I鈥檇 like to begin by sending congratulations to two members of the Yorkton and District Horticultural Society who were recently made honorary life members at our AGM. These two members are Vi Protz and Frank Woloschuk.聽 Applause to you both!聽 Frank and Vi are long-standing members of the Society, and hard-working members who contribute so much to the group! Vi has been active in many projects, including show judging, and Yorkton In Bloom. And if we are looking for volunteers for activities, Vi is always one of the first to cheerfully say 鈥淚 can help with that!鈥� Frank is also a very active member, always so generous with his time and knowledge, giving us numerous entertaining and informative presentations on a wide variety of topics, such as how to plant those breathtaking planters! We thank both Vi and Frank for their enthusiasm, knowledge, and participation!聽 Congratulations!
I think this is also a good time to thank our president, Liz Jones, for her hard work for the Society. There are so many things that Liz does for the group, many of which the members at large may not even realize, because everything flows along so smoothly and effortlessly! Thank you, Liz, for all your efforts and tireless work to make the Society interesting and fun!
On my daily tour of the garden, (which still continues even in the snow!) I always admire the architectural beauty of the bare trees and the spruce trees. The colors and the lines are just lovely against the snow.
Looking at the spruce trees made me want to do some homework about their Christmas significance. Spruce trees were important thousands of years ago; their 鈥渆vergreen鈥� branches and ability to survive in the winter made them symbolic of everlasting life.
As for the 鈥淐hristmas tree鈥� as we know it, we have German culture to thank for that. While early German trees were covered with gingerbread cookies or paper ornaments, enterprising glass makers began to make ornaments that could be used each year when decorating the tree.
But the popularity of the tree really branched out (pardon the pun) when Queen Victoria adopted the custom at Windsor castle to please her hubby, Prince Albert.聽 He was of German descent and likely was delighted to have this part of his heritage incorporated into their holiday traditions. Then, as now, whatever the Royal Family did was watched with great interest, and when a drawing was published in the US in 1850 of the Royals鈥� Christmas tree, the tradition caught on 鈥渁cross the pond鈥�!
As gardeners, we might be intrigued with the legend of the 鈥淐hristmas pickle鈥�. We bought a pickle ornament years ago, and the accompanying information said that this was another German tradition. A pickle was hung on the tree, and on Christmas morning the child who found this unusual ornament would get an extra gift! 聽
I also read about another interesting story, also based on nature, that concerns the Christmas Spider.聽 This legend comes from eastern Germany or possibly Ukraine. A very poor family brought in their tree on Christmas Eve, but could not afford any kind of decorations. During the night, a spider wove beautiful webs on the tree which turned to gold by morning! It is good luck to have a spider web on our Christmas tree, and perhaps you have heard of this, spiderweb ornaments called 鈥減avuchky鈥� (little spider) are popular in Ukraine. 聽
A pickle, and pavuchky! Interesting holiday traditions from nature!聽 Think of them when you鈥檙e putting up your tree! 聽
Have a great week!聽 Visit us at www.yorktonhort.ca
