Canada Blooms: Let’s go to the movies
Spring may not officially arrive until later this month, but for garden enthusiasts, spring arrives this weekend with the opening of Canada Blooms 2018 at the Enercare Centre at Exhibition Place in Toronto. Now in its 22nd year, Canada Blooms is the country’s largest celebration of gardens and flowers connecting people to the joys and benefits of gardening.
This year’s theme, Let’s Go to the Movies, will be interpreted by designers throughout the show, from the feature gardens to the popular Floral Alley where top professional floral designers showcase their fabulous creations — think vibrant colours, enchanting scents and loads of beautiful fresh cut flowers.
“Seeing a 15-foot sculpture made of flowers and what our amazing artists can produce is part of the wow factor of Canada Blooms,” says floral designer Jennifer Harvey. “Ideas from red carpet magic to classic movies will be re-imagined and brought to life. This will be a show stopper!”
In all, more than 40 feature, small space, balcony and floral gardens will be on display at Canada Blooms this year, in addition to the creations in the Toronto Flower
Show.
“The feature gardens at Canada Blooms are truly a spectacle worthy of the Hollywood big screen,” says Terry Caddo, General Manager of Canada Blooms. “The designs are innovative and creative, with unparalleled execution in landscaping and bringing the garden to life.”
A tiny preview of the moviethemed gardens includes: “Jungle Book,” inspired by the classic Disney adaptation of the Rudyard Kipling tale with a Canadian twist. Stroll through this garden designed and built by Landscape by Evergreen & Elite Environments as characters from the story look down on you and “Midnight in Paris,” inspired by the Oscar-winning film, evokes a life of romantic imagination with an appreciation of landscape artistry. It is designed and built by Julie Moore Modern Landscape Designers and TriMatrix Construction.
It’s fun to explore the small space gardens, known as “Do Up the Doorsteps” at Canada Blooms. Melanie Rekola Landscape Design is boldly taking gardening where it hasn’t gone before with an installation inspired by the science fiction classic “Star Trek” and Greer Design Group pays homage to the classic “Alice in Wonderland” in their whimsical garden.
The Toronto Flower Show encourages non-professional exhibitors and members of horticultural societies and garden clubs to enter the classes, competing in horticulture special exhibits, floral design, and photography. I love to explore the competition exhibits, they showcase the creative handiwork of the designers in our local garden clubs.
If you are looking for garden inspiration, solutions to your garden challenges, or just a chance to sit down for an armchair garden tour, Canada Blooms includes an impressive slate of speakers and workshops.
Growing your own vegetables is a huge trend in backyard gardening, if you’d like to give this a try, but aren’t sure where to start, Niki Jabbour and Tara Nolan will be talking about How to Grow More Food in the Space
You Have,’Kat Granger offers at look at heirloom vegetables, Lorraine Johnson offers intriguing advice on growing native edibles and if all else fails, there’s Joanna Blanchard’s ‘Clueless in the Garden: A Guide for Beginners and Black Thumbs.”
Three stages host a slate of speakers each day, and cover a range of topics from the aforementioned edibles, to water wise gardening, attracting birds and butterflies, design strategies, tropicals, ornamental grasses, celebrating trees, fusion gardening and even keeping backyard chickens. If you have a particular subject in mind, log on to www.canadablooms.com and browse the speaker and workshop schedules and plan your trip to the show accordingly. Inspiring children to garden is one of my favourite themes, and Canada Blooms is featuring hands-on workshops for the younger set. Topics include: ’Just for Kids’ includes Planting Seeds, Make a Mosaic with Beans, and Learn to take Cutting and Make a Rooter; the ‘Li’l Sprout’ series includes All About Sunflowers, All About Pollinators, and Making a Seed Bomb. Sorry grownups, these are just for the kids …
I’ve dusted off my garden-walking shoes, charged up the camera, and packed my water bottle, pen and notebook for my annual trek to Canada Blooms this week.
I’ll be looking for fresh ideas, garden solutions, a bouquet (or two) of cut flowers and a chance to celebrate the arrival of spring. I can’t wait to see how the designer’s interpret this years theme, Let’s Go to the Movies … hope to see you there!