange,
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spring plant sales each year,
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garden tours and field trips,
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workshops and demonstrations,
New members are always welcome.