Lakeview Gardens offering tour of their greenhouses
by Michelle Minnoch

With the summer weather almost upon us, the folks at Lakeview Gardens are not only opening for the season this Saturday, but are providing an opportunity for residents to have a guided tour of their gardens at their open house on Saturday, May 5th.

"People don't realize the scope of what we really have," said Steve Radcliffe of Lakeview. While customers buy their products from the greenhouse up front, there is a whole other world to Lakeview, one that is rarely seen by the average customer.

"We have about 30,000 four inch pots," said Steve. "On top of that, we probably have 30,000 - 40,000 perennials and herbs, and 2500 one gallon pots of perennials."

Rob Radcliffe said one of the more popular trends this year is people purchasing hanging baskets for sprucing up their home. With 2400 ten inch hanging baskets on-hand, Lakeview Gardens is more than ready for the summer rush.

"The open house is an opportunity for people to see us at capacity before we ship out some of the product," said Rob.

Lakeview Gardens supplies other garden centres, retirement homes and cemeteries with their flowers.

Steve said customers will get the help and advice they need from Lakeview Gardens.

"This will be the 20th year the Radcliffe family has been serving the local area," said Rob.

Lakeview Gardens is a gold sponsor of the Garden Gala, and sponsors the Celebrity Gardening Challenge. The Garden Gala will be held at the Stroud Arena tomorrow night.

The ever popular Herb Open House will be taking place at Lakeview Gardens on July 14th, and the Giant Onion Growing Contest will be in the fall.

Starting this weekend, Lakeview Gardens is open Monday through Saturday, 9am until 6pm.

Located at 1712 Killarney Beach Road, Lakeview Gardens has an abundance of flowers, herbs and more for your garden. Drop by and a get a tour of their fabulous facilities, and maybe even pick up a treat or two for your garden.