Spring is slow coming to us so we went in search of spring at Canada Blooms. This is the annual garden and flower show held in Toronto at the Direct Energy Center. On a dull and rainy day we boarded a bus headed for spring! No worries about driving, the closure on the DVP (Don Valley Parkway), the poor visibility from the pouring rain coming home. We sat back and enjoyed the drive on a McCoy bus. The show ran from March 14 to 23 this year. The National Home Show was also on at the same time, so there was lots to see and do.
Nothing says spring better than masses of tulips and daffodils. There were certainly many to admire as we walked through the various garden areas that were set up.
I had planter envy seeing the lush and full planters throughout the show.
There were ideas galore. I’ve made succulent wreaths in the past and also planted in old tree stumps. The succulent picture frames are ideas I’ve been looking at on various sites this winter. It was great to see some in person and see how they were made … a picture frame, a little box and chicken wire. I loved the planting in the big digger, but know I can’t have one of those in my garden. But I do happen to have a few big trucks the grandkids played with so I could make a miniature version. I recently found an old tool box of my husbands and I have plans to plant it up like the second one from the top left.
More projects were inspired by these displays. I’m going to use a few of those wooden crates that clementines come in and make some bug hotels. I know the grandkids will love investigating what bugs took up residence. I’ve also seen many versions of these on other gardening sites as well. I love the ides of creating a bee home (bottom left) but I worry that the wasps will invade it as there are more wasps around than bees. I already plant in blue boxes as shown in the top photo.
This picnic table has been set planted up with ground spreading plants and the place settings have sedums planted in them.
I wish I had thought of this idea a few years ago when we had an old picnic table.
We were really pleased to see a display on hugelkultur as I had just read about this on another garden site and we’ve been doing some research on it. It’s a different way of raised gardening using twigs, compostable items, and soil. If you haven’t heard about it why not search hugelkultur and see if you can do it in your garden.
And who doesn’t like freebies? I got some okra seeds that I will be trying to grow in one of my big tubs, some plant nutrient fertilizer and some little plants that we got to pot up in some cute little buckets while learning about transplanting and the fertilizer. We also got some samples of tea, some rice, some nibbles to sample, a little bit of wine and lots of phamplets,magazines and brochures for future reading, plus I got my shoes shined!
It was a wonderful day out and a great way to get into the spring gardening spirit.
