2012 - City Culture

New for 2012: Enjoy and admire 48 feet of floral carpet created with rooted, preserved, dried and fresh cut plant material and flowers in a modern geometric design vivid in varying shades of green, white and blue/purple. The most recent floral carpet created by the Garden Club of Toronto was at Toronto City Hall in Doors Open 2009.  The Garden Hall entrance is highlighted by a dynamic floral design by professional Toronto florist, Bruno Duarte of Fresh Florals.  Enjoy our 2 new sections. Youth Design features butterflies, fanciful or realistic, made of dried plant material. Youth Horticulture is Chlorophytum comosum (Spider plants) rooted by children.  Photographic Print features photos taken in Canada which celebrate Seasons, Flora, At Work or Play or Reflections of the City. 

The Garden Hall pulses with the energy and verve of creative people who are passionate about flora and floral design.  The Hall’s edgy, sleek design reflects today’s urban culture.  The titles of the design classes describe the many faces of city culture: vibrant, dynamic, tranquil, colourful, cosmopolitan, carefree, chic, vintage, artistic and more.  These themes are interpreted by some of today’s best Canadian and international floral designers in traditional, modern and contemporary designs vibrating in rhythm, texture, form and colour.  In the horticulture classes, special exhibits which combine both horticulture and design also reflect our city culture with titles such as Cocktails in the Courtyard, Condo Living, Allotment Gardening and more.  Gardeners will enjoy the forced branches and bulbs, potted plants and the Education classes featuring plants grown from cuttings and seeds.  Come and enjoy the many faces of Garden Hall.

Delight in stunning floral creations at the standard judged flower show at Canada Blooms. This is your chance to show off your green thumb! Interested non-professional exhibitors as well as members of Horticultural Societies and Garden Clubs are welcome to enter these classes. 2012 competition rules, classes and awards information is available click here.

Garden Hall Competitiors can register now for 2012 competition.

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Garden Hall 2012 Built by: Special Entrance design by: Bruno Duarte of About Bruno Duarte : From the mountains to the markets, Bruno grew up surrounded by flowers on his family's farm in Madeira. This island paradise off the coast of Morocco is known as the floating garden and is home to rare species of flowers from around the world. It's here where Bruno's passion for orchids and all things floral began. Much like his Belgian contemporaries, Bruno's approach to floral design is both sculptural and emotional, blending organic materials and found objects together to create works of art. His floral studio in Toronto is often mistaken for an art gallery, where weekly window displays are created to showcase his artistry. His exceptional craftsmanship and innovative design techniques have captured the attention of socialites and A-list celebrities in Canada as well as international glitterati like Rene Zellweger, Patti LaBelle, Sir Elton John and Shania Twain. When Bruno is not at his studio he can be found designing in front of a live audience.  He frequently appears on local and national television programs, and gives floral demonstrations at Home and Garden shows.  Design firms in the city have Bruno on speed dial, and call upon him to create large structures for art galleries, restaurants, luxury condos, hotels and private homes.  He is also a regular contributor to magazines in Australia, Canada and the United States, where his seasonal decor and wedding work are prominently featured.

2011 - Blooming Art

At the 2011 Canada Blooms flower show, the floral designs were all original works of art!. The Garden Hall was transformed into an art gallery with a maginificent show of both tradtional, modern and contemporary art and sculpture -- exhibiting the work of some of the best Canadian and international floral designers. Visitors could stip into a gallery of cutting edge designs, romantic designs, retropective designs and abstract work and let their head swil with the rhythms, textures, forms, and colours in the gallery.

Framed works of flroal art included retrospedtive interpretations of Art Deco and Art Nouveau style. Flowers in basket and hand-tied bouquets, favourite subjects for painers, were created in glorious colours, to tempt the artist in all of us. Tiny miniature desings inspired by sculptures delighted and amazed. Table designs recreated a luncheon in an impressionist's garden inviting us into an intimate scene from the past. Landscape designs reflected a stylized landscape of the imagination and a landscape evocative of a Group of Seven painting or something in between.

Modern abstract design was featured in a class of stamobiles, a floral art form derived from the work of the modern sculptor Alexander Calder. Large sulptural designs composed for a modern art museum reflected contemporary trends in floral art. Satellite designs from designers across the province enticed creativity and imagination. The ikebana arrangement created a contemplative mood, while the international exhibitors created designs which were futuristic and speculative in conception. The show provoked the audience's feelings and thoughts. Blooming Art -- an exhibition of flroal art at its best.

Garden Hall 2011 Built by:

	Garden Hall Floral Competition 2011 Pictures courtesy of Trish Symons
	Garden Hall Hort Competition 2011 Pictures courtesy of Rosemary Passafiume-McLean

Congratulations to the 2011 Award Winners

History of the Garden Hall

The Garden Club of Toronto held its first flower show in 1949, and over the years has held shows in the Automotive Building, Sony Centre for the Performing Arts (formerly the O'Keefe Centre), Casa Loma, Royal Winter Fair and the Civic Garden Centre. In 1997, marking the Garden Club of Toronto's 50th anniversary and Landscape Ontario's 25th anniversary, the two organizations decided to celebrate with the founding of Canada Blooms, where club members produced a very successful flower show.

Over the following years the Garden Hall evolved into an integral part of Canada Blooms.
Horticulture classes are open to anyone who wishes to enter.
Floral Design classes are open to those who qualify.
International participants are by invitation only.
All entrants in the Garden Hall are amateur designers and horticulturalists.

International Competition

Did you know that the Garden Hall's International Class is the only one of its kind in Canada? Our 2010 competition welcomed representatives from Australia, Belgium, France, Great Britain, Guadeloupe, Ireland, South Africa, South Korea, the United States and Canada. The designs were simply spectacular; they alone were worth a trip to Canada Blooms.

We thank all participants and Congratulate all the winners.

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