by Rick Los, Director of Horticulture 

Spring Prelude 2012

If you have never taken the opportunity to visit our unique indoor garden display, perhaps this is the year to come and see what it’s all about!    

The Spring Prelude display was created to provide our visitors with a colourful and intimate indoor garden experience during the shorter days of winter. This also provides you with a small taste of what you can expect to experience once the actual garden comes alive in the spring.

Although colour plays a large part in the makeup of the display, perhaps the most striking elements in this garden are the original water features and sculpture produced by our very talented and creative staff. Each year the features change as the designers collaborate and experiment with various elements to be incorporated into the display. The garden doesn’t cover an overly large area so it is always a challenge to keep the best of the old ideas as well as incorporating some of the new ones.  If you have viewed photos on the website you get a fairly good idea of what you can expect to see, but seeing is only part of the experience. The Spring Prelude display provides waves and layers of colour, intoxicating fragrance and the sounds and movement of water all together in the intimacy of a cleverly crafted indoor garden.

In only 7 days, the Blue Poppy Restaurant is turned...	...into a stunning, large flower filled indoor garden

     
In the garden

During the earliest days of the year you can still find flowers in the garden regardless of what the weather conditions may be. However, I must make it clear that you do have to look for them as they don’t come looking for you. In some cases, plants such as Mahonia, Witch Hazel, Viburnum bodnantense, Sarcococca, Hellebore and Galanthus (Snow drops) can start blooming for us in December if the weather conditions are favorable.

As we move through January and February the anticipation of spring continues to build as colourful changes in the garden become evident on a daily basis. The earliest of our cherry trees begin to bloom in early March and by the time the first day of spring arrives you can be sure to see an abundance of spring bulbs including the first tulips of the season.

Our gardeners are quite busy at this time of year doing a multitude of tasks preparing the garden for the spring, but as busy as they are, they are always more than happy to answer any gardening questions you may have as you stroll through the garden.