By Sheldon Spackman

Parkland Garden Centre hosting Garden Days celebrations

Jun 14, 2018 | 9:45 AM

Central Albertans are invited to celebrate Garden Days at Parkland Garden Centre near Red Deer this weekend.

The national 10-day celebration of gardens and gardening will see Parkland host a large number of activities for families and gardeners of all ages and experience levels.

Owner Gloria Beck says a number of students from local schools have already been touring the nursery all week in a lead-up to this weekend’s activities on both Saturday and Sunday.

“We’re bringing them out here so they can see what gardening is all about,” says Beck. “Then on the weekend we have anything from Chef Emmanuel from the Boulevard coming to do a bbq course with herbs, we’ve got Francois Michaud with Healthy Kid Snacks, we’ve got the petting zoo, we’ve got a book signing with Myrna Pearman from Ellis Bird Farm. We’ve partnered with a number of companies to make this successful.”

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However, Beck says their Provincial Flagship event is ultimately all about gardening, learning where product comes from and connecting and having fun.

“Finding new and different things, that’s what Parkland likes to have,” states Beck. “We also have CoffeeStream, a gourmet café open Thursday to Sunday from 10 to 4 where you can have home-made sweets along with your cappuccino or ice drink. There’s just so much happening out here you’ll probably meet your neighbours!”

She says growing your own food has been a big trend in recent years.

“People are wanting to grow their own food,” explains Beck. “Whether it be vegetables, herbs and that’s why we’ve got these chefs coming in, they’re connecting, teaching people how to cook with their vegetables or herbs, so those are two trends. Container gardens, if people live in a condo or an apartment, they can grow their own vegetables or flowers on the deck and still enjoy gardening.”

As part of Garden Days at Parkland Garden Centre, Beck says they will also host their first-ever Garden Party Fundraiser – ‘For the Love of Art”, a juried, original art sale recognizing 13 Alberta artists with proceeds going to the Smiles Thru Lindsey Endowment Fund.

Garden Days runs from June 16-24 inclusive at garden centres and nurseries all across Canada.

For more information on Parkland Garden Centre and its Garden Days events June 16 and 17, click here.