Canada Blooms is excited to announce the Botanical Art Exhibition by Artist TM Glass at Canada Blooms 2017. The magical exhibition of photography will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Confederation and 150 years of Canadian flower horticulture.

The still life imagery of TM Glass recalls human nature’s passion for the exquisite beauty that nature brings to flowers. Each painterly photograph in this collection brings a reminder that central to the nature of flower beauty is nature's intricate geometrical design, while the brief and beautiful life of cut flowers is quickened by a sense of approaching death. The flower imagery is inspired by the artist’s own garden, and the vases depicted come from collections of the Royal Ontario Museum and the Gardiner Ceramic Museum. Canadians became quite passionate about growing beautiful flower gardens early in the nineteenth century, around the time when Queen Victoria signed the British North America Act on July 1, 1867, uniting the British colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick into one Dominion of Canada. In years that followed, British settlers brought British passion for gardening and seeds. Enterprising sea captains imported vases for flower arrangements from all over the world. Plants of Pioneer and Early Days in Ontario, published in 1970 by the Garden Club of Toronto, records literary references for hundreds of flowers cultivated in early Canadian gardens from 1837 on. Contemporary gardeners might be surprised to know that many flowers we grow today, such as Anemones, Hydrangeas, Clematis, Peonies and Roses, were grown in Canada 150 years ago. These are the flowers TM Glass chose to bring to life in the pictures of this exhibition.
Photos: (Top):Magnolias & Ancient American Vessel, (Bottom):(L) White Anemones & Italian Pharmaceutical Vase, (C) Parrot Tulips & Japanese Vase, (R) White Clematis & Chinese Teapot

The Garden Club of Toronto celebrates not only Canada’s sesquicentennial in 2017, it celebrates its’ own beginnings 70 years ago. The Garden Club of Toronto has a long history of civic engagement, creating gardens at places as diverse as Casa Loma, Helen Keller Place, and the Toddlers garden at the Brickworks.  Our hard-working and talented members contribute greatly to the Toronto Flower Show at Canada Blooms, with their Horticulture and Floral Design entries, and by providing leadership in so many areas of the Show. Twenty – one years ago, Canada Blooms was co-founded by the vision and co-operation of some members of the Garden Club of Toronto and Landscape Ontario. We are proud to continue this tradition and to provide a place for education, outreach and enjoyment for the visitors to Canada Blooms. A treat for Toronto in March!
~ Photos of Toronto Flower Show

Canada Blooms is Canada’s largest flower and garden festival and considered the harbinger of the spring garden season by many. Over 200,000 home and garden enthusiasts are expected to attend this year’s festival as we celebrate Canada’s sesquicentennial. The festival will feature beautifully landscaped gardens, stunning floral displays by both professional and amateur designers, free seminars on with topics related to gardening, floral design, landscaping, travel and more.

Whether you are creating a small space or container garden in your condo or a huge backyard oasis, Canada Blooms: The Flower and Garden Festival offers you an opportunity to shop for useful and unique items, meet with garden experts and enjoy a great day out. So, leave the winter blahs behind and get a jump on the garden season.

If you are a retailer with a garden, landscape or backyard product, service or accessory and would like to exhibit at Canada Blooms, drop Kelly Haney a line, at 416-664-5461 or email: marketplace@canadablooms.com, to see what space and categories are still available.

Nature is all around! You see trees in the park and water your houseplants, but how connected are you really to the plant world? What if you could actually dialog with plants and trees? Researchers from Damanhur began pondering this question forty years ago when they began experimenting with plant communication. As technology improved and knowledge about plant communication grew, Damanhur had an idea to create a device that would enable plants to create sound.

They expected the plants to produce random music, a bunch of notes loosely put together, but what happened next was beyond their expectations: they started to hear patterns. With more practice time, plants began to harmonize these patterns into musical scales, which transformed into melodies. These weren't random sounds but rather the conscious musical expression of plants and trees.

Today, thanks to a collaboration between Damanhur, Devodarma and Solera, the Music of the Plants device is available around the world to anyone who wants to personally experience this direct communication with plants using the universal language of music. The magic of Music of the Plants touches people in a profound way that cannot be conveyed in words. You must hear and feel this memorable encounter with nature for yourself. So drop by their booth in the Garden Marketplace to experience this incredible technology and hear the music of the plants.

