Canada Blooms, the Toronto Flower and Garden Show, celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2006. Held March 8-12 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, the show featured an Urban Mosaic theme with more than 30 garden interpretations. From small city patios to tulip-lined cityscapes, garden enthusiasts were greeted with the scent of spring and plenty of ideas for their own gardens.

In addition to the feature gardens, there were floral arranging competitions, gardening demonstrations, dozens of celebrity speakers, the Skills Canada competition, dry stone wall display and a bustling marketplace. Several LO members gave presentations to the gardening public over the course of the show.

Gardens aren’t built in a day
Just ask Harry Gelderman of Jan Gelderman Landscaping, who figures his company spent 1,000 man-hours to design, prepare and build its feature garden at Canada Blooms. Gelderman had two to three staff working on pre-building elements for the garden and then six or seven on-site. Incorporating hardscapes, plant material, water and design elements takes a lot of thought and a lot of time, says Gelderman. “It’s never simple, we were building something very complicated,” he explains. “But don’t get me wrong, it’s a great show. Our staff love working on it and it’s a great morale booster. There’s some prestige to being involved, but it is also about giving back to the industry.”

Tom Leedle of Leedle Landscaping has played a part in Canada Blooms each year since its inception. This year he was contracted to build the Ottawa Tourism feature garden. The garden was intended to reflect the nation’s capital in spring, when millions of tulips bloom along the Rideau Canal. “We planted 28,000 tulips — I don’t need to see another tulip for a while,” he jokes. Leedle had five staff on site for four days of building. “The design was very straightforward, without a lot of different materials, so there wasn’t much that could be pre-fabricated,” he explains. The most difficult part for Leedle was moving the wall blocks that weighed 350 pounds each. “That was quite a challenge,” he says. “We always enjoy working at Canada Blooms. You get to meet people and you see a lot happening. It’s really kind of fun.”

Backstage pass
Landscape Ontario’s display of new plants featured a backstage, behind-the-scenes theme. Making their debut were ‘Diamond Frost’ euphorbia, ‘Charmed Velvet’ oxalis, ‘Color FlashTM’ astilbe, ‘Tequila Sunrise’ calibrachoa and many others. Visitors were invited to take home a copy of Landscape Ontario’s fourth annual New Plants 2006, featuring cultural information for 148 new annuals, perennials, woody plants and roses. The magazine also featured Awards of Excellence-winning landscapes created by LO members.

Crystal ball gazing
It’s a tall order. How do you buy enough plant material for more than 30 gardens, have it all bloom in March and get it to the right people at the right time, so that elaborate gardens can be built in a matter of days? “It takes a lot of planning,” says Charlie Dobbin, horticultural director for Canada Blooms. “Garden builders receive a subsidy for plant material, but they will always need more, and they may not have the contacts — so that’s where I come in,” she explains.

“We usually know who is building gardens by the summer time and we can get a conceptual design in the fall, but I have to start buying plant material before that, so I do a lot of predicting based on instinct,” says Dobbin. For this year’s show she ordered 300,000 trees, shrubs and bulbs and it took more than two dozen volunteers to help deliver plant material to the garden builders at the convention centre. Once everything is delivered, Dobbin opens up “Charlie’s Garden Centre” in an area of the hall. “We had 200 cedars and 65 birch and they all sold out,” she says. Brookdale Treeland Nurseries in Schomberg does all the forcing of trees and shrubs for Canada Blooms. “It’s a 10,000 square-foot job,” says Dobbin, noting that Mother Nature also plays a role in the end result. “Forcing is an art and science. We start with good healthy plants and then we gauge the weather. Every year is different,” she explains.

As soon as the show ends, Dobbin begins making plans for next year. “The committee will meet and do a post mortem. I always get a lot of feedback and I like to get new ideas. We want to keep everything fun and fresh. It’s an ongoing process,” she says. “Next year’s theme is ‘Elements’ so it’s going to be really interesting.”

Promoting horticulture
Canada Blooms inspires thousands of gardeners each year, but the show’s effect on horticulture is more far-reaching than that. Proceeds from previous Canada Blooms shows have benefited pubic gardens, such as Casa Loma, Spadina House, the West End Creche, the Don Valley Brick Works, Black Creek Pioneer Village, and most recently, the entrance garden of the renovated Toronto Botanical Garden.

Congratulations to the winners of the Canada Blooms feature garden awards:
City of Brampton: Winner, The Garden Club of Toronto Award for best use of colour. Finalists: City of Toronto, Indoors & Out.

Ronald Holbrook and Associates: Winner, W.E. Bridgeman Trophy for best use of hard landscape elements, including stone and wood. Finalists: Stonetech Landscape Contractors, Sheridan Nurseries, Stoney Ridge Winery/Allweather Landscape Co. Ltd., and Jan Gelderman Landscaping.

Mason Hogue Gardens: Winner, Humber Nurseries Award for best use of plant material. Finalists: City of Toronto, Indoors & Out.

