This coming year, 2022, has been proclaimed the Year of the Garden in Canada. Canada’s Local Gardener in the official English language magazine for the event. Dorothy Dobbie, who is part of the Advisory Committee, talks to organizer, Michel Gauthier, and Manitoba Communities in Bloom rep, Rebecca Sokol of Arizona, Manitoba.
Michel outlines some of the exciting events and opportunities to get involved in the celebration which will take place in every part of Canada. The Year of the Garden 2022 will, in part, commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association whose members over the years have made major contributions to the world of horticulture. It also marks, we hope, an end to the pandemic and a return to a richer, fuller life more attuned to the earth that sustains us.
A heads up! Plant red in celebration this year to show your support for Canadian horticulture and also to help us all celebrate.
We had hoped to include in this broadcast, Janice Lukes, Winnipeg City Councillor who had championed the declaration of the Year of the Garden in Winnipeg. Her duties intervened so Janice will be with us the week of December 27, just a few days ahead of the official announcement. Winnipeg follows Toronto, the very first city to make the declaration. Since then dozens of others have joined in, from small towns such as Boissevain, Man. to medium towns such as Red Deer, Alta.
Meantime, start planning how you will celebrate the Year of the Garden. For our part, we will bring you a garden prescription of the week. We will involve schools, and to encourage young people to take up the hoe. The Year of the Garden 2022 will also celebrate public gardens across the land and a book presenting these gardens is being produced. Community gardens are encouraged to sign up to be on the Garden Route. A website dedicated to this purpose will be up soon. Check https://gardenscanada.ca/ to see how to do this.