Niagara Falls Horticultural Society: Dig In: Live Garden Q & A

DEBBIE CANK-THATCHER

Debbie is a long-standing member of the Summer Trillium Awards Sub-Committee, taking a lead role in mentoring other sub-committee volunteers in the realm of horticulture. She is an advocate for the use of pollinators, native plants and edibles in the garden setting.

Through her role at Project SHARE, Debbie leads their community garden program, which spans across the city with gardens situated at Our Lady of Scapular Church, Glengate Alliance Church and Westland Secondary School. Her studies at the Niagara Parks School of Horticulture and her involvement in managing a private garden centre for many years has given her the training and ability to guide and teach others to learn about plants, gardens, and the environmental surroundings that play a crucial role in people’s daily lives. Debbie is a champion in the community when it comes to promoting pollinator plants and sustainable practices that have a positive impact on the environment. Debbie is also an active member of the City’s Environmental Action Committee.

RUSSELL BOLES

Russ is currently the longest standing President of the Niagara Falls Horticultural Society. He started his love of Horticulture at a young age helping his mom tend to her garden on their farm in rural Niagara on the Lake. Working his way up the ranks after graduating from the School of Horticulture, he retired from the Niagara Parks Commission as the Manager of Horticulture. Russ took an early retirement and started up his own gardening business, RKB Horticultural Consultants which he operates with his daughter. He was part of the judging committe of the Communities in Bloom and a member of the Park in the City Committee. He & his wife have travelled extensively to gardens in North America & abroad. He shares those gardens through presentations to local horticultural societies. In season, he can always be found out in his garden. Through the winter, he can be found watching episodes of Monty Don or leafing through one of his gardening books from his vast collection.

BETTY KNIGHT 

In Betty’s words: I had the great good fortune of growing up next door to my grandparents. They had about 2 acres and my grandfather gardened it all, all the time. My Mom learned from him and there I was in the thick of it. I was a tomboy and liked to get dirty. Granddad grew vegetables and Mom, flowers. So, I got it all. We lived in R.R. 1 Islington which became the Borough of Etobicoke which became the City of Toronto. We never moved. The market garden across the road became a sub-division.

I did my B.A. in Criminology at U. of T. before starting a 10 year career in Estates and Trusts in one of Toronto’s big law firms. Oh – I was also in the military – the Naval Reserve at H.M.C.S. York – and yes I am pretty good with a machine gun and can jump out of perfectly serviceable aircraft! After our third child, I stayed home with the kids. I volunteered in their classrooms, ran a composting club (really!) and a gardening club and fell in love with teaching. I went back to school in my early 40’s (possibly to get away from 3 teenagers!) and did my B Ed at York University. (I graduated at the top of my class only to prove to the kids that Mum wasn’t as ‘stupid’ as their teenage brains thought she was). I taught elementary school in Mississauga and trained teachers in Sierra Leone, West Africa. I created school gardens wherever possible and ran my share of garden clubs with the students.

All the while, I was gardening. Our gardens in Mississauga were on three garden tours (for the local horticultural society, Credit Valley Hospital and Cancer Society). They were largely shade gardens with sandy soil, and I had about 40 types of hostas. We have travelled extensively and I always looked to other countries and cultures for gardening inspiration. I say I am not artistic, but really we all are in some ways. My artistry is, I guess, in the garden. I had been toying with getting my Master Gardeners certification for a few years. With covid, I now had the time. So, back to school I went. This time, the University of Guelph. I completed the courses in 2020 and now I am here, enthusiastically looking forward to sharing this presentation with you. I have been a member of Master Gardeners of Niagara for over five years. I live in Queenston with Jamie, my husband of 44 years, and our dog, Luna, the Bernadoodle. Most of our property is gardens. They are full sun in clay soil. So I am learning all over again.

Thank you for wanting to spend some time with me diggin’ the dirt.

NICHOLAS LOCH

Nicholas is a second year student at the Niagara Parks School of Horticulture and has been gardening and working with plants for well over a decade now. He has always enjoyed being outside and caring for his own vegetable gardens at home, which is what got him more interested in learning about plants. He has worked for a landscaping company prior to attending the school, where he was able to gain a more extensive knowledge on common plants used in the home landscape industry as well as best practices for maintaining them. Outside of school, he has also been involved in several community events where he helped plant native trees at the Decou House historical site in Thorold, and has been a part of designing a new natural play space for a local elementary school in Niagara Falls.