Strathcona & Cottonwood Community Gardens Annual Open House

Strathcona & Cottonwood Community Gardens are holding their Annual Open House Sunday, July 8, 10am to 2pm

Location:
Strathcona Park, Corner of Prior and Hawks, Vancouver

Featuring:
Honey Sale from our Own Bees
Amazing Plant Sale with over 1,000 Plants
VanDusen Master Gardeners
Compost Making Workshop
Live Bluegrass & Fiddle Music
Birdhouse Making Workshop for Kids
Bee Keeping Demonstration
Solar House with Grey Water Recovery/Composting Toilet
7 Acres of Award-Winning Gardens
Garden Tours

For More Information: Jill (604) 608-0384 or Joanne (604) 253-3384 or jg3weiss@smartt.com mailto:jg3weiss@smartt.com

More Information About the Gardens:

An Environmental & Community Story. As you may know, Strathcona and Cottonwood Community Gardens are the
largest community gardens in Vancouver, and they are an amazing story of
what people in the community can do to transform the urban landscape.
These beautiful seven-acre gardens were built on dump sites: the land
was barren -- there was no soil, and no plants -- not even weeds.
A massive community effort transformed the land into a magical oasis &
self-help organic food centre in the midst of the city. Hundreds of
volunteers composted new soil, laid water pipes, built a recycled solar
house with grey water recovery & a composting toilet, designed & built
over 300 garden plots, built 3 solar greenhouses, and planted an amazing
collection of native trees & bushes, heirloom fruit trees, berry bushes,
perennials, etc.

Recipient of a City of Vancouver Heritage Award, the magical gardens
feature hundreds of garden plots, one of the largest collections of
heirloom apples in BC, countless varieties of native and exotic
perennials, berry bushes, rare and ornamental edibles, ornamental trees
and shrubs, extensive compost systems, solar greenhouses, and no use of
chemicals or pesticides. The Environmental Youth Alliance has a
permaculture garden designed & maintained entirely by young people with
a solar greenhouse built entirely by youth. There are terraced gardens,
oval gardens, water gardens, reflecting ponds, Native gardens, Asian
gardens, wetlands and more. A pair of bald eagles nests overhead. The
gardens are a vibrant community effort where people work together to
create beauty, an environmentally sustainable environment, and organic
food production.

But most of all, our garden builds community. People stroll through our
garden every day - dog walkers, joggers, cyclists, people with baby
strollers, young people, older people, people with family or friends.
And people stop to talk -- with each other, and with the gardeners --
and we become more than a garden -- we become a community.
On Sunday, July 8, we celebrate the magic of our community garden with
our Annual Open House & Plant Sale, 10am to 2pm, Strathcona Park, Prior
& Hawks, Vancouver. The Open House is a true community event with free
workshops, master gardeners, live bluegrass & fiddle music, kids
activities, and wonderful gardens. Admission is free, and everyone is
welcome.
//
It isn't often that people in the community can work together to make
something so magical, that transforms the urban landscape.
Come visit our gardens and you will see a community-built oasis in the
midst of the busy city.
For more information, call (604) 608-0384 or jg3weiss@smartt.com.