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The Huron Expositor, 1988-05-25, Page 3THE HURON EXPOSITOR, MAY 25, 1988 — 3A Interest in This Is the time of year when many people are getting into a horticultural state of mind, and .the hours spent in their gardens are starting to pile up. Whether these gardening enthusiasts are rank beginners or green thumbed veterans they could learn something at the garden of Jean Durst. For 40 years Mrs. Durst has worked the soil of her one acre lot on the Kippen Road, just outside Egmondville where she and her husband Emmerson live. When she first got married Mrs. Durst started a vegetable garden for the family out of necessity, and out of this grew a love for gardening that has earned her a. huge knowledge of hor- ticulture. Her yard is often the subject of visitations by horticultural societies, in- dividual hobby gardeners, and other groups. Mrs. Durst says she has inherited her green thumb from her mother. When she • was a young girl her family would visit her grandmother's home on Sundays, and part of the visit was a ritual walk through the gardens to see how things were coming along. Listening to her grandmother and her mother talk about plants and flowers at her impressionable age, Mrs. Durst picked up a lot of knowledge which has stayed with her. Mrs. Durst's mother is currently living at the Ritz Villa in Mitchell. She takes care of the greenhouse there and the petunias in the gardens are her responsibility. She turned 90 in April. Mrs. Durst has been a member of the Seaforth Horticultural Society since its beginnings in 1972, and she is now a charter member. "A group of people interested in garden- ing got together to form a society to see if we could make it go and it's been going ever since," she says. Mrs. Durst has had her name on the Rose Bowl, awarded to the overall winner of the Horticultural Society's Summer Show, three horticulture gives area times. Incidentally, the Rose Bowl has a walnut base which was made by Mr. Durst. Mrs. Durst at one time had a large vegetable garden, but in recent years she has stuck mainly to the flower beds which surrOund her home on all sides. She still keeps a relatively small garden with tomatoes, peas and carrots, as well as some herbs and spices. She grows comfrey and mint which she uses to make tea, chives, garlic, and green and purple sage. Also on her property are the plants typical to Huron County gardens: lily of the valley, peony, and smoke bush which the early set- tlers of the Huron tract brought with them. Accompanying these plants is a great number of less common flowers, plants, trees and shrubs. In making horticulture a part of her life, Mrs. Durst has come up with a lot of tricks to bring out the best in her plants. She has found setting her marigold seeds on top of her fridge provides them with just the right temperature for them to germinate. She also doesn't often water her plants, preferr- ing to let nature take its course and allowing the plant's roots to grow deep so they don't dry up during a dry spell. Mrs. Durst does, however, water her roses and she collects rain water for this purpose. Spraying is another thing she likes to stay away from, but admits she does spray her plants in- dividually when needed. But mostly she has learned the impor- tance of soil. "The condition of the ground is most im- portant. You have to learn by trial and error where to plant particular flowers in your garden," she explains. To fertilize the soil Mr. Durst has a huge compost heap in which he throws all the cut grass, raked leaves, etc. from the yard. The compost heap is kept covered to keep it from the rain, some fertilizer is added to it, and it is put into heavy plastic bags to let it all rot down to excellent fertilizer. The variety of flowers in Mrs. Durst gardens is impressive. She has 32 different kinds of lilies alone. What makes the quanti- ty even more impressive is each of the plants means something to Mrs. Durst. She has lilies from her grandmother's garden, Easter Lilies which she looks after for the Egmondville church, a crab apple tree planted on Seaforth's Centennial, tulips from the front of the Town Hall, and a host of other plants which have been given to her by friends and relatives, many of whom have passed away. Over half of the peren- nials in her garden have been given to her, so gardening is something personal and she says that's