PROBUS Club of Durham WestThe Garden Club meets on the first Tuesday of each month.
We carpool from Walmart in Ajax leaving at 10:00 a.m. sharp!
We meet twice a year to plan outings and events, then we use the meeting time to go out and about as a group.
Our outings include visits to gardens, garden centres and local points of interest such as Guildwood, Edwards Gardens and Allan Gardens.
For more information concerning our group contact the co-chairs:
Contact: Sharon Fenn at or slf809@hotmail.com
Sharon Jackson at sharonrjackson20@gmail.com
Updates 2023 |
November Fifteen members thoroughly enjoyed our last outing of the year at Van Belle Flower and Garden Centre to bask in EVERYTHING CHRISTMAS! We will meet again in the new year in March or April to plan our events and outings for 2024. The owner, Ruth, gave us a brief history of this 50-year, family-owned business and then we toured the massive greenhouses with hundreds of beautiful Christmas baskets, dazzling poinsettias, unique plants and imaginative arrangements! We then entered an enchanting area with Christmas lights, superbly decorated trees, ornaments, knickknacks and beautiful displays including Santas, angels and nutcrackers! We met afterwards for lively conversation and a delicious lunch at Boston Pizza. Thank you to Pat McPherson who organized this event. |
October Our Oct 3rd outing at Durham College was enjoyed by 11 interested members of our garden group. Our guide met us in the lobby of the Bistro67 building at 10:30 a.m. in front of the magnificent living wall and gave us a brief history of the W. Galen Weston Centre for Food. Mr. Weston donated one million dollars to create this centre to allow Culinary students to focus on growing food to be self-sufficient, learning to prepare meals in the state-of-the-art kitchen using the food grown in the gardens and greenhouses and then serving the scrumptious meals in the Bistro67 restaurant. We then strolled through the greenhouses where we saw various plants growing, two fish ponds, huge plant storage units, and even mature lime trees! The massive outdoor growing areas were already harvested as it was October except for the row-upon-row of lavender! We then proceeded to Bistro 67 for a delicious lunch. Usually, the students assist in the preparation of the food as well as serving but they were away due to the Thanksgiving break. We were all very impressed by the huge facility as most of us didn’t realize the extent of the buildings and programs. We are looking forward to our November 14 excursion to Van Belle Flowers, Greenhouses and Garden Centre to enjoy their superb decorating for the Christmas season! This family-owned and operated business has provided excellent service to the Clarington and Durham regions for over 50 years from its 9-acre Courtice location! They also have a shop in Whitby which has been in existence for 30 years!! Our Christmas luncheon will follow the visit. For details regarding our November visit, please get in touch with Pat McPherson at 13wjrp@gmail.com. |
September On September 5th, 10 Garden Club members visited Rosetta Gardens, located in Scarborough. We thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful gardens which were in full bloom, strolling along the paths through the many trees that provided shade (thank goodness!) on a very hot day with gorgeous views of Lake Ontario. We were lucky enough to arrive in time for a Monarch butterfly tagging and release demonstration! We met afterwards at the Black Dog Pub for a delicious lunch and mini meeting to discuss ideas for future outings. We are looking forward to our October 3rd visit to Durham College for a tour of the gardens and greenhouses and information on the Biodigester and the “Living Wall.” We will then have a tour of the Culinary Lab Facilities including some historical information behind the beginnings of the college program. We are looking forward to an interesting lunch at Bistro 67, prepared by, and served by, the students. |
August On Tuesday, August 1st, five members of the Garden group met and travelled to Bowmanville to see the sunflower fields at Braggs Sunflower Farm. The fields were planted with paths throughout, almost like a maze. Very beautiful and with photo opportunities throughout. The store had fresh eggs, just-dug potatoes, and many varieties of bird seeds, as well as their black-oiled sunflower seeds. A beautiful day was enjoyed by all followed by a delicious lunch at "Yardbirds" (no pun intended) in Bowmanville. We are looking forward to our September 5th visit to the beautiful Rosetta MacLean Gardens overlooking Lake Ontario in Scarborough followed by lunch at The Black Dog Pub! |
July The garden club did not meet in July. |
June The Probus Garden Club met for the first time in 2023 to plan outings for the remainder of the year. Parkland Lifestyle Residences very kindly provided a meeting room for the group and an outing schedule was developed for every month of the remainder of the year, right up until December. A very enjoyable first outing on June 13th was to Rekker's Garden Centre in Bowmanville with lunch following. |
2022 |
December
The Gardening Club will be inactive over the winter but will start up again next Spring.
See you then and stay safe.