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Canada Blooms
March, 2007
I always enjoy my time at Canada Blooms and
this year was no exception. This was the 11th show and I think I have been
to 8 or 9 of them. It’s a two fold visit as I get to see the show and we
always have a Garden Writers Region 7 meeting while here. This year’s theme
was ‘Elements’ and not only could you see them in the gardens but they were
very evident in the floral displays as well. This year the 30 odd gardens
were not only pretty to look at but were useful and practical too. The
planting material was wonderful to look at, fresh and with the weather that
they were having, a real treat for those that are starved for spring. This
year brought the biggest trees they have ever had for a show – some up to
28’ high…now can you imagine turning these trees to get them all out in leaf
for their big debut? Or how about making sure that 400 shrubs, 4000 pots of
perennials, or 80,000 bulbs are all in prime shape and ready to dazzle you.
Quite the feat and that doesn’t even include the 32 dump trucks that made
the trip with sand to create the plant beds or the 8 truck loads of mulch.
Behind the scenes there has been work going on since June of last year to
prepare the plants for this show and even before that to order everything
for it.
To make the show happen, it takes 5 days of intensive work and over 900
volunteers…way to go because it was a great show!
I know there were lots of ideas to take home from this show..the living
walls are a great idea – with small gardens, vertical planting is the way to
go and lots of ideas in the container gardens for you to think about. I also
liked the way they had the new varieties displayed this year, so you could
have a really good look at them. This year they had 10 doors set up and the
idea was to do a container garden arrangement for each one. Gardening or
media celebrities did these up and you could vote on your favourite.
Gardeners’ Fare hosts hort clubs and societies where you can get expert help
and information. More shopping than you can carry with over 200 retailers
there to help you spend your money. When you wanted to sit, there was plenty
of room in the Speakers Series .. just get there early and you can enjoy
your drink and sandwich while you learn. Then it’s off to visit the over 600
exhibits at the largest accredited standard judged flower show. You could
even enjoy seeing international designs. I always love to see this area and
see what other countries design. A friend of mine is a judge at the show and
she had come back from the Philly Flower Show and told me that the floral
designs here were better than there this year…they were very, very good.
The gardens this year were very soothing to me…lots of water, lighting,
sculpture. A place that I want to be in – to sit or work, an extension of my
home – especially now that I am getting older. I truly believe that a garden
is necessary for our well being, whether it is a balcony, a patio or a full
garden – gardens are healing, they are therapy and they teach us to be
patient and wait. In this high tech world, we are forgetting what it is like
to just sit and be quiet. If you are looking for a zap of colour, then you
also got that with a couple of gardens this year – one with a huge painting
in bight colours and the other completely filled with oranges, reds and
yellows.
So sit back, enjoy the pictures and get your imagination up and running
because spring is just about here!
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