Gardening Blog

Last year's gorgeous tulips!

This Budding Gardener has never been to Canada Blooms before. I know, I know… what a gardening sin! This is the 13th year of the show and I have to make up for lost time! I was going through the website to plan my day and was overwhelmed with everything there is to see–from the feature gardens to the shopping to the seminars. I will definitely be there on Wednesday shooting some video for CanadianGardening.com and checking out the booths, but I also want to see some of the presentations.

These are some of the reasons I’m excited to visit Canada Blooms:

• Creating an organic perennial garden of continuous bloom
  (Speaker: Lorraine Roberts)
  Because perennials are my best friends–they come up every year no matter what–and in my quest to be greener, this should be a very helpful seminar.
• Gardening with Mother Nature the natural way
  (Speaker: Marjorie Mason)
  Because I want my garden to be an eco haven. Marjorie has written a great book called Ecological Gardening: Your Path to a Healthy Garden. It's trade paperback-sized, perfect for the subway, except I also need a pad and pen to take notes while reading!
• Vertical vegetables
  (Speaker: Kenneth Brown)
  Because I'm planning on planting a square-foot garden and I need all the advice I can get to ensure I actually have something to eat at the end of all my hard work.
• No more chemicals in the garden
  (Speaker: Jeff Lowefels)
  Because I need to know how to keep my ant population down without grabbing for a can of Raid.
• Dramatic containers
  (Speaker: Paul Zammit)
  Because I need some fresh ideas for this year's pots. I will be filming a step-by-step video next week of Paul planting his gorgeous containers at the Toronto Botanical Garden! Stay tuned!
• Since I love to travel, I'm looking forward to checking out the VIA Rail Garden Route and Tourism Ireland's Garden Travel area. Aldona did a portion of the Garden Route out west last fall and it sounds amazing!
• The City of Toronto's 175th Anniversary Garden — to celebrate my city's birthday.
• The Heart and Stroke Pulse Garden and the Canadian Cancer Society: Cancer Connections urban gallery for inspiration.
• Pick Ontario Avenue because I can't resist shopping!