part of the joy of it for her. Some of the people who visit her garden ask for flowers they don't have, and bring flowers which Mrs. Durst doesn't have. So she has plants from all over the area, and her plants are spread across the area. Although August is the high point in Mrs. Durst's garden, she has plants on the go year-round. Even during the winter some of the plants in her garden are out, and the pot- ted flowers inside the Durst house also keep her occupied. Mrs. Durst has also been a member of the London Orchid Society, and has been to or- chid shows in Chicago, Baltimore and Nashville for the biggest shows in North America. "All the best growers brought their best stuff and it was out of this world," she says. Mrs. Durst is also very well read on flower arranging and all manner of horticulture topics. "The Complete Book of Gardening Magic" by Roy E. Biles is the book she follows herself and would recommend. But she says the best way to learn is to get your hands dirty. "By doing things and things being done, that's how I learned." woman 40 year hobby w41-24, 410 Minsti)k,ngtenefes' instSses- JEAN DURST has been ivolved in horticulture for forty years, and many of her flowers have some background. An example are these tulips which came from the front of Seaforth Town Hall. Corbett photo. ::::141. .4! 4;;! 41r THE DURST HOME on the Kippen Road Just outside Egmondville Durst maintains the gardens, and they have been visited by hot is surrounded by a wide assortment of plants and flowers. Jean ticulture societies, horticulture enthusiasts, and other groups • IN HER GARDENS Mrs Durst has an assortment of plants which she has been given from gardens across the Huron County area. Corbett photo. Wheelchair access has its pros and cons in Seaforth The spotlight will be on the abilities of the disabled from May 29 to June 5, as it is Na- tional Access Awareness Week. With disabled members in the communi- ty, and an aging population, Seaforth is a town which should be very much concerned with access -how the wheelchair-bound and the elderly can get around in Seaforth. From what some of the local disabled say, the town is concerned. Alf Dale is one of the disabled people in Seaforth who is largely responsible for rais- ing the consciousness of the public and town hall. Mr. Dale says it was about seven years ago when he first started to lobby the town for better wheelchair access. He says he knows people in wheelchairs are a minority, but there are others such as the elderly who have trouble with steps and would benefit from ramps. s n BRUCE SCOTT finds wheelchair access in Seaforth to be good enough for him to lead and active life in the community. Corbett photo. Bruce Scott is an active member of the community who also played a part in mak- ing people conscious of the importance of wheelchair access. Mr. Scott says in the past 10 years accessibility has changed dramatically in Seaforth. The curbs on all the sidewalks on Main street have been ramped, and in more recent years the town hall and post office have had ramps added to their porches. One individual who really appreciates the ramp at the post office is Vern Dolmage, who takes his electric wheelchair downtown every day to get the mail. The post office has his mailbox set low enough Mr. Dolmage can reach it on his own. Mr. Dolmage says Seaforth is better equipped than a lot of towns to allow for wheelchair traffic, but he does get stuck on some of the rougher streets such as John Street. But in general he says he can get around Seaforth pretty well, and he often does. Both Mr. Scott and Mr. Dale expressed their concerns that, even though the town hall is now ramped, access is not available to the Town Council chambers, which is up two flights of stairs. This is especially an in- convenience to Mr. Dale who would like to be more involved with the Mainstreet program. Mr. Dale would like to see business owners who are going to be making renova- tions make their shops wheelchair accessi- ble. His idea being that the cost of ramping store entrances would be offset somewhat if changes were being made already. BUSINESSES NOT ACCESSIBLE In general Seaforth businesses aren't wheelchair accessible. Although there are a few exceptions, Mr. Dale says he could count the number of stores on his hands which are accessible without help. With many it is just one step, or a lip about an inch and a half high, but