Best Garden Selection Awards

VOTE Now for your favourite Gardens or Yards for Residents Choice Best Garden Selection awards;  2 for Exshaw, 1 for Jamieson/Courville Road Area nominees
Scroll down to see all the nominations

The MD has been selected to participate in the Communities in Bloom – Best Garden Selection Program! 

This is a fun, casual 
way to recognize the care and attention residents put into having a beautiful yard and garden in harmony with our surroundings and wildlife.

The program provides signs to post in winning yards for the season.

This year 9 residents and 1 business have been nominated for recognition.

This program is run informally and loosely judged by these evaluation categories.

View the Nominees and vote for 2 “Residents Choice Awards” between July 21 - August 21 with additional prizes awarded by the Community Committees.

The Winners


Winning gardeners must provide a photo with the sign in their garden before August 30 for use by Scotts and the MD.  

This year, winners will also receive a package of Scotts Miracle Gro products.  

Award signs will be returned to the MD in the fall for reuse the following year.

Best Garden

Community Committees

Exshaw: Community Garden Coordinator, Exshaw Community Association, Exshaw Legion, Exshaw Library Society

Jamieson/Courville Roads Area: Ursula Reynolds and Bryne Weerstra

To see larger photos go to Best Garden Selection Gallery

Below are carousels of the submitted photos for each nominee beside their nomination information.

VOTE for your Residents Choice by August 21. 

Exshaw Nominations

Business: 

1. Exshaw Legion and Exshaw Community Association - Remembrance Garden

Evaluation Categories for this Nomination: Floral Displays, Landscape, Water Conservation

Why nominated: This uses simple poppies which self seed, little water is needed. A rundle rock sign and metal poppies help provide a year-around Garden of Remembrance.

Exshaw Individuals: (in nomination date order)

2.  Jessica Springstead

Evaluation Categories for this Nomination: Environmental Action, Floral Displays

Why nominated: 
This garden does not use any pesticides, and strives to use collected rainwater whenever available. Also this garden has been created from scratch in the last 7 years, using as many native plants as possible.

3. Fran de Beer

Evaluation Categories for this Nomination:
Floral Displays, Landscape

Why nominated: 
I work hard to make my yard attractive and colourful.

4. Amanda Kelly

Evaluation Categories for this Nomination:
Floral Displays, Landscape, Native Plants Use

Why nominated: 
The attractiveness of the wild style gardens appeals to the eye.

5. Lorna Hirsch

Evaluation Categories for this Nomination:
Floral Displays , Landscape, Native Plants Use, Tidiness, Urban Forestry, Water Conservation

Why nominated: 
This yard has has a natural landscape with beautiful flower arrangements and is tidy. Water barrels are used for watering and active plants and forests surround the yard.

6. Bronka & Tony Levstik

Evaluation Categories for this Nomination:
Floral Displays, Landscape, Native Plants Use, Tidiness, Urban Forestry

Why nominated: 
This yard incorporates may native species and perennials to create a lush, cool and inviting forest park feel in the front and a colourful mixed flower and vegetable garden in back. Several separate areas and winding paths invite you to explore further and then to stop and enjoy each new view. Containers of flowers on the front step and rear deck add height, changing colour and interest. The entire neighbourhood gets to enjoy the treat this yard is from the back alley and the street. 

7. Carol and Ken Agar

Evaluation Categories for this Nomination:
Environmental Action, Floral Displays , Landscape, Native Plants Use, Tidiness, Urban Forestry

Why nominated: 
The Agar's yard provides a spectacular habitat for birds year around by incorporating native plants, shrubs and trees with butterfly and hummingbird friendly perennials and annuals. Ken's chainsaw carving bears are incorporated with lovely railings, stone and decks.

8.  Deb and Dan Grady

Evaluation Categories for this Nomination:
Floral Displays , Landscape, Native Plants Use, Tidiness, Water Conservation

Why nominated: 
Our yard is an extension of our small house using natural and recycled materials in the landscaping to create welcoming outdoor living spaces with shade and colour and produce fruit and berries for the birds and us. Native plants and hardy perennials are combined with some annual flower and vegetable pots to create changing colour all spring summer and fall and provide interesting shapes under in the snow in winter. Water is conserved by mulching and watering with low-flow soaker hoses in the early morning.

Jamieson/Courville Road Area Nominations

9.  Faye MacLeod

Evaluation Categories for this Nomination:
Environmental Action, Floral Displays, Heritage Conservation, Landscape, Native Plants Use, Tidiness, Urban Forestry, Water Conservation

Why nominated: 
Environmental Action – use of rocks and hardy trees and shrubs to stabilise a drainage course to the valley Floral Displays – hardy perennials with annual accents and native plants form the beds the hold the soil in place and help to hold and slowly release runoff. Many are perennials that naturalised in Mrs. Pocaterra’s garden in the 1950’s. Some of these are now deemed as noxious so they are controlled by removing spent flowers before seed can set and spread. Heritage Conservation – this is the original Pocaterra homestead which we have conserved and rejuvenated. Landscape – rocks and hardy local area shrubs and trees help to anchor the soil and were sourced on the property or nearby. Native Plants Use – many native plants self-seeded and are used where they appear to help tie the flowerbeds into the natural landscape. Tidiness – we work to keep the entire area clean and neat. Urban Forestry – use of native trees and shrubs as well as a few hardy introduced ones helps to provide bird and wildlife habitat and to conserve the soil. Water Conservation – we collect spring water in an underground cistern to water.

10. Karen and Paul Clark 

Evaluation Categories for this Nomination:
Floral Displays , Landscape, Tidiness, Water Conservation

Why nominated: 
Our yard shows it is possible to grow cool weather flowers at a high elevation using recycled rainwater. The back garden has hardy cool weather roses that over winter well in this micro-climate. We try to plant where flowers are out of reach of deer or use those which are not particularly attractive to deer but make the hummingbirds, bees and butterflies very happy.

VOTE Now for your favourite Gardens or Yards for Residents Choice Best Garden Selection awards;  2 for Exshaw, 1 for Jamieson/Courville Road Area nominees

For larger photos go to Best Garden Selection Gallery