Front Yards in Bloom is a recognition program that celebrates attractive front yards in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

. Front yards are nominated by the general public, local gardeners, and postal workers. Volunteers with the Edmonton Horticultural Society then visit each nominated front yard to deliver their congratulations, post a "Front Yards in Bloom"

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, and evaluate the yard. Awards are given at the annual Edmonton in Bloom Awards event. Front Yards in Bloom: Winterscapes , which was introduced in 2014, is an extension of the successful summer FYiB program. This program encourages residents to celebrate winter outdoors and to keep their neighbourhoods looking beautiful year-round through winterscaping in their front yards in

. Front yard winterscape photo nominations are submitted by general public, neighbours, and postal workers. Photo judge volunteers with the partner groups then evaluate photo nominations. Awards are given at the annual Edmonton in Bloom Awards event. Front Yards in Bloom (FYiB): *celebrates public gardens and green spaces on private property, *encourages people to beautify their yards, *promotes growing and landscaping, and *fosters community spirit. This program not a competition because nominations are intended as congratulations from one neighbour to another. Front Yards in Bloom celebrates small pockets of beauty in Edmonton. Although it's called ''Front Yards'' in Bloom, this includes side yards and corner gardens as well; any garden on private property that is open for the community to see (i.e. not fenced-in backyards).

Evaluation and awards

Evaluation is based on curb appeal. Criteria include: *contribution to the community *landscape/winterscape design (such as colour, proportion & scale, diversity, texture & surfaces) *maintenance and horticulture *winterscaping features; and *unique features or highlights. Summer Program: Volunteers select top yards from across the city (the "Awards of Merit"). Of those, six finalist yards are evaluated by VIP judges from the program partner groups. All of the top yards are recognized at the Edmonton in Bloom Awards. Awards are also given for the top Natural Front Yards (selected by the Edmonton Native Plant Group), Edible Front Yards (selected by Sustainable Food Edmonton), and Public Spaces (selected by the City of Edmonton's Great Neighbourhoods section). The

Edmonton Journal The ''Edmonton Journal'' is a daily newspaper in Edmonton, Alberta. It is part of the Postmedia Network. History The ''Journal'' was founded in 1903 by three local businessmen — John Macpherson, Arthur Moore and J.W. Cunningham — as ...

Readers' Choice Award is given based on the votes of readers for pictures of the top six yards. Winterscapes Program: Nominations can be submitted in one of three categories, which include Winter Yard, Winter Art, and Winter Play. Photo judges narrow down nominations to a group of Finalists. VIP judges from the program partner groups then select the top two nominations in each category.

Front Yards in Bloom and Community Leagues

The city-wide program has spawned local Front Yards in Bloom programs with Edmonton community leagues. Through these partnerships, participating community leagues help deliver signs and certificates, but they also help to recognize top yards in their own area. Community leagues can also contribute their own criteria, their own categories, and their own recognition ceremonies.

Background and history

Front Yards in Bloom began in 1999 as a partnership program between the Edmonton Horticultural Society,

Canada Post Canada Post Corporation (french: Société canadienne des postes), trading as Canada Post (french: Postes Canada), is a Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the opera ...

, and the

City of Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anchor ...

. The formula is modelled from Kitchener and has also run in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

and other

Communities in Bloom Communities in Bloom is a Canadian non-profit organization that fosters friendly competition between Canadian communities to beautify their civic spaces. It was established in 1995 as a national competition between 29 communities, and has since e ...

cities across Canada.

Connection to Communities in Bloom

Edmonton won the "over 300,000" population category at the national Communities in Bloom awards in 2009. The national judges gave special recognition to the Front Yards in Bloom program contributing to community beauty, community spirit, and connecting with the environment. Edmonton has participated in the Communities in Bloom (CiB) national program since 1995. Leduc has also previously won the "20-50,000" population category and Strathcona County won the "international large population" category. - Top Honours Among Large Municipalities

References

External links

Edmonton Horticultural Society website

CUPW Edmonton Local

City of Edmonton - Front Yards in Bloom webpage

City of Edmonton - Front Yards in Bloom: Winterscapes webpage

Communities in Bloom webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Front Yards In Bloom Non-profit organizations based in Alberta Competitions in Canada Festivals in Edmonton Gardening in Canada