Canada Blooms Update April1

THANKS TO ALL OUR EXHIBITORS, PRESENTERS, 
PARTNERS, VOLUNTEERS AND FRIENDS
 

As you probably know by now, Canada Blooms had to cancel our 2020 festival due to concerns about Covid-19.

We, along with our partner The Home Show – The Big One – on Thursday, March 12 made the decision that the safety of our garden builders, exhibitors, floral artists, partners, staff, volunteers and our loyal visitors was paramount. And as we can see from the past few weeks, we made the right decision, however, we were still disappointed as we were in effect set up with a only a few finishing touches that would have been completed by the time the doors opened at 10am.

Although we did not open to the public, we did continue with our Judging of the Feature Gardens, the Toronto Flower Show and the Floral Ally: The Professional Floral Artist Showcase. And, thanks to some of the exhibitors who were in the building on Thursday and Friday we ended up with some walk through videos so that people could still see the hard work and innovation that went into the gardens and floral displays.

This year’s Canada Blooms festival had so much colour and garden and floral designers put so much thought and creativity in displays, that it was so disappointing that visitors were not able to see it in all its splendour.

We would like to thank the garden builders, floral artists and exhibitors who not only spent many hours planning and building their displays/booths but who also lost their investment in Canada Blooms this year because they were unable to meet visitors as planned.

Visitors might not be aware of the amount of dedicated people that is needed to put on our event from our partners and sponsors, exhibitors, competitors, presenters, staff, volunteers, facility managers and service employees, all of whom were disappointed in the way circumstances worked out this year.

We would like to take this opportunity to also thank:
► Adrienne Handbidge and Brigitte Richter and the other Master Gardeners of Ontario who are responsible for planning the Li’l Sprouts activities at Canada Blooms as well as answering questions to get the gardening season started.
► Our Board Members and Committee Members — Feature Garden, Education, Design and Ambience, Morning Tours, Toronto Flower Show – all volunteers who work behind the scenes to make the festival look great, relevant and interesting.
► Speakers and workshop demonstrators who donate their time and expertise to provide gardening, floral and industry information that is informative and fun.  
► Competitors in the International Class who came from across the globe at their own expense to participate.
► The celebrities and artists who painted gnomes for Gilda’s (Club) Gnome Garden & Silent Auction and to Margaret Taylor and her team for coordinating this very worthwhile endeavour. These will be available for bidding at next year’s festival.
► Hawai’i NeoTropica, Jennifer Harvey and Floral Day Ambassador Hitomi Gilliam for all the planning for the Canada Blooms Floral Artist of the Year Competition. Hopefully we will see all 20 competitors in 2021. 
► Volunteers who put in long hours to helped design and plant up the planters and feature areas and then had to take them apart just a couple days later.
► Niagara College students who created a garden in one day when it was discovered onsite one of our gardens would be smaller than originally planned.
► The suppliers who provided plants, sand & mulch, equipment and transportation and stepped up  to remove the gardens, sand and mulch when the timing of move-out was changed.
► The visitors who purchased tickets and patiently waited for their refunds, we appreciated your understanding.
► All the facebook, twitter and Instagram fans and followers who sent their many words of comfort, it was so nice to hear from you all.

We are now well under way planning Canada Blooms 2021, as we look forward to our 25th anniversary festival, and we hope that you can all join us next year.

Thanks again for a great festival and mark your calendars for next year:

March 12-21, 2021!

This year’s garden builders took on the theme ‘Bird’s Of A Feather’ and the results were fun and creative.

We would like to recognize the winner of the Tony DiGiovanni Garden of the Year (Judge’s Choice) Award was ‘Mark’s Potting Shed’ by J. Garfield Thompson Landscape Ltd., J. Garfield Thompson also won the The Award for Outstanding Use of Natural Stone and Best Use of Plant Material.

‘Neighbourhood Flock’ by Sylvia Szot Landscape Design won the ‘Do Up The Doorsteps’ Award presented by Oaks Landscape Products, and there was a tie for the ‘Do Up The Backsteps’ also presented by Oaks Landscape Products ‘The Edible Caja Garden’ by The Growing Connection and ‘Backyard Birdwatch’ by Landscapes by Jodie Munshaw.  Jodie Munshaw also won the Unilock Outstanding Small Garden and the Award for Outstanding Interpretation of Festival Theme presented by Isuzu Canada.

Thanks again to all the participants, and congratulations to all winners. 

Visit our blog for a full list of winners. 

TAKE A VIRTUAL TOUR OF THE GARDENS COURTESY OF LANDSCAPE ONTARIO:

This year, although we didn’t have as many competitors, their designs were colourful and creative.

The floral displays were officially judged on Friday, March 13th, and the Judge’s Choice winner was Bruno Duarte of Fresh Floral Creations.

Winner of the Best Floral Representation of Floral Alley Theme presented by Ontario Flower Growers Co-operative: Bruno Duarte
Winners of the Most Creative Use of Floral Material presented by Oasis Floral Products: Rada Ristich and Brad Higginson, 4165-Flower/Alma Florists
Winner of the Best Overall Use of Colour: Joezel Yumul

First Place (Tie): Bruno Duarte and Rada Ristich & Brad Higginson
Second Runner Up: Joezel Yumul
Honourable Mention: Melani Nemeskovic, Floresco

We would like to recognize Hawai’i Neotropica and renowned floral artist Hitomi Gilliam who had planned to be the Floral Day Ambassador. 

This year, the front entrance and Parade of Florals, created by Albert Graves of Bloemen Decor, which featured floral material from the Ontario Flower Growers Co-operative would have given visitors their first breath of spring as they entered Canada Blooms. Bruno Duarte provided a floral installation and Jennifer Harvey created an areal floral installation representing the flight pattern of birds.

1. Rada Ristich,  2. Brad Higginson, 3. Joezel Yumul,
4. Melani Nemeskovic, 5. Bruno Duarte, 6. Albert Graves

In 2020 Canada Blooms reached out to celebrities and artists to see if they would help us to create a Gnome Garden.

Margaret Taylor, who is a member of the Garden Club of Toronto, an international floral design competitor and winner, an instructor and floral judge, took on the project of the Gnome Garden at Canada Blooms.
 
Margaret assembled a team of volunteers who reached out to celebrities and artists to see if they would be interested in painting gnomes to bring awareness to Gilda’s Club Greater Toronto. The gnomes were to be displayed in the Gilda’s Club Gnome Garden and each of the gnomes were to be auctioned off, with all proceeds going to Gilda’s Club Greater Toronto.

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Gnomes: Jeanne Beker (#1), Jayne Eastwood (#2), Colin Mochrie & Deb McGrath (#3), Anwar Knight (#4)