LMT April 30 2018

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Garden Days 2018
Monday, April 30, 2018 • Last Mountain Times
Between Friends Quilt
Guild Show
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Mark your calendars now for June 16th to
24th and help celebrate Garden Days in
your community. You may now be asking
yourself: “What is Garden Days?” Well, believe it or
not it is an annual celebration of Canada’s garden
culture that began in 2013. It was modeled after the
American Public Gardens Association which has
a National Public Gardens Day annually in May.
Recognizing that May is much too early to showcase
gardens and gardening in Canada and putting the
focus on the vital role that gardens and gardening
has on our lives, this nine-day program of activities
and events is for gardening enthusiasts, families,
schools and tourists alike. Garden Days is an opportunity
for Canadians to enjoy their own garden, visit
or take part in their favourite garden experience,
get inspired at their local garden centre or travel to
a nearby destination to enjoy their favourite garden.
National Gardening Day is June 16th which is the
beginning of our ten day celebration so start planning
now to make 2018 the best Garden Days ever!
Garden Days 2018 is fast approaching, so if you
have any activity already planned during those days
then you can easily register them on the Garden
Days website http://gardendays.ca/for no charge!
What an opportunity for all events to get some extra
regional, provincial and national exposure!
Consider this article your personal initiation to
get involved. It does not matter if you are part of a
horticultural society; a garden club or even a group
of school children with a teacher who has a proverbial
green thumb - Garden Days is for all of us! A
couple of weeks ago, I was asked to volunteer my
time to participate and become the spokesperson
for SK. Well, in the interest of gardeners and those
that want to be across SK, I decided to donate just a
bit more time to the gardening world!
HORTICULTURE
PAT HANBIDGE
SASKATOON, SK
If you have an idea, I am
here to help you to make your
community a grand participant
of Garden Days. Simply reach
out to me and we can get this
show on the road. Activities that
range from a workshop to a kid’s
treasure hunt are all possibilities.
Have a look at the website
and scroll through the many
activities that are already registered.
The activities you will
see come from garden centres,
schools, garden clubs, municipalities,
community gardens, wineries, churches,
private citizens and more. We hope to reach the 400
- activity milestone this year. Many thanks go out
to our sponsors Scotts Miracle-Gro, Bullfrog Power
and the Alumni Association of the Niagara Parks
Commission School of Horticulture Foundations.
It is also my hope to get as many of our communities
as possible to declare their own Official Garden
Day. We even have a downloadable copy of a proclamation
template that can be easily used by your
community regardless of the size or population.
So do not delay!!!! Saskatchewan was just included
this year so let’s show some good old Saskatchewan
pride and show all of Canada what we are made
of! I look forward to helping you out with any and
all your Garden Day activities! Let’s get gardening!
-Patricia Hanbidge is a horticulturist with
the Saskatoon School of Horticulture.
She can be reached at 306‐931‐GROW(4769); by email at
growyourfuture@gmail.com
or check out their website at www.saskhort.com
THWF Annual Banquet
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