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Introduction Planting the Seeds Cultivating the Garden
Reaping the Harvest |
The CultivatorsFrom 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 ClubsCommunication 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.
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