Canada Blooms 2007

Yesterday I attended Canada Blooms at the Convention Centre in Toronto, and I feel like I’ve become a real veteran when it comes to attending this particular event. Here are my tips for successfully navigating it:

1. Purchase your ticket ahead of time. Tickets are always available online at the Canada Blooms website, and if you purchase before a particular date (this year I think it was March 3), you will get a $2 discount. Print your ticket at home and bring it with you when you go to the Convention Centre. You can also usually buy tickets at participating Sobey’s stores.
2. Unless you live in the city, accept the fact that it is going to cost between $12 and $20 to either take the GO-train in, or park downtown. I paid $17 to park underground at Wellington and University, which was the daily maximum for that lot. If you’re willing to walk further, you could park on a side street outside of the downtown core and take the TTC in, which will set you back about $5 round-trip.
3. Either wear a very light jacket or be prepared to check your coat. Walking around for hours in a winter coat makes for a very long and tiring day.
4. Be prepared to wait in line to eat, and for food to be overpriced. Sandwiches, salads, muffins, juice, coffee, tea and water are the standard fare. Bottled water is $2.50. I just couldn’t bring myself to pay that and used the water fountain instead.
5. Bring cash if you intend to buy anything. There is an ATM at the Convention Centre, but it’s the type that charges additional service fees for withdrawals, and dispenses fifty dollar bills.
6. Bring a camera. You’ll find some good ideas and see some beautiful flowers you will want to photograph.
7. Wear comfortable shoes. You’re going to be walking a lot at this event. Even the walk through Union Station to the Skywalk to the Convention Centre is a fair distance. There are plenty of escalators, so stairs aren’t usually a problem, but comfort is key here.
8. Support your local gardening gurus! I wore my “Garden Hoe” t-shirt and You Grow Girl button on my bag’s strap.
9. Attend a talk. Canada Blooms is not just for shopping. You can learn something while you’re there. This year I attended Gayla Trail’s talk on urban vegetable gardening.
10. Take your meds. If you get any sort of spring allergy, it might be a good idea to take some allergy medicine ahead of time. There is usually a very strong flowery smell throughout the building, although it was a bit less intense this year than in previous years. It can be a bit overpowering. This year Reactin was on site to hand out free samples, which I thought was brilliant.

Other things I noticed at this year’s show:

• Home Depot didn’t have their usual sale area, which was disappointing. I have almost always purchased some plant at their booth, but this year they only had the Canada Blooms plant of the year on sale for $11.99.
• I found the line-up free coffee spot! At lunchtime the line-up in the main food area was ridiculous, and I refused to stand in it just to purchase coffee. Upstairs there is a smaller food vending area that sells cereal, snacks, coffee and tea, and it was not lined up at all.
• The people who sold African Violets weren’t there this year. This was surprising because they did stellar business other times I’ve been.
• The gardens didn’t seem too over-the-top ridiculous this year. There was no Barbie garden. There also seemed to be fewer gardens built for touring. Also, line-ups to get into the tour gardens don’t necessarily indicate it’s any cooler to see than those that aren’t lined up. Don’t believe the hype.

All in all, it was a fun day, and I do like to see what’s new and different each year. I didn’t buy anything, though, which is a first for me.

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