You’re Invited to

Cottonwood’s Annual Open House & 20th Anniversary

Sunday July 10, 2011 - 11am to 2pm

Everyone is Welcome!

For our 20th anniversary, Cottonwood Garden will host our own Open House! The tradition has been to co-host with Strathcona Community Gardens but this year we're going solo. Join us on Sunday, July 10 for a marvelous community event with wonderful live music, free workshops, free snacks and hot dogs, kids zone, master gardeners, garden tours, and more!

The theme this year is BEES, as Cottonwood gardeners are excited to be getting our own bees.

Open house Activities

Meet your neighbours and learn from our gardeners. See what's growing! Learn about plants and gardening techniques * Permaculture * Composting * Winter Gardening * Native Plants * Mushroom Growing * Bee-keeping * Corsage Making. Also Kids Zone! And Cottonwood lives on the edge of Strathcona park, a large park perfect for spreading a blanket or tossing a frisbee around.

Share FREE food with new friends. Hot dog BBQ, (veg and non veg dogs) and various snacks.

How to Get Here

We are located along the south perimeter of Strathcona Park. From Venables {west of Clark} turn south onto Malkin, and continue until you see gardens on your right. Here's a link to a map or find us at Malkin Ave and Raymur Ave.

Explore a Magical Oasis in the Midst of the City: Garden Tours

Please join us for tours of one of Vancouver’s oldest community gardens, as we celebrate 20 years of community building, local food production and sustainability. Cottonwood Community Garden is a 4 acre community garden in East Vancouver that feels like a forest in the middle of the city. Located along the back of Strathcona Park, our garden has over 140 individual garden plots as well as large communal areas.

The common areas have many trees - apple, plum, pear, sour cherry, persimmon, Mulberry, fig, & Asian pear trees. There are berry bushes too - raspberries, blueberries, grapes, Kiwis, currants, gooseberries, Saskatoon berries, blackberries, & cranberries. As well we have specialized diverse areas including a native garden; an Asian garden; a permaculture garden; a youth garden; perennial flowers and shrubs; eight types of bamboo; nut trees, and many ornamental trees and shrubs. Our gardeners share the two solar greenhouses, toolsheds, beehives & extensive composting.

Wildlife

A major part of any healthy ecosystem are animals. Cottonwood gardens has many species of birds, bees, ladybugs, butterflies and hummingbirds. A pair of bald eagles have a nest overhead. Garden Tours: 11am to 1:30pm at Cottonwood Garden

A Brief History

Cottonwood Community Garden began in 1991 as a vacant site where people dumped their garbage. Nearby Strathcona Community Gardens were already full but more people wanted gardens to grow food and to green the neighbourhood. So some locals came together, cleaned up the area and built up soil for growing plants. People learned new techniques from each other, and people from all different cultures found similarities with each other through the gardens. Once the gardens were in place, the City approved it and Cottonwood became a sister garden to the established Strathcona Garden nearby. More people joined Cottonwood and the result is a diverse, forested community garden, celebrating 20 years in 2011.

Universal Design Accessible Garden

The Accessible Garden is a year old! Last year Cottonwood built an expansion to the gardens and increased the number of plots. The expansion is unique for its universal design and accessibility. It is along Malkin Ave, across from the Food Bank, on the east side of Cottonwood Gardens.

This garden is designed to enable everyone, regardless of age or physical ability, to garden. Based on the principles of universal design, the garden features raised beds that are high enough for seniors and people with disabilities to garden from a seated position; pathways 3-4’ wide and surfaced with a firm surface appropriate for persons with walkers, canes, strollers and wheelchairs; water taps at a convenient height for people who have difficulty bending and close to raised beds so that carrying a hose will not be needed; a tool shed with easy access and reachable tools; meeting spaces with wide-enough, smooth surfaces.

Cottonwood Garden & Strathcona Garden are sister gardens located next to each other near Strathcona Park. Cottonwood Garden is located at Malkin Ave and Raymur Ave, along the south side of Strathcona Park (on Prior between Clark & Main.  Strathcona Garden is located just west of Strathcona Park, on Prior & Hawks.

For more information about the Open House, call (604) 608-0384 or (604) 253-3384,

or email cottonwoodgarden@gmail.com

VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED FOR THE OPEN HOUSE - SUPPORT COTTONWOOD COMMUNITY GARDEN AND MAKE THIS THE BEST OPEN HOUSE EVER!

Please call (604) 608-0384 or email cottonwoodgarden@gmail.com