What, We Won?!
Posted on August 16 2015
We've had quite a bit of excitement around here as of late! In July we were nominated for Front Yards in Bloom, which is a city program that celebrates attractive front yards in Edmonton. We've actually been nominated for the last 5 years, but this year in July, a lady from the city, knocked on our door to inform us that our yard was in the top 6 of Edmonton out of over 4000 nominees!
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She said that there would be a V.I.P. tour of officials from various organizations (Edmonton Horticultural Society, the Community Leagues of Edmonton, the Canada Postal Workers...etc., a city councillor & a cameraman from CBC News) coming by to view & judge the yard. So when they started to pull up, I did what any normal person would do, I hid in our office, peeking my head out the window to take photos. :)
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Luckily, Chris happened to be home that morning & he is much more outgoing about these kinds of situations so he went & introduced himself & soon after, I sheepishly followed. It turned out to be a lot of fun, getting to chat with everyone & we even did an interview for CBC *eep*!
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The next day, I was asked to do a phone interview for the Edmonton Examiner, which is published here & we were also entered into, along with the other 5 top yards, the Edmonton Journal's Reader's Choice Awards.
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This past Wednesday evening, we went to the Front Yards in Bloom ceremony to see where we placed (fingers & toes were crossed) ~
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When they started to call the names in order from last to first of the Top 6, it was pretty exciting (& nerve wracking)! In the end, we won first place & right after that they called out the Edmonton Journal Reader's Choice & we were first place for that too!
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It was so much fun & flattering, a wonderful honour & celebration of a yard that I truly love. People were congratulating us as we were leaving & there's been a lot of drive-bys since, which is great motivation to get out & deadhead regularly. ;)
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I've placed "before & afters" of our front yard on my old website, but I thought it would be fun to do again, because who doesn't love "before & afters"?
Below, our house after buying it in April, 2004 & then of last autumn ~
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When we first moved in, this overgrown rock garden was the first thing I started working on. Below this, a photo of the same area from last Spring ~
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We didn't realize the big weeping birches in the front (the other, hidden but to the right of the sold sign) were dead. It was kind of sad to discover later in the season that they weren't leafing out. Looking back though, it was probably a blessing in disguise, as it gave us the opportunity to rip up the entire yard & start from scratch ~
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And bye-bye to these ratty, old shrubs, hello new porch ~
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I don't have a "before" of this angle, but I thought I would include the "after" taken last week ~
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That's the exciting news as of late, I hope you enjoyed the tour!
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6 comments
Beautiful, Congratulations on your win????
Congratulations on your beautifully landscaped yard. The before and after pictures are amazing! This award was so well deserved!!!
Hurrah! Congratulations! A very well deserved honour for a very talented, hard-working, creative gardener!
Congratulations! And well deserved. It’s a gorgeous yard!
Congratulations on your achievement.
Always thought your garden, front and back was stunning but this award confirms that!
Keep taking the photos and share them with all your fans!
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Congratulations! What a beautiful garden!