Local skating club working on its plans to celebrate 50 years
Nobleton Notes
By Angie Maccarone (905) 859-5174

Who is

Rev. Dr. Jeff Loach?

(St. Paul's

Presbyterian Church)

Join us this Sunday (Feb. 3) at 9:45 a.m. as we welcome Rev. Dr. Jeff Loach to the pulpit at St. Paul's Presbyterian Church.

Loach will be with us for February. It is wonderful to have so many gifted spiritual leaders speaking to us from the pulpit during this pastorl "vacancy" at the church. Nursery care (for children five years and younger) is provided during the service and Sunday school for all ages follows at 11 a.m.

The adult class is using the ALPHA program and they invite participants to bring a bag lunch and break bread together following the video presentation.

Our Youth Group (for students from the community in Grades 9 to 12) meets tonight (Wednesday) at 7 p.m.

Our Prayer Group meets tonight at 7:30 p.m.

The Thursday morning studies for men and women continue at 9:30 a.m. and the men's Saturday morning study starts at 8:30 a.m.

There is also a new study on prayer Tuesday mornings at 9:30 a.m.

For more information about any of our activities or events, please contact the church office at (905) 859- 0843 or visit our Web site at www.stpaulsnobleton.ca

Horticulture

". . . Later on we'll conspire as we dream by the fire to face unafraid garden plans made while walking in a winter wonderland."

While I'm out winter walking my little Boston terrier Victory through the bush or across snowy fields near my Tottenham area home, I get time to think about things I'd like to do in my small garden.

One of the changes I plan is putting blue delphiniums in the bed that borders my high back deck. I have a large sea kale (crambe) at the back which sends up sixand a-half-foot stalks that branch out and are covered in myriads of tiny white flowers. Both these perennials bloom at the same time. Another thing I want to do is widen the curve of another bed, where last year I had good luck with drought and heat tolerant annual periwinkle (catharanthus roseus), sometimes called Madagascar periwinkle or vinca rosea. It is distantly related to the invasive perennial blue flowering ground cover, but has none of its vices. I'm also thinking of cleaning out another area where orange monkey flower (mimulus) and blue marguerite (Felicia) did well, as I will plant more of them this year.

Making rough sketches of what you want to do in the garden is a great way planning a new one, rejuvenating an old one or simply adding to or down sizing an existing one. Occasionally, I've progressed to detailed or even to scale drawings, but usually the rough ones are enough. There is easy to use, inexpensive software available for this activity if you're online, so ask at your computer store.

I find having a few good reference books at hand is an immense help when making garden plans. These are some I constantly use: Rodale's Encyclopaedia of Perennials; Perennials, by British gardeners Martyn Rix and Roger Phillips (originally in two volumes - early perennials and late perennials, but now available in one volume - Annuals and Biennials by the same authors, all published by Random House); Perennial Garden (Flowers for Three Seasons) by Ontario gardener Patrick Lima; Annual Garden, by fellow Ontarians Jennifer Bennett and Turid Forsythe (both published by Harrowsmith); and Annuals for Dummies from IDG Books. As well, Guide to Perennial Gardening, by John Valleau of the Niagara area; The All Seasons Gardener and A Greener Thumb, by well known Canadian gardening expert Mark Cullen, are excellent sources of information.

Two other books I highly recommend are Perfect Plants, by the already mentioned Rix and Rogers, and What Perennial Where, by Roy Lancaster, published by Cavendish Books. This one tells what plants grow well in clay soil, sandy soil, lime soils, lime-free soils, wet areas, dry areas, windy sites shady sites etc. Lancaster's book also tells what plants to grow for fragrance, for low allergens, for drying, for attracting bees and butterflies; and for early-season, mid-season and late-season colour.

Starting now to plan your garden is one good way to fight the winter blahs.

Nobleton Skating Club

There are lots of things happening at the Nobleton Skating Club.

This year, we celebrate our 50th anniversary. As part of our golden celebration, we will be presenting our ice show entitled, A Skate Down Memory Lane, April 5 and 6.

Our show will be a tribute to the wonderful history of our town over the last 50 years. We are currently looking for former skaters from the past to take part in a special portion of the show. If you skated with us over the years, please contact our office at (905) 859-4943.

As well, for the first time ever, the club is offering spring and summer skating schools. We will be running a spring session from April 7 to May 14. Registration forms can be downloaded from our Web site at www.nobletonskatingclub.c om and mailed to the club or left in the drop box beside the snack bar in the arena lobby. Spring registration forms are due March 1. Please pre-register to avoid disappointment.

Summer registration forms will be due June 1. We will also be hosting a summer camp from July 7 to 11, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Details are available on our Web site.

For more information, please call (905) 859-4943.

Seniors' euchre

The evening euchre results for Jan. 22 were as follows. Tops among the men were Murray Hilliard, Walter Hill and Lionel Salisbury. The women were led by Mary Bullock, Mary Sheardown and Iva Hilliard. The lucky draw winners were Mary Bullock, Barb Salisbury and Paula Lattanville.

Next Tuesday is bid euchre at 7:30 p.m. Please know everyone is welcome to all euchre and big euchre games.

St. Mary bake sale

Just a reminder to mark your calendars for the St. Mary Catholic Women's League (CWL) annual bake sale, to be held after 9:45 mass Feb. 10 at St. Mary School gym. All baked goods are to be brought to the school by 9 a.m.