CANADA BLOOMS
is one of the first breaths of spring in the city. Get ideas and inspiration for the coming growing season with the best garden show and sale in town. Here you can explore over 6 acres of spectacular indoor garden displays, and learn from over 200 hours of gardening demonstrations and talks. This year the dates are March 12th to 16th at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. www.canadablooms.ca

PLANTAHOLICS UNITE!
Toronto Botanical Garden is bringing one of the world’s most avid plant collectors to Toronto. Glenis Dyer is a master gardener and the Vice-Chairman of the British Clematis Society. Her garden in Stratford-upon-Avon is opened to the public each year as part of the National Gardens Scheme fundraising project. She’s here to talk about how to make your early spring garden unique and eyecatching. Date: January 30th. For tickets call 416-397-1340

Go on an OWL PROWL. What could be cooler than a winter's evening stroll through an owl's forest home? Bring the family out to The James Boyd Children's Centre to learn about how owls see in the dark, how they fly without sound, and dissect an owl pellet to find tiny skulls inside! Then bundle up and head out to the forest to call for owls and listen for their winter song. Date: February 16th. For tickets call 416-397-1355

When you look out on your quiet winter garden, don’t be fooled into thinking all is asleep under that cover of white.
Here are just a few insights into the secret life of your garden in winter.

Tulip Bulbs
Like the ringing of an alarm clock, as soon as soil temperatures drop to below 10° C, your tulip bulbs wake up and get busy forming their roots again.
Cold is also the trigger, telling cells to start forming leaves and flower buds.

Insects
Monarch Butterflies are one of a handful of smart insects that migrate south for the winter. The rest of our garden bugs are hunkered down out of sight as they wait for spring.

Many survive by overwintering as larvae, nymphs, pupae or eggs to keep their needs minimal. Those that hibernate as adults, like lady bugs and wasps, look for snug micro-habitats to shelter them. Honey bees are the exception to the general hibernation rule as they huddle up in their hives and vibrate their wings to raise the temperatures.

Trees
The sugary sap in trees acts much like antifreeze to protect them in winter. Cold weather signals trees to produce sugar in higher concentration which helps prevent the moisture inside the trunk and branches from freezing solid.

Our Horticultural Service Reps
In 2007 we introduced a new staff position to the LPGC team: Horticultural Service Reps. Dealing directly with our clients on their garden care, they are making sure the needs and wishes of clients are well executed.

Pictured: Horticultural Service Reps:  Darren Young, Rita Devgan, Craig Hutchinson - President, & Ken Allen

Our Green Roof
After installing our first Green Roof last year, LPGC is very eager to continue working on these exciting and environmentally valuable installations.

Pictured: Larissa Stipetic and the team working on our first Green Roof project

Training! Training! Training!
Our new in-house staff training programs are keeping the LPGC team up-to-date on all the latest information, ideas and innovations in the garden care industry. Our list of staff classes includes: Perennial Plant Identification; Planting Trees and their Care; Organic Treatment of Lawn Pests and Diseases; The Landscape Design Process; Organic Deep Root Fertilizing; Small Engine Care; Irrigation Overview; Top 5 Diseases & Pests That Concern Clients; CPR Training; Great Client Care.

Pictured: Allan Sinclair and Jacquie Geno at one of our staff training sessions.

Environmental Stewardship
Last year we purchased and retro-fitted two ambulances, adding them to our fleet. These LPGC vehicles are diesel engines and will be converted to bio-diesel as part of LPGC’s commitment to environmental stewardship.

Pictured: Our new retro-fitted ambulance

When we installed our very first Green Roof last year, both our client and our staff were thrilled with the result.
What’s a green roof? Put very simply, it’s covering or replacing a flat roof with a specialized series of layers that produce vegetation.

Green roofs benefit individuals and communities in a variety of ways, and those benefits are being recognized and promoted by city governments around the world. The city of Toronto has its own Green Roof Grant Program to encourage people to make the leap to going green.

Personal benefits are straightforward: air conditioning costs in summer are reduced, heating costs in winter are lower, and the life of your roof is extended by protecting it from UV damage and weather. Plus, of course, green roofs give the aesthetics of your home a huge boost.

But it’s the big picture benefits that are making the most dramatic difference. In our sprawling urban centers, our roofs, highways and roads decrease water absorption into the earth and increase runoff. Natural areas along lakes, rivers and ravines are hit hard by storm water runoff as it dumps chemical pollutants, urban waste and sediments directly into our waterways and shoreline.

A living roof reconnects rain on its journey from the sky to the earth. As it catches precipitation, the green roof allows rainfall to either evaporate back into the atmosphere or to nourish the living soil and plants.

Our city air is also improved as plants reduce greenhouse gasses by absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen.
Green roofs are sanctuaries for birds, bees and butterflies, as well as the two legged creatures that live beneath them. All living things on earth rely on these natural cycles, so building roofs that become part of the natural environment again improves everyone’s quality of life in the city.

And just think, you can take those heating and air conditioning savings straight to Canada Blooms to stock up on fabulous flowers and plants for your wonderful new garden space.

For more information on installing your own green roof, call Raina Mullen Landscape Design Manager 416 481 1888 X 1

On September 5th of last year we lost a great friend and colleague, Kent Dynes.

Our memories of Kent’s years at LPGC remind us of how much he enjoyed working with clients, with his garden care teammates, and with his hands in the soil. His sincere and unaffected commitment to great customer service stands out as just one of the many unique gifts he brought to work with him every day. When Kent worked with clients, he truly listened and then went to great effort to follow up and make sure they were happy with the service they received.

But over and above work, everyone at Lawrence Park Garden Care knew Kent’s number one love in life was his daughter, Marley. There was nothing that could light up his eyes faster than his little girl. Being Marley’s dad was without doubt the one thing in life Kent was most proud of. Kent also had that remarkable ability to not just appreciate a kid’s natural sense of fun, but to enter into it in a spirit of true playfulness. Put him in a room full of kids, and he was instantly the centre of a laughing, boisterous group of very happy children.

We miss Kent’s warmth, his passion for his work and his pride in and love for his little girl. When we remember him, we feel our loss a little less as time goes by. And that leaves more room to appreciate how lucky we were to have had Kent as our colleague and friend for all the years he worked with us here at Lawrence Park Garden Care.