Canada Blooms Chooses 2020 Festival Theme
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Canada Blooms is excited to announce that its theme for 2020 will be 'Birds Of A Feather'!
Every year, thousands of people flock to Canada Blooms to experience the lush gardens and beautiful floral designs and this year designers can spread their wings and get creative with their creations.
The theme 'Birds of a Feather' gives Canada Blooms garden designers, builders, floral artists, competitors and presenters an opportunity to explore imagery incorporating birds, feathers, bird baths and more. Alternatively, designers can choose to interpret 'Birds of a Feather' figuratively and focus on similarities of people, plants and insects.
Birds, gardens and gardeners are all part of a healthy ecosystem and Canada Blooms is committed to sharing the positive benefits of gardens with visitors to the Festival.
Join Canada Blooms, at the Enercare Centre in Toronto, March 13-22, 2020 to see how this theme takes flight.
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Oops, our last newsletter hit a glitch.
We would like to apologize to the subscribers who received many duplicate copies of last month's newsletter. The system has been looked at and should now be repaired.
If you did not receive a copy, please click here to get caught up
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Margaret Taylor's winning and elegant Design for
"Rhythms" invoking the spirit of Canada, at The Garden
Clubs of Ontario Triennial Show in May 2019.
You won’t necessarily get the perspective from this
photo - this Design is taller than you are!
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Toronto Flower Show Happenings
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We would like to Congratulate Margaret Taylor for having the winning design for the Floor Design Class with a design of wood at the Triennial Show held in May with the theme 'Music in Bloom'.
The Triennial Show is produced by the Garden Clubs of Ontario and was held at the Royal Botanical Gardens.The event, which takes place every three years, is an opportunity for garden club members to compete and winners may represent Canada at the World Competition — The World Association of Floral Artists — which in 2020 will be held in Jaipur, India.
Margaret is a talented floral artist, educator and demonstrator. She joined the Garden Club of Toronto in 1999 and quickly became fascinated by the world of floral art. She has won many awards for her work, including at Canada Blooms, the Founders’ Gold Cup for Best Floral Design and the Katherine Hobbs Award for distinctive design. She has twice won the honour of creating Canada’s honorary exhibit for the World Association of Floral Artists – first in Boston in 2011, and will create a design again in Jaipur, India in February 2020. She is a member of the Creative Floral Arrangers of the Americas, and has demonstrated her art for them at their meeting in Florida. She teaches Sogetsu, and is the coordinator of the Floral Design Programme at the Toronto Botanical Gardens. And there’s more…… she is a Horticulture judge, an avid reader, a proud Grandmother, graduated with an MSW and an MBA, past President of the Garden Club of Toronto, and the mistress of the world’s most adorable dog.
Congratulations again Margaret! We wish you good luck in India.
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Dive into Harrowsmith's Summer Issue
Get ready to dive in! Harrowsmith’s Summer issue has arrived to celebrate all things water! From tips on how to build your own ecosystem pond, to delicious sea- and lake-inspired recipes, we explore the many ways you’ll want to enjoy water this season. This issue, check out Mark and Ben Cullen’s stories on how you can incorporate water features in your garden. Mark and Ben also share how ornamental grasses are a great (and drought-resistant) addition to your property. Read on for tips on building your very own swim raft, and find out why you should visit Kingston, Ontario, this summer. From fascinating interviews to advice on tending to your garden at home, there's plenty of inspiring reading for the beach, pool or porch.
Harrowsmith: Make. Grow. Sustain. Share.
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Grow Like A Pro: Pollinator Plants!
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The decline of the honeybee and monarch butterfly population has our attention. As gardeners, our goal is to plant something that helps to attract and nurture the beneficial insects in our neighbourhood, provides natural beauty and colour AND is low maintenance.
Our solution: planting native plants in our outdoor space. This will provide a source of nourishment for pollinators while enhancing the local environment in measurable ways and creating a beautiful, low maintenance garden.
Inspired? There are some ‘tricks’ that you need to keep in mind: so called ‘little things’ that will help you to maximize the positive impact of your efforts. Here are our top tips:
Explore your options. And keep in mind that a succession of blooming times will maximize the population of pollinators. If you just plant Purple Cone Flower you will have masses of colour from mid July through late August but little else to show for your efforts over the balance of the season. We choreograph our pollinator gardens with crocus, daffodils and narcissus (late April through early May), Lungwort (pulmonaria), Foamflower, cilantro, oregano, Columbine and sweet woodruff takes over mid May through early June. Come early summer, we feature cardinal flower (a hummingbird magnet!), catmint, coral bells and many hosta varieties in our gardens. (continue reading) |
Highway of Heroes Tree Campaign Continues to Put Down Roots
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Photos from Highway of Heroes - L-R: Leo Hawkes, Managing Director, Volvo Financial Services, Corporal Nick Kerr, Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, The Hon. Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Veterans Affairs Don Mitchell, Mayor of Whitby Mark Cullen, Campaign Chair, Highway of Heroes Tree Campaign
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On June 14, 2019, the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, joined the Hon. Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Veterans Affairs, to attend a Highway of Heroes Tree Campaign community event. There, Canadian Armed Forces member, Corporal Nick Kerr, was presented with the Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation for outstanding dedication to volunteer work with the Highway of Heroes Tree Campaign. The Prime Minister and Minister MacAulay also highlighted the 2019 Federal Budget proposal to provide $2.9 million through Veterans Affairs Canada over three years, to support the construction of the Highway of Heroes Living Tribute.
