About Us

Situated at the junction of Highways 401 and 403, Woodstock lays fifty kilometers east

of London and 140 kilometers west of Toronto. In the heart of Southwestern Ontario,

the city, part of Oxford County, is well known for its rich farmland and is considered the

Dairy Capital of Canada.

In 1793, Sir John Graves Simcoe, laying out the route from Burlington Bay to the

proposed town of London, passed through the area we now know as Woodstock. He

noted it as a suitable “Town Plot”. In the following years, it was earmarked as a future

town and settlement began in 1800.

During the 1830’s, British naval and army officers on half pay, were encouraged to

settle in the area to ensure the community’s loyalty to the British Crown. Many streets

bear their names, such as Light, Vansittart and Graham.

As early as 1836, these gentlemen formed the Woodstock Agricultural Society and

concentrated mainly on farming. Over the next 50 years, Canada’s rapid

industrialization, urbanization and immigration led to the need for social reform to cope

with the social ills caused by these changes. In response, many people looked for ways

to bring this about and one way was to form a Horticultural Society to encourage

amateur and commercial growing of fruit, vegetables, and ornamentals, and to promote

the beautification of the Town.

Woodstock Horticultural Society was formed in 1883. Women were Society members

but did not hold official positions until the 1920’s! For 139 years, our Society has

continued to encourage interest and improvement in horticulture and related

environmental issues. Meetings have been held 9 months of the year at the Woodstock

Fairgrounds with many educational and interesting guest speakers. We offer a bursary

for post secondary students. Our volunteers participate in community planting of

Downtown and Fairground flower beds, planting containers for low-income housing and

various social organizations. We hold flower shows and plant sales and our members

have enjoyed day trips to a variety of gardens and parks as well as businesses with

some sort of horticultural connection. This could be a garden centre, lavender farm or

even a winery.

One of the most important aspects of membership has been the friendships formed and

the social chat about each other’s gardens, families, and community events. This

became more apparent during the pandemic when we all missed our regular activities

and friendships. And so, our Society evolved once again, learning to hold meetings on-

line, with some of our older members bravely having to learn to use a computer. We

were able to enjoy speakers from much further afield, figured out how to hold on-line

flower shows and more.

Now with meetings back in-person and having embraced the recent changes, we

continue to value the ideals, responsibilities and camaraderie which has kept the

Woodstock Horticultural Society strong for so long.