Planting for a national milestone
Port Lorne decked out in red and white for Canada’s 150th birthday
When Canada’s 150th birthday rolls around next year, Port Lorne will be all set to sprout some patriotic red and white tulips that Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil helped plant.
McNeil and municipal Coun. Wayne Fowler joined Port Lorne and area residents on Sunday, Oct. 16 for the first planting in the new Port Lorne Community Park.
The Port Lorne Planters Group was awarded 500 red and 500 white tulip bulbs by the Canadian Garden Council in collaboration with Vesey’s Bulbs of PEI. These awards are in celebration of Canada’s sesquicentennial in 2017. Port Lorne is one of the lucky 150 recipients of the “150th Celebration Gardens” being distributed across Canada. There were seven other recipients in Nova Scotia.
The park is located at the corner of the Brinton and Port Lorne roads on a site once occupied by the Dew Drop In, a canteen that delighted its cus- tomers for three decades after the Second World War.
“The 150th Celebration Garden is a terrific way to say happy birthday to our home and native land with 1,000 tulip bulbs, the international symbol of friendship and an enduring symbol of our national kindness and hospitality,” organizers said prior to the weekend plating with the premier.
Public planting
“We feel very honoured to have received one of these gardens,” said Rosanne Nicholson, representing the Port Lorne Planters. “We understand that the Canadian Garden Council, the organization behind the 150th Celebration Garden program, received more than 400 applications.”
The Port Lorne garden, and the other 149 gardens planted across the country, will be symbolically linked to a Flag- ship 150th Celebration Garden Promenade, consisting of 25,000 tulips, also donated by Vesey’s, to be planted this fall and bloom next spring adjacent to Niag- ara Falls. And the Port Lorne garden will also be featured on Canada’s Garden Route at www. canadasgardenroute.ca.
It takes a village
The Port Lorne Planters Group said it would like to thank Patsy Sabean, Rosanne Nicholson, and Stephanie Nicoletti for submitting the winning “150th Celebration Garden” application, as well as all those who made this heartwarming project possible.
Everyone is welcome to visit Port Lorne in the spring of 2017 to see the blooms which should develop in the shape of a Canadian flag bordered by beds along the Schoolhouse Brook that runs through the park overlooking the majestic Bay of Fundy.
Kingston
The 1st Kingston Scouting Group also received one of the Canadian Garden Council tulip gardens and will be planting the red and white bulbs Saturday, Oct. 29 from 12 to 4 p. m. in the Village of Kingston next to Avery’s Farm Market on Highway 1.