Posted by
Elana Safronsky, Managing Editor
Wednesday, March 25, 2009 8:11 AM EDT
Canada Blooms -- Canada’s largest flower and garden festival wrapped up this past Sunday, welcoming the first days of spring, and we were there!
From the left: Jessica handling the DV Cam, Elana, Mark Cullen.
Jessica and I caught up with Mark Cullen, one of Canada’s best recognized garden gurus, (photo above), so watch for our video interview sometime in the next week. Mark was as enthusiastic as ever to chat green – the original green, as in gardening – and happily dispelled a few of his least favourite gardening myths for us, such as ‘organic’ doesn’t actually mean ‘harder’ in the world of horticulture.
This was the 13th year for the festival, and it went off without a hitch; 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.
Gerry Ginsberg, General Manager, Canada Blooms says, “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.”
The gorgeous loot went to a number of the city’s long-term care homes as well as to some clients of Cummer Lodge’s meals-on-wheels program and adult day program. 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.” The proceeds from this year’s show will benefit the Toronto Botanical Gardens children’s programs.
The HGTV.ca team did some serious perusing of the blooming splendor and so, here is the gallery:
You need to upgrade your Flash Player to 9 or greater
Related:
From our friends at Foodtv.ca: Ask a Gardener: Your food growing questions answered