Welcome to Canada’s Local Gardener

Dear readers,

It gives me tremendous pleasure to bring you this year’s issue of Beautiful Gardens. We haven’t done it in a few years, but it is back and it’s here to stay.

For those of you who don’t know, Beautiful Gardens is our special all-gardens annual edition. It comes out in the winter, just when you are dying for something green. This year we’re including the added benefit of our seed catalogue reviews. It is the most complete list of Canadian seed catalogues you’re likely to find. Some are mom and pop shops and others are major enterprises. The number has climbed exponentially in the last few years, particularly in seeds for edibles. People are intimately concerned about the food we are eating, where it comes from and how it is grown. Vegetable gardening has become a regular part of life for so many Canadians.

Over the summer, Dorothy Dobbie (our president and my mother) and I travelled across Manitoba and Alberta and I travelled around Ontario, meeting gardeners and taking pictures of their gardens. You could call the result is kind of garden pornography, but I like to think of it as so much more.

In the following pages, you’ll find nine gardens from Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario. There are country gardens and city gardens, with primary gardeners who are women and some who are men, and some who are younger and some older. Just about every last one of them conveyed something to me about watching plants come to life in the springtime that they absolutely love. People from all walks of life shared with us the one thing they all have in common: their fantastic joy in stewarding the plants in these beautiful gardens.

And so, gentle readers, curl up on your favourite warm chair and prepare to be impressed. Sincerely,

Shauna Dobbie shauna@pegasuspublications.net

PS: By the way, do you get our 10 Neat Things email newsletter? Every week we pick topic, something about the natural world—plants, animals, weather—and come up with 10 interesting facts about it. It is absolutely free, and you can sign up by linking to the address below. You can also quit whenever you want (though we don’t think you’ll want to!). We’ve been sending out these newsletters for about 12 years. That’s a lot of neat things!

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Published by Pegasus Publications Inc. President/Publisher Dorothy Dobbie dorothy@pegasuspublications.net Design Cottonwood Publishing Services Editor Shauna Dobbie shauna@pegasuspublications.net Art Direction & Layout Karl Thomsen karl@pegasuspublications.net General Manager Ian Leatt ian.leatt@pegasuspublications.net Contributors Dorothy Dobbie, Shauna Dobbie Editorial Advisory Boards Ontario: Ben Cullen, David Hobson, Sean James, Tara Nolan Manitoba: Michael Allen, Keith Lemkey, Jan Pedersen, Kevin Twomey Alberta: Stacey Mar, Cynthia Philp, Leona Staples Advertising Sales 1.888.680.2008 Subscriptions Write, email or call Canada’s Local Gardener, Suite 300 – 1600 Ness Ave. Winnipeg, MB R3J 3W7 Phone (204) 940-2700 Fax (204) 940-2727 Toll Free 1 (888) 680-2008 subscribe@localgardener.net One year (four issues): $29.95 Two years (eight issues): $58 Three years (twelve issues): $80 Single copy: $8.95; Beautiful Gardens: $12.95 150 years of Gardening in Canada copy: $12.95 Plus applicable taxes. Return undeliverable Canadian Addresses to: Circulation Department Pegasus Publications Inc. Suite 300 – 1600 Ness Ave., Winnipeg MB R3J 3W7 Canadian Publications mail product Sales agreement #40027604 ISSN 2369-0410

CANADA’S LOCAL GARDENER is published four times annually by Pegasus Publications Inc. It is regularly available to purchase at newsstands and retail locations throughout Canada or by subscription. Visa, MasterCard and American Express accepted. Publisher buys all editorial rights and reserves the right to republish any material purchased. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited without permission in writing from the publisher. Copyright Pegasus Publications Inc.