There will be tulips, tulips, everywhere next spring

This week, 1000 red and white tulip bulbs were planted in the flower beds at Huntsville’s Civic Square in front of the Algonquin Theatre. Huntsville is one of 150 communities across Canada to receive the bulbs from the Canadian Garden Council and Vesey’s Bulbs of PEI to create a 150th Celebration Garden in honour of Canada’s sesquicentennial in 2017. (Read more about how Huntsville was awarded the tulip bulbs on Doppler here.)

Most of the 1000 red and white tulip bulbs were planted earlier this week

Most of the bulbs were planted earlier this week and the community was invited to attend a ceremonial planting today (October 21).

Grade four students from Huntsville Public School were on hand to help with the planting.

“Next year, Canada will be 150 years old,” Helena Renwick, Executive Director for the Downtown Huntsville BIA, told the students. “Canada’s government said to 150 different communities ‘we’re going to give you some tulip bulbs to celebrate the fact that we’re going to be 150 years old.'”

Mayor Scott Aitchison asked if any of the assembled students knew anyone who was 150 years old, to which several replied, “You are!”

Renwick asked the students to guess how many tulip bulbs were being planted – guesses included 125, 200 and 1,688.

After the ceremonial planting, students and the public enjoyed cookies donated by Schat Bakery and Café and coffee from Seven Main Café.

Tulip and maple leaf-shaped cookies were a tasty way to celebrate the tulip garden for these grade 4 students from HPS

The garden will put Huntsville on the map, too. It will be featured on Canada’s Garden Route and, along with the other 149 gardens planted across the country, will be symbolically linked to a flagship 150th Celebration Garden Promenade, consisting of 25,000 tulips also donated by Vesey’s, adjacent to Niagara Falls.

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