Canada Blooms is pleased to welcome Owen Reeves as a presenter at this year's festival.
Owen is the fourth generation of his family to work in the garden industry. His life growing up around plants led to a passion for nature and the outdoors and a knack for growing plants (and keeping them alive!). After many years working at retail garden centres, Owen started The Outside Element focusing on horticultural consultation, design, and planting, with the belief that his vast plant knowledge and expertise is what will set your green space apart.

Owen is passionate about educating the everyday gardener, particularly about creating sustainable outdoor spaces with edibles, native plants, and unique species. Owen Reeves appears regularly as the Outdoor & Garden Expert on Canada’s most-watched daytime lifestyle series, The Marilyn Denis Show, which airs weekdays on CTV and the CTV GO app.

Don't miss Owen, presented by PRO-MIX and Harrowsmith, on Saturday March 18 at 12pm on the Unilock Celebrity Stage and 2pm on the Hortus TV Garden Solutions Stage presented by Harrowsmith, as he shows us tips and techniques for growing edibles in containers/limited spaces.

How to Choose a Snow Thrower
Whether you get light snowfalls, more than a foot of heavy, wet snow, or if you get it worse than anyone else, there's a Troy-Bilt snow thrower to clear the way. Here, you'll learn about the differences between each category of snow throwers and what type of features you might want. 

Single-Stage snow throwers are designed to handle 3-9 inches of light, powdery snow. The auger paddle pulls snow into the unit and propels it up and out of the chute in one motion, hence the name single-stage.  Because of the auger paddle design, single-stage snow throwers wipe the ground clean, leaving very little snow behind. Single-stage snow thrower units are also designed for solid pavement only. View all single-stage snow throwers   

Two-Stage snow throwers are designed to handle deep, heavy and wet snow.  These units use two stages to throw snow. First, the auger breaks up snow and ice, pulling it into the unit.  Then, an impeller throws the snow up and out of the chute.  Two-stage snow throwers also come equipped with skid shoes, which lift the auger up high enough which reduces the chance of picking up gravel - making them ideal for clearing a variety of surfaces. View all two-stage snow throwers

Three-Stage snow throwers are designed to take snow- and ice-crunching to another level with their third-stage accelerator.  The accelerator moves 10x faster than the augers to break up heavy, wet and icy snow and drive it back to the impellers, then out of the chute faster than our similar-sized two-stage units. The three-stage snow thrower units feature a heavy duty, fully sealed gearbox and larger, more powerful engines. View all three-stage snow throwers

Chute Controls
Troy-Bilt snow throwers come with a variety of chute controls, which allow you to quickly and easily change the direction in which you throw the snow.  One of these controls, the EZ Chute control, is mounted directly on the chute. Others are controlled remotely from the operator's position and make it easier to adjust the chute without stopping. Just One Touch' electric 4-way chute control gives you the ability to control both chute rotation and pitch with just your thumb. The joystick is conveniently located next to the handle grip so you can adjust the chute without even moving your hand. Other control options include the 2-way joystick, remote crank and 4-way joystick. 2-way controls let you adjust the chute direction from side to side, while 4-way controls rotate the chute from side to side and varies the pitch up and down.

Self-Propelled Snow Throwers
When trying to clear large amounts of heavy snow, it's helpful to have a snow thrower that does all the pushing for you. Self-propelled drive is available on all Troy-Bilt two and three-stage snow throwers and, they have multiple speeds in forward and reverse. This feature pushes the snow thrower along, eliminating the need for you to push.  It also allows you to easily control and steer the unit and helps it power through big snow drifts by digging into hard-packed snow and ice. 

Power Steering
Power steering is another feature that makes clearing snow easier. When you reach the end of your driveway and need to turn around, this system allows you to change the direction of the unit at a comfortable speed without any extra effort required. Power steering is usually controlled by two easy-to-use triggers, located on the hand grips. Simply squeeze one of the triggers and the unit will turn in that direction.

Greer Design Group Landscape has taken on the challenge of creating a small space garden in our Do Up The Doorsteps feature presented by Oaks by Brampton Brick. The Garden is titled '1867' in keeping with the Canada Blooms theme of 'Oh! Canada' in honour of Canada's birthday.