it may as well be a mountain to an electric wheelchair. "In most plates it would take so little to make them accessible," says Mr. Dale of Seaforth businesses, "and most of them (the businessmen) would be willing to make their business accessible if they were more aware," he said. So it is Mr. Dale's hope that if Seaforth businessmen embrace the Mainstreet pro- gram and start to improve their buildings they will make them wheelchair accessible while they are at it. And he hopes to remind them of this when they are making changes. It is often said the attitude of people is the biggest barrier the disabled face, but Mr. Dale says this isn't the case in Seaforth. Be- ing integrated into the Seaforth society is easy as far as interacting with the people are concerned. "Most of the people I come across accept you for what you are" says Mr. Dale, confir- ming that accessiblity is the biggest pro- blem this town's disabled face. Just getting people to think more about access would solve most of the problems. Mr. Dolmage sometimes has his path obstructed just because kids have cat eless- ly left their bikes lying on the side valks while they run into a store, and he car 't get around them until the kids come back out. Delphine Dolmage, Vern's mother, says Vern went to school for a while when he was .2.1.0...anommamelonsrm, younger, but even though Mr. Dolmage could get in the school it wasn't equipped to deal with handicapped students and Vern continued his education at home. But Mrs. Dolmage says there are some people who do think about the handicapped. "Bruce Wilbee, there's a guy who should have a medal," she says, while describing the good service he gives Vern for wheelchair parts. The current town council is also very good in Mr. Dale's opinion, and they have the Turn to page 13A Seaforth and Hullett The Honourabl iCK Riddell, Minister of Agriculture anti Food and MPP for Huron, has announced the $8,439 final pay- ment of a $22,095 community planning grant to the County of Huron for the Town of Seaforth. The grant is being used by the municipality to prepare a Downtown an- PrOlugne0 Strategy. A $1,988 final payment of a $13,252 com- mon* planning grant has been made to the County of Huron for the Township of get final payments Hullett. That grant is being used by the municipality to prepare a zoning by-law. Community planning grants are design- ed to encourage municipalities to reView and update their planning programs, son - lug by-laws and other plannmg documents. The grants may also be used for special studies to develop community improve. meat policies; to determine the feasibility of using data processing technology in the local planning process; and to assist in im- plementing the Planning Act. COMMUNITY CALENDAR If you're organizing a non-profit event of interest to other Seaforth area residents, phone the recreation office at 527-0882 or the Expositor al 527-0240. or mail the information to Communi- ty Calendar, The Huron Expositor, Box 69, Sealorth, Ontario, NOK IWO well in advance of the scheduled date. Space for the Community Calendar is donated by The Huron Expositor. Wed., May 25 9:00 a.m. - Yoga at Arena 10:30 a.m. - Senior Games - Golf at Golf Course 7:30 p.m. - Ladies' Industrial Soccer at Optimist Park 6:30 p.m. - St. Marys vs. Bantams Hardball at High School 7:00 p.m. - Bantam Girls game at Optimist Park 7:30 p.m. - Men's Fastball at Lions Park 7:30 p.m. - Legionaires vs. Walton 9:00 p.m. - Generals vs. Creamery/Malnstreet Thurs., May 26 8:30 a.m. - Fitness is Fun at Arena 7:30 p.m. Seahawks vs. Beachwood 8:30 p.m. - Beavers vs. Topnotch 9:30 p.m. - Bollersmith vs. Team Maui Men's Ball Hockey at Arena Fri., May 27 1:30 p.m. - Senior Games - Lawn Bowling 6:30 p.m. - Brussels vs. PeeWee Girls Softball at Optimist Park Sat., May 28 8:30 a.m. - Seaforth Marshal Arts Car Wash at Archie's Sunoco Mon., May 30 7:30 p.m. - Men's Fastball at Optimist Park Merner/Haugh vs. Turf Club 9:00 p.m. - Walton vs. Queens Tues., May 31 8:30 a.m. - Fitness is Fun at Arena 7:00-10:00 p.m. - Men's Slopitch at Optimist Park 7:00-10:00 p.m. • Ladies' Fastball at Lions Park Wed., June 1 9:00 a.m. - Yoga at Arena 6:30 p.m. - Lucan vs. Bantam Boys Hardball at High School 7:00 p.m. - Bantam Girls Game at Optimist Park 7:30 p.m. - LadiesSoccer at Optimist Park 7:30 p.m. - Rangers vs. Queens at Lions Park 9:00 p.m. - Walton vs. Creamery/Mainstreet at Lions Park