The Dutton Dunwich Horticultural Society has been active since 1997, planting and maintaining gardens in Dutton, Wallacetown and Iona. Each fall the society’s volunteers start planning, choosing the flowers for the hanging baskets and planter boxes along Currie Road in Dutton. The volunteers work hard to maintain the gardens within the municipality.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary, the society had two major projects. The first was a garden contest, open to all Dutton Dunwich residents, and the second was the installation of the Bubbling Rock.
The garden contest was judged by volunteer judges from the Rodney Horticultural Society who had a tough time deciding on the winners from among all the beautiful entries.
In the historical garden category, Dianne Beattie and Dawn Markowski tied for first place, and Sheri Lackey was awarded second place.
In the container garden category, first place went to Diane Kosir, and second to Lottie Driver.
The home garden category first-place winner was Julie Henley-Kapeleris, and second place was Julie Pemberton.
Joshua Driver was the winner in the Youth Category.
The Bubbling Rock project had been the dream of the society for several years. Fund-raising efforts were organized with this goal in mind and support from members of the community and local businesses was tremendous. Following delays caused by the pandemic, the project was finally completed this summer. Appreciation was extended to the Dutton Dunwich Horticultural Society’s board of director, to Dianne Beattie for doing a lot of the leg work, and to the Municipality of Dutton Dunwich Works Department for their support and hard work.