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For immediate release

Flower Power
Canada Blooms celebrates twelfth year as Canada's premier flower and garden festival

November, 2007 - Toronto, ON - This year Canada Blooms redefines ‘Flower Power' with a celebration of gardens, displays and special guests that encompass the idealism and optimism of the ‘60s, the inspirational power of gardens and flowers, and the eco-savvy future of horticulture in Canada. From March 12 to 16, Toronto's Metro Convention Centre will be transformed into Canada's largest flower and garden festival, showcasing outstanding floral and landscape products and services.

“After a long Canadian winter, the Canada Blooms Festival is one of the first signs of spring,” says Gerry Ginsberg, General Manager, Canada Blooms. “Garden-lovers from Canada and the U.S. Border States come to Toronto to immerse themselves in the sights, sounds and smells of spring and find out more about the latest in horticultural design, products, flowers and plants at Canada Blooms.”

For the first time this year, Canada Blooms will feature theme days throughout the five-day event. Festival-goers will have the opportunity to learn about ‘greening' in Canada on ‘Living Green Day' or meet some of Canada's leading municipalities on ‘Communities in Blooms Day'. In conjunction with each day's theme, Gardening Life Educational Series will host some of Canada's premier educational speakers on such topics as garden travel, current plant design and more.

For many green-thumbs, Canada Blooms represents the opening of gardening season. While the ground may still be covered with snow, there are a number of things garden-lovers can do to prepare for spring. Charlie Dobbin, Horticultural Director for Canada Blooms offers these tips:

  1. It's time to compost the bough-filled winter urns - for spring, fill them with flowering bulbs. Buy pots of blooming tulips, daffodils and crocus from your local grocery store or garden centre to welcome guests properly to your front door.
  2. Spring is when you want to get creative in your garden - but until the soil loses its sogginess stay away from digging, planting and transplanting.
  3. If you have a lawn then spring is a great time to give it some pre-season care - aerating, top-dressing, over-seeding and just plain raking are all wonderful ways to ensure a vigorous lawn this summer.
  4. Don't worry about snow or frost in your spring garden - all your garden plants have the internal 'brains' to wait until conditions are right before they produce colour and fragrance.
  5. If you mulched your gardens with a layer of leaves last fall - on a warm sunny spring day you can carefully move the mulch aside to allow the small buds and tips to emerge from their winter blanket.
  6. Spring is a great time to start your own seeds, particularly if your desire is for unusual varieties. Try growing heritage tomatoes, evening scented stocks and hot peppers from seed since they can be tough to find in your favourite garden centres.
  7. At the beginning of March give all your houseplants a shot of fertilizer. Once the days start getting longer, your houseplants are ready to grow - and they need nutrients to do it properly.

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About Canada Blooms
Now in its twelfth year, Canada Blooms Festival was originally founded by Landscape Ontario and The Garden Club of Toronto to bring together the very best of the garden industry and community. Each year it is supported by a committed group of partners, sponsors and volunteers. In 2008, Festival sponsors include The Home Depot, Royal Bank of Canada, Miracle-Gro, Sobeys Ontario, Unilock Ltd., Heart & Stroke Foundation, Lombard Insurance/Sinclair-Cockburn, Nestle Canada, Vincor, CN Tower, Gardening Life, CanWest Media and EZ Rock.

Canada Blooms is a not-for-profit organization that gives back to the community throughout the year by funding community garden projects around Ontario. 2008 proceeds will support the new Woodland Walk Entrance Garden presented at the Toronto Botanical Garden. Canada Blooms is also dedicated to providing the community with horticulture expertise, education and resources on an ongoing basis.

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For more information, please contact:
Melanie Rockliff / Martin Waxman
Palette PR
416.703.9859, ext. 14 / 11
mrockliff@palettepr.com / mwaxman@palettepr.com

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