RADHA TAILOR
LIFE REPORTER
PHOTO RADHA TAILOR// Mural by second-year landscape technical co-op student Erika Agur
Humber College welcomed spring by winning two awards for a student-constructed garden at Canada Blooms, Canada’s largest flower and garden show.
The second-year graduating class of Humber’s landscape technical co-op program won for a garden display called “a Taste of Zen.”
Trees, plants and flowers, such as Japanese maples, rhododendrons and spruce trees, lined a pre-cast paver path that led to a wooden tea house and a mural reflecting the garden. The hand-painted mural took Humber’s 2011 Art Attack winner, Erika Agur, over 180 hours to complete.
“We were going to have a photo mural that was an extension of the landscape. Then I realized we had a student that was very talented, so I said to her, “would you like to paint the mural for the garden’ and she was willing to do it,” said Harry Chang, program co-ordinator.
“It’s a beautifully landscaped garden,” said Gerry Ginsberg, general manager of Canada Blooms,
“Humber students, under the leadership of Harry Chang, have done an outstanding job. The students are creative,” said Ginbserg.
“When it’s the height of the wintertime, you can’t be picky about your materials. You work with what you have and you try to create the best garden,” said Chang about the variety of greenery in the garden.The Humber Arboretum was also invited to have an education booth on bees and pollination.This is the first year the festival has introduced an outreach and education component.
“Showing different projects especially related to nature, pollinators and tree disease,” said Jimmy Vincent, camp director of the arboretum. “I think it’s great that they’re bringing attention to that.”