Dorothy Dobbie
Janice Lukes sent us this note: “Thrilled to have brought forward a motion recognizing 2022 as Year of the Garden. Very pleased to have the support of Council, to have the City of Winnipeg recognize 2022 as Year of the Garden! This is a cross-Canada initiative and Winnipeg will now be a part of the celebrations!
“Start planning next year’s garden now – I’ll be highlighting the many different gardens we have in the Waverley West ward and expect Councillors will be doing the same in their wards!”
Boissevain was not far behind. Within days of being invited, Mayor Judy Swanson issued a similar proclamation. These two Manitoba communities join Toronto, Brantford, Ontario and Red Deer Alberta. We are looking for other towns and cities to do the same. Please contact me if you would like more information on how to join in.
The Year of the Garden is a Canada-wide celebration to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association, but beyond that, to celebrate the end of COVID-19 and a return to the most positive aspects of our lives.
In the past two years, the interest in gardening has exploded with some seed companies reporting a 400% increase in their sales – many of them to younger people who are very interested in the experience of growing their own food. It is estimated that in Canada some 2,000,000 new gardeners have initiated themselves into gardening.
I sit on the YOTG Advisory Committee of the Garden Council of Canada and our magazine, Canada’s Local Gardener, is the official publication of the celebration in English Canada. Our International Peace Garden and the Gardens of Diversity at Assiniboine Park have both endorsed the celebration as we encourage people from all over to visit our public gardens across the country.
Michel Gauthier of Ottawa, and the director of the Tulip Festival in that city for some 16 years, is the organizer behind the event which includes a long list of activities and opportunities. Communities in Bloom is partnering in parts of the program as is Tree Canada. Michel has been actively engaging members of what he fondly calls, “the garden family” for the past two years in preparation for the kickoff to the year expected to happen in January. The theme of the Year is “Put some garden in your life!”
Gardeners are encouraged to plant red this coming year, write a garden poem, share a garden photograph, and most of all, adopt a plan or . . . a few hundred!
Gardens are the best place to create harmony of thought and intention. They have a way of calming troubled spirits and bringing people together. After two years of turmoil, we believe that our celebration will do much to ease our souls and heal our fractured nation.
If you have a garden project you want to share or just want more information, please contact me at [email protected].