2015 Canada Blooms

I had the pleasure of seeing green again this week. After our harsh winter, it was a joy!

Here are some of the snap-shots I took. Very busy day to visit. Was glad to see so many people soaking it up.

The living wall trend is still alive:

The use of Echeverias and German Ivy worked like a clockwork!  :) 

To be honest, I prefer this scale. I'd do this in a heart-beat, if I had a hot brick wall facing south/east.  For sure.

Loving the fern idea. Gonna see if I can try this myself. Fun.

 Was so glad to see the continued floral creativity. These were some of my favs:

This one had top honours and was my #1 too!

Enjoyed this little Fairy Garden. Do you spot it?

A design firm called Bienenstock Playgrounds made playground apparatus and this tree house from tree trunks and limbs. Quite impressive!

And special kudos to the TBG for having a 4 balcony (room) Pollinating Playground showcase. Cheers to TBG's Paul Zammit, TBG staff and all the volunteers for putting together a great educational display!

Even though there were plenty of wow displays, I still gravitate towards the simpler, more DIY ideas that I could take home and easily do. Like these:

Two more days left for the show. It's combined with the National Home Show.  Lots to see and enjoy!

Limited Space Vertical Gardening

Humber College Urban Homestead Display

At Canada Blooms earlier this year, I got a glimpse of some interesting vertical gardening techniques.  Living walls and stacked containers demonstrated you can still garden even though one might not have a large area to work with.

Lee Valley's Stacking Pots

 Lee Valley has these wonderful stacked containers which I think are ideal for herbs.

Stacking Pots and accessories

Having little pots scattered about would reduce space and increase clutter - this idea lets you get a totem effect. Each stackable pot has 3 exposed planting areas, with a shared centre chamber, ideal for roots to spread and for adequate water retention.

Or how about this Wall Garden method: 

Lee Valley Wall Garden Container

Plant stands are also ideal. I've refurbished a stacked arrangement of sorts from reused items. I found this old plant stand at the end of someones curb, put out for garbage. I took it home, sanded the worst of rust away and spray painted it with rust-proof Tremclad. Functional waste diversion ;) Now it holds some of my herbs.







Even in shade I manage to grow tomatoes. Here I placed my grape tomatoes in a moveable pot (on wheels) to maximize sunny spots (which move through the summer). I also extended the tomato cage with bamboo hoops. Now the tomato stands over 6 feet, and currently over 8 flower batches are in the progress of maturing to fruit in the next few weeks. Yay for vertical growth!

I added more obelisks to my containers and trellises to my garden, in order to achieve more height.

There's a lot of creative ways to maximize space.

Canada Blooms 2012

Oh Canada! Great use for Kalachoe's eh? :-P

Canada Blooms this year was a joint venture with the National Home Show.  It's been a few years since I attended Canada Blooms, as I have felt many of the garden trends and designs are unrealistic to maintain, and the average home owner can't afford such extravagance. It used to bother me to see spring/summer forced material blooming all at once and to see plant material suffer. But I can see how it drives the garden economy and gives people a joy to see spring colours in full show. So, I decided to give it a go.

The Canada Blooms portion of the show was a lot smaller and more concentrated. Overall it was a great show, a little less showy than years past and the market place was smaller than I remember. However, the National Home Show section was a nice draw once we were done with the Blooms portion.

Like a bone-head, I forgot to check my camera to see if I remembered the memory card. Forgive my photos, as they are from my camera phone.  Sorry.

Here are some of the highlights I chose:

I'm quite partial to interesting floral designs. Aren't these sweet?







Orchids, sphagnum moss, Kermit Mums, Aspidistra leaves.

Peace on Earth

I thought this one was quite clever. Called "Peace on Earth". This photo does not capture it at all. The wood use is all drift wood, weathered by water. It must of taken hours to put together and years to collect. I really think it was done well.

The next photos are of the Green Zone section. I enjoyed this most. Living walls, roof top gardening, and interesting containers used to grow veggies.

This is the roof top garden display.. I really like the concept, but how realistic it is to maintain it in this patterning is uncertain. It certainly points to a great trend and environmental focus.

Living salad bar. So cool. This was a part of the Food Share section. Lettuce and sprouts were in growing mediums, with grow lights above. Harvest as you make dinner.

Sorry, I tried a close up. Sprouts growing in these cool clay pellet medium.

Humber College's Landscape Design display featured a more earthy, Urban Homestead theme. Loved it. This living wall, herb and veggie boxes, are quite fun. Tilted to reach appropriate sun levels. I really thought it was a great method to screen in privacy and provide yummy nibbles. Their sustainable features are an example to where gardening trends need to go. I am glad to see my former alumni heading this direction.

Plant World's Display

I feel bad as my camera cut off the other container, but a colleague of mine put these together, and I think they may have not been the showiest, but they certainly have unique elements that could realistically be situated in your own backyard. Well done Edward!



It was a fun evening. Parking is free after 5pm, which I took advantage of. Cheers to the Bloom display designers and organizers.