Fondo MS-89 - Edmonton Horticultural Society fonds

The Edmonton Horticultural Society was founded in 1909. In 1912 it amalgamated with the Strathcona Horticultural Society under the name Edmonton Horticultural Society. However, when the Edmonton Horticultural Society and the Vacant Lots Garden Club decided to join forces in 1918, the Edmonton Horticultural Society became the Edmonton Horticultural and Vacant Lots Garden Association. Not until 1973 was the name changed back to the original Edmonton Horticultural Society. Although the society’s registration must have lapsed for a period in the early 1970s, the Edmonton Horticultural Society has been in continuous existence since 1909.

The first president of the Edmonton Horticultural Society was Walter Ramsay, well known florist and greenhouse operator. George Harcourt, Alberta’s first Minister of Agriculture (1905-1915), the University of Alberta’s first Professor of Horticulture (1915-1935), and a passionate advocate of the vacant lot gardening program, joined the society when it amalgamated with the Vacant Lots Garden Club and chaired the vacant lots committee. He remained a resource person for the society throughout his career and made space available in the University of Alberta’s trial gardens for some society-related horticultural trials. Other well-known Edmontonians who were associated with the Edmonton Horticultural Society include: photographer, Gladys Reeves, who became the society’s first female president in 1924 and remained an active member of the society until her death in the 1970s; Alfred Pike, the founder of Pike’s Seeds; and Ernest Stowe, the chief gardener for the Province of Alberta until his retirement in 1952.

The Edmonton Horticultural Society’s mission has been to promote city beautification and to provide practical information and assistance to city gardeners. Long-lasting program mainstays have included: the vacant lots garden program (which the society administered on behalf of the City of Edmonton on city-owned vacant properties); one or more annual flower and vegetable shows (often referred to as bench shows); an annual garden competition; and a regular speakers program. In addition, the society has provided volunteers to create and maintain gardens as public service projects. Such projects have included a model garden in Market Square during the 1920s and 1930s, a centennial rose garden in Coronation Park which was planted in 1967 and demolished to build the Telus World of Science in 1982, and many others. Since 1995 the Edmonton Horticultural Society has collaborated with the City of Edmonton on the Communities in Bloom and the Front Yards in Bloom programs.