March, 2010

In This Issue:

Mark's Choice Product of the Month

Canada Blooms

Grey Power Day at Canada Blooms

Podcasts on markcullen.com

Toronto Star

Launch of The Green File on 680 NEWS

Spring Gardening Tips

Shaw Garden Tour

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March Highlights: Canada Blooms and Opportunities to learn and meet!

February is behind us and the best of winter (and the worst) is behind us. The vernal equinox is coming up in just 3 weeks, and spring begins on March 21 st, coincidentally the last day of the great Canada Blooms.

I am very excited about this years’ edition of Canada ’s largest flower and garden festival. Here are some excellent reasons why you should really consider a trip to Toronto to take it in (and remember, people fly in from every corner of the country to see this spectacle!):

New Location! Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place. That means one level for all segments of the event

Education . Over 200 hours of gardening demos, lectures, travelogues, how-to’s, and just sit down and take a load off. Taking place on 3 separate stages at the same time. Bring friends – have them take notes so that you don’t miss anything

Heather and I ! Daughter Heather and I will speak on Friday, March 19 th at 1 p.m. in the Enbridge Garden Solutions Room 103, Hall A, about the fabulous tour of famous English gardens that we took last summer including the wonderful Hampton Court Flower and Garden Show – the 2 nd largest in the world!

23 Feature Gardens . Up from our previous high of 17 gardens –this year promises to be a stand out in so many ways…. Consider what $9 million worth of plants, materials, designing and labour look like and you get the picture. No, you can’t do that! Not without seeing it for yourself.

Expanded marketplace. Look for gifts, books, garden décor items, the newest in garden tools, clothing and outdoor lounging (I am a professional).

Canada Blooms Flower & Garden Festival – What’s New and Hot for 2010

Celebrate Canadian gardening at the 14 th annual Canada Blooms. From March 17 to 21, 2010 , Canada Blooms returns to Toronto to transform its new location – the Direct Energy Centre at Exhibition Place into Canada ’s largest flower and garden festival. This year the Festival celebrates the best of Canadian gardens and explores the tradition of gardening and horticultural excellence from across the country.

Canada Blooms features a paradise bursting with six acres of glorious gardens in full bloom. All are designed by the best talent in the industry and installed by the most capable landscape contractors that you are likely to find. Anywhere. How do I know this? I work as a volunteer on the Board and with many of the fine people associated with Canada Blooms. Now in it’s 14 th year…… the line up of professionals wanting to get in on the action has been long and the screening committee that assigns floor space and approves garden designs has actually had to turn some willing participants down.

Canada Blooms also features more than 100,000 square feet of green-thumb shopping, over 200 hours of seminars, workshops and demonstrations, a special children’s area and more. Don’t miss my booth in the Marketplace where you can pick up a free sample of the new Mark’s Choice Water Wicks - an eco-friendly product to reduce watering by up to 50%.

I recommend that you look for these feature gardens, among others:

The Canadian Cancer Society invites you to Join the Fight with their garden Yellow Beacon, designed and built by Scott Torrance Landscape Architect Inc. As you walk through a serene outdoor urban gallery of springtime flowers, daffodils, and waterfalls, you will feel the full impact of this year’s message “Fight Back”. A twelve foot wall of bright yellow daffodils is the beacon that will glow from afar and draw you in. Once inside, a maze-like pathway will take you through a series of unique gardens, a meditative reflecting pond and a dramatic stone message wall. This truly inspiring and thought provoking garden is a tribute to the fighting spirit in all of us.

Our professional partner in Canada Blooms, Landscape Ontario struts their stuff with an outstanding addition to the festival called ‘Garden Creations, Green for Life!”

Inspired by the slogan of their recently launched public relations campaign, this garden features a sky-high waterfall, spectacular plants [their specialty!], unique ‘hardscaping’, and superb craftsmanship. This is a green oasis that educates and inspires.

Coordinated by an inspired landscaper/designer/volunteer, the associations’ own Tim Kearney from Ottawa , this garden is intended to impress. And will.

This is just the tip of the landscape….. take your time to browse through the other 20 Feature Gardens at ‘Blooms.

Dates: Wednesday, March 17 to Sunday, March 21, 2010

Where: Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place

Admission: $18 for adults, $16 for seniors and students. Children 12 and under are free.

For all the details go to www.canadablooms.com

Where is Mark?