Environmental Design Landscape Contractors: Winner, Laguna Garden Award for best use of water. Finalists: Barbie Mermaidia (Mattel)/Designs by the Yard and Humber College. D.A. Gracey and Associates: Winner, Leslie L. Solty Memorial Award for outstanding creativity. Finalists: Home Depot/Parklane Ltd.

The Beach Gardener: Winner, Canada Blooms Award for the most innovative garden design. Finalists: Earth Inc. and Canadian Gardening Magazine/Designs by the Yard.

Ronald Holbrook and Associates: Winner, Sheridan Nurseries Award for best small garden (under 1,000 sq. ft.).

D.A. Gracey and Associates: Winner, S.G. Ulbright Award for best medium garden (1,001-1,800 sq. ft.).

Environmental Design Landscape Con­tractors: Winner, Gordon A. MacEachern Award for best large garden (over 1,801 sq. ft).

Ronald Holbrook and Associates: Winner, Canada Blooms Award for most outstanding garden. Finalist: D.A. Gracey and Associates.

City of Brampton: Winner, The Universal Access Award. Finalists: Home Depot/Parklane Ltd.

Ronald Holbrook and Associates: Winner, The OALA Award.

Canadian Gardening Magazine/Designs by the Yard: Winner, The Certified Landscape Designer Award.
City of Brampton: Winner, CFRB “People’s Choice” Award.


Landscape Ontario Awards of Excellence
The following garden builders received a Landscape Ontario Award of Excellence for Feature Garden Design and Construction.
The Beach Gardener
Allweather Landscape Co.
Designs by the Yard
D.A. Gracey and Associates
Earth Inc.
Environmental Design Landscape Contractors
Evergreen Environments Landscape Contractors
Jan Gelderman Landscaping
Parklane Ltd.
Landscape Solutions Inc.
Leedle Landscaping
Pathways to Perennials
Sheridan Nurseries Ltd.
Stonetech Landscape Contractors


Thank you to the growers who supplied plants for the LO Backstage display:
Ed Sobkowich Greenhouses/Proven Winners
Janet Anderson Perennials
Epic Plant Co.
Valleybrook Perennials
Geo. Sant Greenhouses/Benary
University of Guelph Trial Gardens


Canada Blooms Donors
The following companies have generously contributed time, services and materials to Canada Blooms:
Active Surplus Electronics Ltd.
Barracuda Home & Garden Accessories
Battlefield Equipment Rentals
Beaver Valley Stone Limited
Best Way Stone Ltd.
Bloemen Décor
Blue Sky Nursery Limited
Braun Horticulture Inc.
Brookdale Treeland Nurseries
Brouwer Sod Farms Ltd.
Canadale Nurseries Ltd.
Champion Road Machinery Sales
City of Toronto
ClubLink Corporation
Connon Nurseries, AVK Nursery Holding Inc.
Connon Nurseries, Neil Vanderkruk Holdings Inc.
Dufferin Aggregates
Duracraft Products Inc.
Ed Sobkowich Greenhouses Ltd.
Fanshawe College
Flowers by the Dozen Inc.
Forget Me Not Flowers
GreenTractors.ca
Growers Choice
Hewitt Material Handling
Hofland
Ironco Equipment Sales and Rentals Inc.
JM Peeters Nurseries Limited
James Graham Paving Ltd.
KRG Insurance Group
Kubota Canada Ltd.
Matthews Equipment Limited Manitou North America
New Holland North America
Ontario Flower Growers Inc.
Ontrac Equipment Services
Pioneer Flower Farms Inc.
Riverbend Farms (Ontario) Ltd.
Rittenhouse Sprayers
Sanwell Nurseries Limited
Swanston Farm Equipment Ltd.
Toromont Cat
Unilock Ltd.
Virgil Greenhouses Ltd.
Valleybrook Gardens
Walker Equipment Limited
Westmetro Equipment Sales Ltd.
Winkelmolen Nursery Limited
Yoder Canada


Student support
Canada Blooms thanks the students of Fanshawe College, Horticulture Technician program; Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, Continuing Education, Floral Design program; Ryerson University, G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education, Landscape Design program; Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology, Professional Floral Design program; University of Guelph, Landscape Architecture, University of Toronto, Visual Studies Program.


Canada Blooms sponsors
Presenting sponsor:
The Home Depot
Supporting Sponsors: Barbie Mermaidia, Lombard Insurance/Sinclair Cockburn, Mercedes-Benz, Nestle Canada, Ottawa Tourism, Reactine, Sobeys Ontario, Stoney Ridge Estate Winery, Unilock Ltd. Media Sponsors: Canadian Gardening Magazine, Newstalk 1010 CFRB, HGTV, The Toronto Star and 97.3 fm EZ Rock


If you are interested in building a feature garden at Canada Blooms next year, contact the Canada Blooms office at 416-447-8655.