Get growing: Garden contest blooms in Barrie

Get your green thumb primed. The Year of the Garden is now.

The City of Barrie invites residents to submit photos of their gardens for the Communities in Bloom’s annual competition.

This year’s theme is the Year of the Garden, and residents are encouraged to plant red floral displays to show off their Canadian spirit, but all colours are welcome.

Contestants will vie for a chance to be featured in the digital book and online photo gallery.

To register your beautification efforts, submit a photo of your flowers along with the registration form online by July 6.

There is also the Little Bloomers category of Communities in Bloom for children aged six to 14 to get involved and share pictures of their flowers, container projects, vegetable gardens, window art or other art projects.

National Community in Bloom judges will be touring Barrie from July 26 and 27 to evaluate the accomplishments of the entire community (municipal, corporate and individual citizens).

Judges will be grading gardens on the following criteria: plant and floral displays, community appearance, environmental action, heritage conservation, tree management, and landscape.

In 2019, the City received a 5 Blooms – Silver rating and a special mention for the Tall Trees Park Forestry Education Initiative.

The judge’s tour was cancelled in 2020 & 2021 due to the pandemic.

Communities in Bloom is a Canadian non-profit organization committed to fostering civic pride, environmental responsibility and beautification through community involvement with a focus on enhancing green spaces.