Spring came early in Toronto last week, both outdoors and inside at Canada Blooms, Canada’s largest flower and garden festival. The five-day festival delighted garden-lovers with a springtime paradise – particularly on Friday as the Festival welcomed the first day of spring. Now in its thirteenth year, more than 80,000 visitors enjoyed six acres of feature gardens in full bloom, more than 100,000 square feet of green-thumb shopping, over 200 hours of seminars, workshops and demonstrations, a special children’s garden and more.
“Each year visitors from Canada and beyond, enjoy the gardens, marketplace and educational features of Canada Blooms,” said Gerry Ginsberg, General Manager, Canada Blooms. “Again this year, all of the plant and building materials used to create the spectacular gardens of Canada Blooms will be reused and recycled following the Festival. The plants and flowers left-over will once again be donated to the City of Toronto.”
Leftover blooms to be donated
The City of Toronto will receive approximately 600 flowers and plants that will go a number of the City of Toronto’s 10 long-term care homes so that seniors living in these locations could also receive a fresh, colourful bloom to brighten their day and living environment. Staff and volunteers will also deliver flowers to a number of clients of Cummer Lodge’s meals-on-wheels program and adult day program and clients served by the City’s homemakers and nurses services program to “add a bit of spring” to their homes.
Ginsberg adds, “We are particularly pleased to share the flowering bulbs and annuals with seniors who may not have been able to attend the festival.”
Flowering bulbs, trees and shrubs recovered from Canada Blooms will also be added to the outdoor garden at Cummer Lodge and Lakeshore Lodge, providing a safe, accessible, colourful outdoor space for residents, clients, their families and guests to enjoy. In addition, approximately 75 perennial shrubs and trees from Canada Blooms will be maintained at Downsview Park until the weather warms up and then planted in locations city-wide.
Canada Blooms is a not-for-profit volunteer-driven event which promotes awareness of horticulture and showcases outstanding floral and landscape products and services. To date, more than $500,000 in Canada Blooms’ show proceeds has been reinvested into community horticultural projects. This year’s proceeds from Canada Blooms will benefit the Toronto Botanical Gardens children’s programs.
Toronto Botanical Garden Children’s Programs fill an essential role in educating and inspiring urban children about the value and beauty of our natural world. Using exciting, hands-on experiences, these programs reveal the magic and science of planting, caring for and harvesting “youth-size” garden plots while exploring connections between people, plants and wildlife.
Award-winning designs
Each year visitors and industry contributors to Canada Blooms are invited to participate in the Festival by voting for their favourite displays and gardens. This year, the People’s Choice award winners include:
• The Miracle-Gro Garden Box Challenge attracted many visitors to vote for their favourite celebrity-designed window boxes and front porch planters in a People’s Choice format. Out of six contestants, Rex Harrington of The National Ballet of Canada came out with the top design, receiving $1,000 from Scotts Miracle-Gro for his favourite charitable cause, Casey House Hospice.
• The People’s Garden – Consumer Choice winner was ‘Pulse: The Heart & Stroke Foundation of Ontario’ designed and built by Humber College Landscape Technician Program Garden. Honourable mentions went to the Bienenstock Natural Playground, ‘Seasons’ by D. A. Gracey; ‘Green for Life’ by Landscape Ontario and Garden Creations of Ottawa.
• The Judges Choice Garden winner was ‘Connected: The Canadian Cancer Society Garden’ designed and built by Ronald Holbrook & Associates Landscape Architects Inc. and Royalty Landscaping. An honourable mention was also awarded to Seasons designed by D.A. Gracey & Associates Ltd.
“This year we built new partnerships and added highlights such as the Canadian Cancer Society’s Connected garden and the Grey Power Celebrity Stage,” adds Ginsberg. “Thanks to the tremendous support of our sponsors, dedicated staff and volunteers, we continue to be Canada’s largest garden and flower Festival and look forward to an even bigger event next year.”
Check out our Canada Blooms photo gallery!
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