 The presentation of the Minister of Veterans Affairs
Commendation to Corporal Nick Kerr highlighted what the campaign has come to mean to those that that have served in the Armed Forces. Corporal Kerr served in Afghanistan in 2006. Over the last three years, he has volunteered and attended over 15 Highway of Heroes Tree Campaign events, sometimes driving for hours to be able to participate and in this case, flying out from Edmonton to attend. (read more) |
ZimSculpt Returns To The Toronto Botanical Garden
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Back for its second year, with an entirely new collection just for the Toronto Botanical Garden, the ZimSculpt team will be back with a spectacular display of sculptures made by hand from stone brought from the Zimbabwean mountains.
The exhibition runs from June 28 through September 8, 2019. Admission is free.
Over 100 large sculptures will be displayed throughout the gardens along with the very popular Marketplace where hundreds of handheld pieces will be available for purchase. The setting of the botanical garden amplifies both the beauty of the art as well as the gardens.
(read more)
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| Proven Winners: Rejuvenate Your Garden With Fresh Summer Colour |
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By Kerry Meyer, Proven Winners
...maybe you’d like to freshen up the containers by your front entryway. If you are like many people, you might assume that since the heat of summer has settled in, you will just have to live with what you have.
What you might not realize is that with careful plant selection, it is possible to rejuvenate your garden with a burst of eye-catching, summer color to fill in those empty spaces and flower pots. One important factor to consider when editing your garden in the summer is choosing plants that have natural heat tolerance. Plants that like the heat have a better chance of getting established in the summertime. You will need to take some extra care for the first couple of weeks to keep your new plants well-watered as they get established in their new home.
You might also consider buying larger-sized plants in summer. Larger plants have bigger root systems which help them absorb enough water to be able to handle the high temperatures. Larger plants will also look more in scale with surrounding plants if you are filling in a hole in the landscape midseason.
So, which plants should you have on your summer shopping list? Here are a few ideas
Annuals: Angelface® Angelonia (1), Vermilionaire® Cuphea (2), Salvia
Perennials: Summerific® Hibiscus(3), Prairie Winds® Panicum (4), 'Denim 'n Lace' Russian Sage (5), Rock 'n Grow® Sedums (6)
Hydrangeas (7)
(read complete Proven Winners article)
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Need A Portable Office?
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Consider a Fab-Con Container.
Canada Blooms uses a Fab-Con Container each year, for safe storage of tools, decor and decorative items while at the festival.
Fab-Con Containers (Fabricated Containers) are secure, ground-access, portable containers that are suitable for many applications. They are great for storage or to create a highly functional workspace with doors and windows that can go anywhere.
Click here for more information on Fab-Con containers.
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Got A Special Container Garden?
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Even though space 'Urban Jungle' can be limited, containers offer a great way for everyone to garden regardless of the yard/balcony size. But it does mean you may need to be creative.
We are looking for creative, unique and innovative container gardens to share with our readers. So we are challenging you to enter our 'Show Us Your Best Container' Contest.
It is so easy to enter, just snap a pic of your best container garden from the Summer of 2019, upload it to the contest page and wait to see if you win.
Have a brown thumb? You can still enter, take a pic of a friends container (or even your neighbours).
Categories:
Most Colourful
Smallest Container
Most Unusual Container
Most Creative
Best Fairy Garden
Individuals may enter one picture per category starting from July 1st to September 1st. Some entries may be shared on social media or in our newsletter. See contest page for details.
Pics will be judged by Canada Blooms staff and winners will be notified by September 15, 2019.
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Recipe Corner: Pico de Gallo
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Ok, so those tomatoes and peppers you planted are ready to harvest, what do you do now? How about making an easy Pico de Gallo?
Recipe by Rachel Love, AllRecipes.com
Ingredients:
6 roma (plumb) tomatoes 1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 red onion, minced 1 pinch garlic powder
3 tables spoons chopped fresh cilantro 1 pinch ground cumin, or to taste
1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced salt and ground black pepper to taste
1/2 lime, juiced
Directions:
Stir the tomatoes, onion, cilantro, jalapeno pepper, lime juice, garlic, garlic powder, cumin, salt, and pepper together in a bowl. Refrigerate at least 3 hours before serving.
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Contest
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Mark and Ben Cullen are very excited about their book: “Escape to Reality, how the world is changing gardening and gardening is changing the world”.
It is about fresh, healthy food, clean air, pollinators, native plants, the benefits of the horticultural social-exchange that occurs every time a gardener sets foot in the dirt. It is also about the need to fail, the surprising places where inspiration can spring from and it is about hope.
They believe every gardener should read it. Certainly, if every Canadian did read it, we could share a better understanding of the natural world just outside our back door.
Visit our contest page to enter to win a copy of Mark and Ben's book.
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Revisit the Gardens Of Canada Blooms 2019
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Revisit the BB Interlocking Garden at Canada Blooms 2019 |
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Canada Blooms was founded by the Garden Club of Toronto and Landscape Ontario
 
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