Front Yards in Bloom

Program Goals

  • Recognize our friends and neighbours' efforts to create more beautiful communities
  • Highlight the front yards that make Edmonton beautiful
  • Encourage all Edmontonians to help keep their neighbourhoods attractive places to live, work, and play
  • Engage Edmontonians who want to make Edmonton more beautiful
  • Raise awareness of Edmonton's participation in Communities in Bloom

About Front Yards in Bloom

  • Founded in 1999 by the Edmonton Horticultural Society, Canadian Union of Postal Workers, and the City of Edmonton to celebrate attractive front yards in Edmonton
  • Front Yards in Bloom was modelled after a similar program in Kitchener, Ontario
  • 150 nominations were received in the first year
  • Edmonton's Front Yards in Bloom is now the largest program of its kind in Canada
  • In 2020, Front Yards in Bloom received 5,600 nominations.
  • Winners are announced at the annual Edmonton in Bloom Awards in August of each year
  • Funding for Front Yards in Bloom comes entirely from sponsorship and donors

Guidelines

  • Anyone can nominate a front yard.
  • You can't nominate your own yard, but you can ask a friend or neighbour to nominate your yard. For Balconies in Bloom, we accept self-nominations and third-party nominations in the form of photo submissions.
  • Yards and gardens should be connected or adjacent to a residence or building that has a mailing address.
  • Please consult Alberta's Regulated Weeds list before planning your garden or nominating a garden that may include these species. Yards with weeds may still receive a nomination sign, but volunteer judges use the presence of weeds as one of their criteria for considering a yard for an award.
  • Front yards in bloom will have "curb appeal", and so should be in full view from the sidewalk - not hidden with wooden fence or locked gates.
  • Yards should have easy access to the walkway of the yard for volunteers to place a sign and deliver a brochure (no locked fences or gates).
  • Yards must contain at least 25% non-turf plants. While green lawns are quite common in Edmonton, our volunteers are placing signs only in yards where other types of plants add beauty to the area.