Red, white and you

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This article was published 05/04/2025 (545 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Lois Wales has an idea for how she can express her Canadian pride with plants this year. It’s an idea that has rapidly gained momentum and now everyone she talks to in her Red River North community wants to be part of it.

Wales is president of Red River North Tourism, a not-for-profit, volunteer-run organization that develops and promotes activities on behalf of the municipalities of St. Andrews, Selkirk and St. Clements.

“I was thinking about what I personally could do to show my Canadian pride, so I decided I will plant red and white geraniums with a Canadian flag in the centre of my containers for my front steps,” says Wales. “Then I remembered my mom talking about Victory Gardens during the (Second World War) and I thought, why can’t we plant Sovereignty Gardens?”

Planting an extra row of vegetables and donating the harvest to food banks, soup kitchens or whoever is in need is what makes us Canadians, says Wales. “We take care of our neighbours.”

Putting on her hat as president of Red River North Tourism, Wales began to envision the impact of red and white flowers and sovereignty food gardens planted throughout the three municipalities. Within days of the initial idea, Wales reached out to the mayors of each of the three RMs as well as to Red River North Tourism’s partners, the Selkirk and District Horticultural Society (SDHS) and Selkirk Communities in Bloom. That was one week ago.

St. Andrews Mayor Joy Sul, St. Clements Mayor Debbie Fiebelkorn and Selkirk Mayor Larry Johannson are all on board, says Wales. “The City of Selkirk believes they will have enough red and white flowers for all of Main Street.”

Here are some of the other plans that have been set in motion.

The Selkirk and District Horticultural Society maintains two public gardens in Selkirk — the Main Street Community Garden, located at Main Street and Schultz Avenue, and Red Feather Farm Memorial Garden, situated at 163 Edstan Pl. “Our members will plant red and white flowers in both gardens,” says SDHS president Lynne Moldwon. “At our next meeting, I will suggest members plant a red and white flower border in their home gardens or a red and white container combo.”

Moldwon dropped by a dollar store the other day and purchased packages of red and white gladiolus corms to plant in her home garden.

“I am especially excited about the idea for a sovereignty garden” says Moldwon. “I think growing an extra row of veggies for local food banks is such a great idea, because the price of food has gone up and more people are using food banks.”

Moldwon plans to contact food banks in her area to find out which types of vegetables they would like to have donated so everyone doesn’t end up growing the same one. “I will suggest to our members that they sign up to grow a specific vegetable,” she says.

Enter Taylor Gyselinck, a fourth-generation grower who owns The Flower Child which specializes in cultivating a wide variety of locally grown bedding plants and edibles. Her business is located each spring in the parking lot at the Selkirk Home Hardware Building Centre, located at 917 Manitoba Ave.

Gyselinck is also president of the Selkirk chapter of Communities in Bloom. She and Wales are brainstorming ideas to encourage residents and businesses in Selkirk, St. Andrews and St. Clements to show their Canadian pride. They are also hoping to inspire cottagers who live along Lake Winnipeg to participate.

“I think Lois’s idea for red-and-white flower displays is really going to take off not just in our community, but beyond,” says Gyselinck. “This a chance for people to showcase their emotions and feelings and stand by their communities and our nation. The idea for sovereignty gardens is such a wonderful tie-in.”

Selkirk Communities in Bloom operates a community garden in the city. “We have 40 plots that were all spoken for by January and I have a waiting list of people,” says Gyselinck. “There is a real concern about the cost of groceries and the impact of tariffs.”

If you don’t have space to grow an extra row of veggies, Gyselinck recommends planting an extra container. “There are so many micro varieties of tomatoes and peppers suitable for growing on balconies or in patio pots. Every little bit helps.”

The Kitchen Mini series of potted vegetables can be grown indoors on a sunny windowsill or outdoors in a patio container. One of Gyselinck’s favourites is Kitchen Minis Fresh Bite red pepper. “It’s quite a prolific variety,” she says.

Gyselinck is brimming with ideas for container-garden recipes with red and white flowers. “The key takeaway for a classic two-colour combo is that simple is more. We want to make it easy to create a patriotic design. It can be a red planter with white Wave petunias or a white planter with red geraniums or a mix of red and white petunias.”

Gyselinck is growing several annual flower varieties that are new introductions for 2025. “Salvia Unplugged Scarlet Sage from Proven Winners is quite vigorous with scarlet-red flowers. Bees and hummingbirds will love it.” This new salvia blooms from spring to fall and is heat-tolerant. It grows to a height of 40-60 centimetres.

Capitan Red White Edge Dianthus, also new for 2025, is generating a lot of buzz with recent awards, including the Greenhouse Grower Medal of Excellence. A Selecta One plant, Capitan is a premium dianthus series with fragrant double blooms that flower from spring to fall.

Voodoo Red Star Verbena from Westhoff features unique starburst-patterned red and white flowers. Petunia Amore King of Hearts, a recent introduction from Danziger, also features a unique red-and-white pattern on every bloom.

For a heat-loving and maintenance-free container mix with a colour contrast, Gyselinck suggests combining a red-flowered canna lily with white and red varieties of Wave petunias and Lemon Coral sedum.

For a red-and-white-themed shade container, Glimmer Double Impatiens Red with its rose-like flowers would look stunning combined with the airy white flowers of Diamond Frost Euphorbia and trailing Dichondra Silver Falls.

It has only been a week since Wales proposed her idea for planting patriotic red-and-white flower combos and sovereignty food gardens, but she is already hearing from some municipal leaders that they are planning something special. Betty Swirsky, owner of The Shops of St. Andrews in Lockport, has also said her business plans to participate.

As the season warms up and residents and shop-owners in Selkirk, St. Andrews and St. Clements create patriotic flower gardens and grow extra rows of veggies to donate to food banks, Wales invites participants to share their photos by emailing info@redrivernorthtourism.com.

What are you planning for your yard and community? Send me an email, too, and let’s spread the word.

This just in: “Standing proud, elbows up, will be a focus for us at the garden centre,” says Carla Hrycyna, co-owner of St. Mary’s Nursery and Garden Centre, located at 2901 St. Mary’s Rd. She’s planning her flower recipes now.

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