There are about a dozen horticultural societies in Wellington County, and over the decades they have performed valuable services to their communities by helping members to improve their gardening skills, and through various programs aimed at civic beautification.
The oldest, at Elora, is entering its 160th year. One of the younger ones is the Clifford society. This month that group reaches the half-century mark.
A few of those who helped organize the Clifford Horticultural Society in 1960 were involved in an older organization, the Clifford Agricultural Society, that had folded the previous year. That organization had originated decades earlier, and was originally known as the Clifford Horticultural Society.
The origins of the first society are shrouded in the mists of history, but that group was in existence by 1917, and probably for many years before that. It’s activities were limited. In fact, it was more of an agricultural society for the majority of its life. Its chief activity was the staging of a two-day fall fair in Clifford, usually in the third week of September. Flowers and vegetables played a minor role in those shows. The emphasis was on horses, livestock, hogs, and poultry. Financing for the show came primarily from a canvas of Clifford households and a substantial provincial grant.
In the 1920s the society became involved in the school garden program sponsored by the provincial government. The society offered prizes for the best school gardens at each of the schools in the Clifford area, and encouraged the students to exhibit at the annual Clifford Fair.
There were a few other activities, such as concerts in 1919 and 1920 to raise funds for a war memorial in Clifford. Officials of the society in the 1920s included Robert Burnett, William Hood, and George H. Whyte.
The society encountered financial difficulties in the mid 1920s. In 1925 the secretary approached Clifford council for a grant. In 1928 the executive asked the provincial government, without success, to have the society classified as an agricultural society, rather than a horticultural society. Agricultural societies received significantly larger provincial grants.
As a fund raiser, the group scheduled a garden party in 1930, with a supper, baseball game, a horse shoe pitching competition, and brief speeches from the candidates in the general election that year.
The financial situation continued to deteriorate. In 1931 the society cancelled its show, but held a garden party in July. Late that year the province announced major reductions to horticultural and agricultural societies, on the order of 50%, for 1932. That spelled the end of the Clifford Fair.
The executive eventually managed to get itself reclassified as an agricultural society. It reorganized, and resumed Clifford’s fall fairs in 1935, carrying on until 1959.
The group that assembled in February 1960 to form a new horticultural society had a far different mission from that of the earlier group. Membership, at least initially, drew almost exclusively from Clifford rather than the countryside, and the aims of the organizers were to improve the gardening skills of members and to beautify the village.
Word-of-mouth invitations, supplemented with notices posted in public places and circulated by Clarence Miller, president of the Clifford Rotary Club, resulted in a group of about 35 turning up at the Clifford Public School on February 15, 1960. It was not a large crowd, but in a village of some 600 people it was an impressive turnout. Rev. J.W. Siebert, district director of the Ontario Horticultural Association, took charge of the meeting, which began with a discussion of the proposed society and its aims.
An election followed. Dr G.A. Graham became the founding president, assisted by vice presidents Mrs Art Newton and Harold McKenzie and secretary-treasurer Mrs Bill Smith. The supporting executive consisted of Tom Pritchard, Henry Amoneit, Mrs Murray Snider, Gerald Wolfe, C. Pfeffer, Clarence Miller, Mrs Charles Shannon, George Seip, Mrs Roy Bonham, and Mrs C.G. McPhail.
The group decided to meet monthly, on the fourth Tuesdays. Dr Graham and Henry Amoniet were named delegates to the provincial umbrella group’s convention in Hamilton on Mar. 10 and 11. The evening ended with a slide show by Rev Siebert on his specialty, gladiola.
Regular meetings began on March 28. Guest speaker that night was R.F. Gunnell of Hamilton, president of the Ontario Horticultural Association. Members decided that night to hold a fund raising draw to augment the treasury.
Virtually all of those at the meeting signed up, and a few more in the days after. Within a week the membership roll had 53 names.
In May 3 several carloads of members drove to a meeting of the Harriston society for a talk and slide show by Prof F.H. Montgomery of the Ontario Agricultural College on wildflowers. In the early 1960s members often pooled to meetings of nearby societies, and meetings of the Clifford society frequently welcomed out-of-town visitors. The group held its first flower show in September of 1960.
The society shifted to high gear in 1961, with a full program of speakers, spring and summer flower shows, and civic improvements. Projects included a flower bed at the fire hall, a committee to arrange for picnic tables, garbage cans, and flower beds at Memorial Park, and a fashion show at the town hall on March 24.
By 1966, after five years, the Clifford Horticultural Society had become a vital part of the community. More and more rural people became interested in horticulture in the 1960s, and that was reflected in an ever growing membership, and in a name change to the Clifford & District Horticultural Society.
Sheldon Wolfe had taken over as president by 1966. Meetings usually featured speakers with slide shows on their own specialties, or on trips they had taken. The society made additional plans in 1966 for plantings of flowers and trees for the 1967 centennial year. Meetings locations shifted, and included the United Church, the town hall, the Women’s Institute hall, and the dining room of the Mansion Inn.
As well as civic projects, the society also served a social function. At the December meeting in 1966 president Wolfe presented all the women present with handmade satin roses. The program consisted of seasonal readings, the singing of carols, instrumental music, and the obligatory ample lunch, arranged by Mrs C.N. Ellis and Mrs George Paulin. Winter meetings often consisted of card parties. There were also occasional auctions and plant exchanges.
By 1970 the society was devoting its March meetings to planning for the coming season. In 1970 a new youth program began, with the giving of packets of seeds to children, with the promise that they would exhibit their results at the society’s summer show, which had added a junior section the previous year. Mrs Elmer Yost agreed to head up that program. Typically, the planning involved at least one executive meeting prior to presenting the plans to the whole membership. By then the society was maintaining some eight flower beds, more than a dozen main street planters, and sponsoring Christmas lights with its own strings of bulbs on the main street and a competition for home owners.
The monthly meetings usually attracted 25 to 30 members, and sometimes more when a popular speaker was scheduled. The program in 1970 included a demonstration on arranging dried and artificial flowers, a slide show by Orville Douglas documenting his trip to Texas, and a demonstration of Christmas arrangements. For the spring flower show on May 26 Rev. J.W. Siebert, who had helped the society organize, was the judge. He returned a month later to present an updated slide show on his gladiola’ reprising the presentation he gave the night the society organized in 1960.
The 1970 summer show attracted 171 adult entries by 24 exhibitors, plus 64 junior entries. In September several carloads ventured to the Hanover society to hear popular gardening broadcaster and author John Bradshaw.
To celebrate their first decade, the Clifford & District Horticultural Society arranged a bus trip to the Royal Winter Fair on Nov. 18. About 45 members took in the excursion.
By then the membership was hovering in the 175 range. It would ultimately top the 200 mark, a phenomenal figure for a village the size of Clifford.
In its 50th year the Clifford & District Horticultural Society continues its service to the community, with informative meetings, friendly competition at its flower shows, a youth program, Earth Day community cleanup, and the planting o some 20 flower boxes and 16 beds that make Clifford attractive to residents and visitors alike.