I will be traveling around Ontario this month –then off to other parts of the country later this spring.

Look for me:

Saturday, March 6 at the Barrie Spring Home Show

Saturday, March 13 th at the Oshawa Home & Garden Show

Wednesday, March 17 - Sunday, March 21at Canada Blooms. I am speaking each day at Canada Blooms at 11:30 with my buddy Denis Flanagan from the Grey Power Stage.  Also, Friday at 1:00 pm with my daughter Heather. Join us as we take you on a tour of great British
gardens.

Friday, March 19 and Saturday, March 20 at the Markham Home Show

Friday, March 26 and Saturday, March 27 at the Cornwall Home Show

Thursday, April 22 - Sunday, April 24 at the Kanata Garden Show

I will be handing out product samples of my new Mark’s Choice ‘Water Wicks’ at each show and I will present ‘An Escape to Reality’- discovering the garden journey right in your own yard.

Enjoy the beginning of spring –even if you live in Newfoundland where things may not warm up for a few weeks, the promise of it all is in the air, you have to admit.

Get Connected to my gardening message!

Beginning this month I write a regular gardening column for the TorontoStar in the New Homes and Condos section (begins March 13th) AND I provide a one minute tip on 680 News called 'The Green File'.  Listen every Thursday, Friday and Sunday! Details below.

Keep your knees dirty,

Mark

I will be writing for the Toronto Star, Saturday edition!

Beginning Saturday, March 13 th I will have a regular column in the New Homes and Condos section of the Toronto Star.

Look for ‘Green’ by Mark Cullen and enjoy timely garden information that you can use (my mantra), tips, a question and answer (based on the Q & A’s that I receive at www.markcullen.com) plus garden events, current news and introductions to some great gardening characters.

If you do not live in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) no worries – you will be able to access my new column on line at www.thestar.com and www.yourhome.ca.

Get a head start: plant your vegetable seeds and slow-germinating flower seeds indoors.

Bring home some colour: plants such as cyclamen plants are great options and they last a long time indoors too.

Show some skin: near the end of March you can start taking some of the winter protection off of your evergreens and removing the soil that you used to cover up your roses. However, if you live on the Prairies you may want to leave this job for another couple of weeks.

You're never too young: get your kids involved in some indoor gardening projects like seed starting, making seed tapes using folded over toilet paper and starting an avocado pit indoors. Or consider taking a 'March Break' trip to Toronto to let your kids explore the children's garden at this year's Canada Blooms festival.

Turn on the bulbs: purchase your tuberous begonias and canna lily bulbs in March and start them indoors. The begonias will root best in a seeding tray full of damp peat moss on the top of your fridge, where the low ambient heat that comes up the back of it will kick-start your begonia tubers into putting down roots. The canna lily bulbs are best started directly in one gallon sized pots in a sunny window.

Explore Secret Gardens of Niagara-on-the-Lake in Support of the Shaw Theatre Festival 

The 5 th Annual Shaw Guild Garden Tour will feature eight Niagara-on-the-Lake gardens, including the Shaw Festival’s own Secret Garden. The tour takes place Saturday June 12, 2010 from 10 am to 4 pm.

Master Gardeners will be on hand at each stop to discuss garden details and a feature sheet will be provided for each property. Properties for viewing this year include gardens located on the scenic Niagara Parkway and in Niagara-on-the-Lake’s ‘old-town’ heritage district as well as the Shaw Festival's Secret Garden where costumes from The Shaw will also be on display.

Secret Garden Tour Tickets are $20 and are available through the Shaw Box Office at 1-800-511-7429. Box lunches can be pre-ordered with your ticket purchase. Visit www.shawfest.com/gardentour for a complete list of addresses of gardens being featured on the tour. Tickets can also be purchased in advance in Niagara-on-the-Lake at Mori Gardens, Elizabeth's, the Chamber of Commerce, and in Fonthill at Vermeer's Garden Centre. On the day of the event, tickets will be available at any of the gardens on the tour, or outside of Valu-Mart, downtown Niagara on the Lake.

The Tour is organized by the Shaw Guild volunteers with net proceeds going to support the Endowment Fund of the Shaw Festival.

For more information, refer to Mark's best selling gardening books — or tune into CanadaAM every Friday morning at 8:45am on CTV. If you have a specific question, simply search Mark's Library at www.markcullen.com.

Read Mark's weekly blog on Yahoo! Canada.