I was at Canada Blooms this year for just two days, Friday and Saturday, the 15th and 16th and during those two days was there from 8 in the morning until 8 at night ... I was lucky because I had a press pass which allowed me into the gardens before the crowds arrived at 10, when the show officially opened. I managed to get some pictures which I hope you enjoy.

The theme this year was "A Walk in the Park" and the Garden clubs of Toronto had quite a large area called "Fun in the Park". I did not go into the infamous Hall of Mirrors though! They had various staging of designs throughout this area, with the focal point to me being the Carousel - this area had all of the international florists designs. Different categories held floral designs in Candy Floss, Lollipop Lollipop, Reflections, High Flyers and so on. You will see some of the pictures I took of the various designs.

There were also some large single displays throughout the floor done by professional florists. I absolutely loved the glass house that was part of the RBG display ... Canadian made too!!

The display gardens this year, from what I had heard, were mostly landscape oriented ... that is lots of trees, shrubs and perennials. What I found was not that much colour. Going through my pictures from previous CB shows I saw a lot of colour, whimsy, and light, which I did not find this year. Perhaps it was there, but I was not the only one to say that the lighting was very dark on these gardens. Some of them were wonderful, but it was hard to see because of the lighting and who knows what was missed because of this. A lot included a water feature and some of these were indeed beautiful.

Not only were there the gardens to look at, but I also enjoyed going through the market place ... so many things to look at and buy! They had changed the layout this year and it was much more open. Because I was there for only the two days this year, I did miss out on a lot of the speakers, but the ones I did listen to were great!

Lots of workshops to take in, and it was nice just to sit for a bit, Celebrity Floral competition, clubs with society information, a fashion show, Calling All Gardeners first TV show of the season, and at Canadian Tire's booth this year they had a children's garden workshop set up where children could sort seeds and make crafts.

It's a huge endeavor to produce a show like this, let's hope it continues to grow for all the right reasons...