About Us

The Peterborough Horticultural Society has been an active part of Peterborough, Ontario life since 1861. We meet on the fourth Wednesday of every month except July, August, and December. During the 2 coldest winter months, we meet online with ZOOM. See our Events & Speakers page for a full list of speakers and locations.

We book interesting speakers and we look forward to being able to chat with fellow gardeners in our area. We serve coffee and goodies at 6:30pm with the meeting starting promptly at 7pm. Our goal is for the formal part of the meeting to be finished by 8:30pm.

We have many activities including plant sales, bus trips, meetings/speakers, and flower & photography competitions. Learn about all the things we do using the menu items to the left.

Proceeds from the Peterborough Garden Show (2001 to 2019) were used for scholarships and beautification projects. Between 2002 and 2019, the Peterborough Horticultural Society gave away over $200,000 to worthy students and projects from the proceeds of our incredible show! Amazing what a group of volunteers can do when they work together toward a common goal. As the garden show is no longer, we’re excited to see what opportunities the future has in store for us!

Our Emblem Flower

The garden geranium, emblem of the Peterborough Horticultural Society, has an interesting history. Botanically, the garden geraniums are in the genus Pelargonium, in the family Geraniaceae. There are some 250 species of the genus Pelargonium, native to tropical areas of the world. In the eighteenth century, the plant was introduced into Europe from South Africa, and geraniums were probably at their most popular in Britain in Victorian times, as ornamentals in containers as well as in formal gardens.

The Society chose the geranium as its emblem in 1984 and it is also the City of Peterborough’s emblem flower. The banner for the Peterborough Horticultural Society displays our red geranium. The banner was designed and made by Pat Vivien, one of our gifted members at the time.