In spite of the below zero temperatures and snow covered ground, gardeners are haunting their mail boxes waiting for the spring seed catalogues. The arrival of these publications marks the beginning of the new year for avid gardeners and they spend hours poring over the brightly colored pictures of lush flowers, shrubs and vegetables.

Gardening in Saskatchewan stretches back to the time of the Hudson Bay Company posts when members of the posts planted "survival gardens".

Later as settlers came to Saskatchewan they brought seed and cuttings to establish gardens in their new homes. There was many a disappointment as some of the seeds and cuttings were not suitable to the harsh climate of Saskatchewan. As a result experimental farms were set up by the Canadian government to give the settlers information on the best variety of vegetables and flowers to plant.

Gardeners of that period joined together to form societies, to exchange ideas on gardening. As a next step the societies held exhibitions where farmers and urban folk came together.

With the increase in horticultural societies, the government passed the Agricultural Societies Act, which charged the societies to work at improving horticulture both in practice and in varieties.

Yorkton formed its first horticultural society in 1905 and held annual flower and vegetable shows.

Over the years the individual societies felt it was time to form a provincial organization and in 1927 an organization meeting was held in Regina with J.W. Clark representing the Yorkton Society. At this meeting a constitution was adopted and provision was made to adapt this constitution to the new Horticultural Act of 1928.

At the first annual meeting held at the University of Saskatchewan the following aims were set out:

For every home: fruit and vegetable gardens, trees, shrubs and flowers;

For every farmstead: shelter belts of deciduous and evergreen trees;

For every school and public building; trees, shrubs and flowers;

For the province: trees and shrubs along the highways, parks and playgrounds in all urban centres, better varieties of all plants, control of injurious insects and plant diseases, horticultural shows and an annual provincial horticultural exhibition.

In March 1931 the Yorkton society was granted its charter, bringing up the total of affiliated societies to 13.

At that time the province was divided into four zones with Springside, Canora, Melville and Yorkton making up the northeast zone.

At the 1931 annual meeting the provincial society asked that a University Extension Specialist be appointed.

In spite of adverse weather conditions, plus grasshoppers in some districts destroying gardens, interest in the horticulture continued.

As a teacher in a one room school in southern Saskatchewan during the "dirty thirties" I remember a carload of vegetables arriving at the Parry railroad station from gardeners in Yorkton, a wonderful gift as all the crops and gardens were destroyed by grasshoppers. Ever since then Yorkton gardeners have held a special place in my heart.

The provincial society provided speaker who came out to the local societies and spoke on the various aspects of horticulture. As a result of the efforts of the provincial society, new and better varieties of flowers and vegetables were brought into the province and a tremendous number of new fruits were introduced.

The late D.W. Matheson, a Yorkton lawyer and horticulturist, was named to the Saskatchewan Horticultural Society board of directors from 1935 to 1939. In 1947 H.J. Biggs was named to the board and in 1950 he became president of the board. In 1951 Cliff Shaw was named to the board and he became president in 1955.In 1962 Mrs. L.L. Ball represented Yorkton on the board. She retired from the board in 1964.In 1985 Dianne Putland became president of the Saskatchewan Society.

Over the years the Yorkton society has staged the annual fruit, vegetable and flower show, and the rose and lily show. It has sent members to schools of instruction for judges and provided certified judges for neighboring shows and exhibitions.

Each year awards are given out in the city for the best lawn, best kept grounds, best back yard, and best vegetable gardens. Yorkton is noted for its neat, tidy attractive home grounds As the industrial area of the city developed it was apparent that some incentive should be given to the companies in the industrial areas to improve and tidy up.

In co-operation with the Yorkton Chamber of Commerce, awards for the best industrial grounds, the most improved g rounds and the best institutional grounds are given each year. Over the years there has been a vast improvement in the appearance of the industrial area of Yorkton.

Due to the efforts of past and present members of the Yorkton Horticultural Society, Yorkton citizens enjoy parks, green spaces and attractive home and public building grounds. Members in the past have fought to maintain the green spaces in spite of developers who sought to construct homes and buildings in these choice areas of the city.