Having a blooming good time at an annual event
The Gardener's Corner
By Judith Rogers

Canada Blooms sure can give a person a boost at this time of year, when it seems winter will never end.

The flower powerful displays boasted more colour this year than ever before and exhibits flaunting names with groovy and groovin' were a trip down memory lane.

A children's garden, complete with slides built into a hill surrounded by plant material and rustic furniture cut from logs, was just the thing for tots to experience and the strollers were constantly lined up at the entrance.

Water features ran from bold to block out traffic to tranquil, where you could relax and spend an afternoon. The Landscape Ontario garden highlighted many of the new plants for 2008 and annual ageratum Artist Rose is a yummy deep pink colour that thrives in full sun and will liven up a planter, window box or border.

Be prepared for yet another new Echinacea colour, this time Tiki Torch, which is a dark orange that will retain its intense colour for weeks and has spicy-scented blooms. A plant that has fallen by the wayside for some time but is making a comeback is Acanthus mollis or bear's breeches. New from Tasmania is a variegated acanthus with the usual green spiky leaves, but with white margins and mottling. This will form a large clump 90 to 120 centimetres tall with flower stalks of pink and cream in late summer. Bear's breeches like a deep, fertile, moist soil in full to partial shade, and are a real conversation piece as they are not too common in gardens.

Photo by Judith Rogers A mosaic circle that was on display at the Canada Blooms show.

Beautifully Parched was a water efficient garden comprised of nine different areas and most outstanding was the mosaic circle, a beautiful tapestry of succulents and thyme that are heat and drought tolerant.

Items of interest from the Garden Writers Association meeting at Blooms:

• From June 15 to Sept. 7, travellers can take the Via Rail garden route to visit 28 communities across Canada, some of them horticultural gems from Communities in Bloom. Visitors to Toronto area gardens can complete a contest ballot for a chance to win a round-trip for two in VIA 1 first class to the Roger-Van den Hende Botanical Garden to celebrate Quebec City's 400th anniversary. The prize includes two nights at a Delta hotel. Visit www.viarail.ca/garden for more information.

• The Trillium Foundation has given a grant to Plant a Row Grow a Row to establish a junior program to be funded over two years. Children will learn the gratification of planting seeds, harvesting, and then delivering the produce to the food bank.

• Award winning Fiskars has arthritis-friendly PowerGear, pruners that make large branch cutting a snap and their hand pruners come in left or right handed. New this year is the telescoping weed remover, long handled bulb planter, long handled grass and garden edger and a garden multisnip tool that will cut, slice, saw, snip and cut wire.