The garden design, reminiscent of a stately front courtyard, with its classic stone walls and porch seating takes us back to an era of simpler time. Its layout is elegant and inviting, well suited for visiting and entertaining guests. Blacksmiths and craftsman transformed the mundane into works of art, with ornate gas lit iron lanterns and extravagant handcrafted front doors. Evergreens and roses provide beauty and aroma to the senses of guests as they imagine walking the pathway to the front door.

Curl up and dig in! The Winter issue of Harrowsmith has arrived, packed with fun ideas and advice to help you through the busy holiday season and beyond.
Harrowsmith is offering Canada Blooms enews subscibers this online issue as a gift. The Winter issue features delicious recipes that also make great gifts, from our Food Editor, Joanna Notkin. We share some of our favourite books and albums to check out this season. And we also offer tips on how to create your own wreath and attract birds and other wildlife to your property this winter.

Read our fascinating interview with German forester Peter Wohlleben, who is
changing the face of forest management practices with his tree-friendly woodland and new book, The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They
Communicate—Discoveries from a Secret World. Inspired to nurture trees closer
to home, you’ll then want to check out advice from our Gardening Editor, Mark
Cullen, who shares his picks of which trees to plant to enjoy your home yearround.

Harrowsmith also speaks with chef Kevin McKenna, who is bringing forage-totable fare to his exquisite restaurant, Mount Julian, at Viamede Resort in the
Kawarthas, which is worth the road trip no matter where you find yourself this
winter.

Over the last four decades, the name Harrowsmith has become synonymous with gardening, country living and how to tread a little more lightly upon the earth. The Winter 2016/17 edition of Harrowsmith proudly continues that tradition. “With the new year here, our thoughts turn to the progress the world has made this past year and the goals we’d like to see for the future,” says Harrowsmith’s Publisher, Yolanda Thornton. “Harrowsmith embodies those changes: compassion for our environment and the other beings we share it with, a respectful curiosity about the world we live in, and a desire to leave a gentle footprint. With every issue, we inspire readers to connect with nature in new, meaningful ways, whether it’s with fresh-from-the-garden food for the kitchen
table, gardening tips, green home renovation advice and other lifestyle ideas.”

Canada Blooms needs your help and expertise to make the festival better than ever.
Come, join us for a Gardener’s Getaway, work a little, play a little and share in the excitement. If you volunteered last year, invite a friend or two to join you. 
This is a great way to put your skill to use or learn new skills, meet people and just have fun. As our thank you to you every volunteer will receive a ticket to the festival (Canada Blooms/Home Show) and a plant of the day courtesy of pickOntario. 

Visit our website and sign up today!
If you have any questions please contact Volunteer Coordinator: Martha Walsh at volunteers@canadablooms.com or call the main office 416-447-8655 x 7721
Come volunteer, Canada Blooms needs you to flourish.
Please note that both the TTC and GO Train have stops near the Enercare Centre,
also from Monday – Friday Parking will be FREE after 4:00 pm.

Come to the 23rd annual one-day gardening extravaganza ‘Get the Jump on Spring’ at the Toronto Botanical Garden, 777 Lawrence Ave E on Saturday, February 18, 2017 from 10 am to 4 pm.  
There will be 30+ garden-related exhibitors – horticultural societies, garden clubs and environmental organizations; along with Master Gardeners to answer your gardening questions. 

Running throughout the day are: free demonstrations and presentations, a floral design competition (theme: Happy 150th Canada), and winter garden tours.  For those who want to shop, there will be a unique line-up of vendors with gardening-related wares, organic farmers’ market, special offers in the TBG Garden Shop, and nearly-new vase and gardening book sales.  When hunger strikes, the Jump Café will be ready with snacks, soup, sandwiches, salads and sweets.  
Parking and admission to the show are free, although a $2 donation is appreciated and will give you an entry for hourly door-prize draws. 

For more information call 416-397-1341 or visit the link below. Get the Jump on Spring is a co-production of the Toronto Botanical Garden and the Ontario Horticultural Society.

Are you looking for a bus tour coming to Canada Blooms?
Visit our Bus Tour listing page for a full listing.

Are you looking for tickets to Canada Blooms?
Tickets can be purchased in advance, online or at a number of outlets, please visit our ticket page for a list of outlets. Tickets can also be purchased at the door once the festival has begun. Remember to check back for updates to each list