Introduction
Planting the Seeds
Cultivating the Garden
The Cultivators
Horticultural Societies and Garden Clubs
Experimental Farms and Seed Nurseries
Botanical Gardens
Heritage Seeds and Gardening
Reaping the Harvest
Bibliography
Photos by Beth Powning
Other Gardening Sites
Acknowledgements |
The Cultivators
From the first exchanges of information on what grew best where in this northern climate to the sophisticated crossbreeding of plants and the development of new cultivars, growing fruits and vegetables for food, and flowers and decorative plants for beauty has been both a necessity and a joy. All of these elements are impressively apparent in the many botanical gardens that have developed across the country.
Horticultural Societies and Garden Clubs
Communication and sharing information seem to be an integral part of gardening. Even now when information is readily available in libraries and bookstores, or on radio or television, gardeners tend to find personal discussion more satisfying. Imagine then how important it must have been in earlier times when seeds were hard to come by and little information on the limits of the Canadian climate was available. We will probably never know when the first garden club met. Many such meetings would have been unrecorded and of the many many records that were kept only a few remain. There were certainly clubs and associations from east to west before the turn of the century. And they all traded seeds and information, held flower shows, beautified public spaces, sent food in time of war, and worked together to develop special gardens for the benefit of all. In many cases it was the garden clubs and horticultural societies who researched and recorded the history of gardening in the various regions of Canada and, during Canada's centennial year, many locally published histories came into print.
| "Upon this ground, then of its tendency to improve our moral and intellectual nature would I persuade our fellow-citizens to aid us in our endeavour to establish and maintain the Society...." |
 |
Proceedings Connected with the Formation of the Montreal Horticultural Society, and its Constitution.
Montreal: The Society, 1847, p. 9. |
| If railway station masters were helpful in stimulating gardening and gardening organizations across the country, horticultural societies were important in contributing to the landscaping of railway right-of-ways, pioneer cemeteries, and school yards. |
|
Dodds, Philip F.
The Story of Ontario Horticultural Societies and Their Contribution to Making the Province a More Beautiful and Better Place in Which to Live, 1854-1973: A Project of Ontario Horticultural Association.
Toronto: [s.n.], 1973. |
| "...the idea of neighbours and friends joining together to form active Garden Clubs seems to have originated in the twentieth century. It is thought that Wolfville Garden Club, formed in January, 1935, was the first of this kind in Nova Scotia." |
|
Hambleton, Margaret and Marietta Silver.
Nova Scotia Association of Garden Clubs: History: The First Twenty Years, 1954-1973.
Truro, N.S.: Nova Scotia Association of Garden Clubs, 1973, p. 1. |
|
