Upcoming Events
     July 2009

2009 Ottawa Water Garden Festival
   Celebrating Water Conservation in Our Urban Landscapes
   Saturday, July 11, 2009

What started out as a small gathering of water gardening enthusiasts five years ago has now evolved into one of Ottawa 's most popular horticultural gatherings. The Pond Clinic Water Garden Centre is proud to present The 2009 Ottawa Water Garden Festival.

It is a day chock full of fabulous events. For the creative types, there will be pond building demonstrations, seminars, and the ever popular annual Parade of Ponds featuring a dozen of the most spectacular water gardens in Ottawa . Guests of this self-guided tour will be given a ticket book with maps and directions to help guide them from pond to pond at a relaxing pace.

During the day, families with children are also welcome to participate in many fun-filled wet activities, visit our Eco- Water Park , and cheer of the fish at the Koitucky Derby Races. John Rapp, Executive Director for Dovercourt Recreation Centre said it best, "Our waterfall is a kid magnet. It really is the best loved feature at Dovercourt, and so we are delighted to be part of the festival."

Each year hundreds of area families and businesses come together at The Ottawa Water Garden Festival to celebrate water conservation in our urban landscapes, enjoy spectacular water garden creations, and have fun raising money to help fund local cancer research initiatives. All proceeds from this event are donated to the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation.

And the positive feedback from everyone involved just keeps pouring in. Last year, June Hansen wrote saying, "I just wanted to thank you and your organizers for sponsoring such a fabulous weekend. We came out, at the end of the day, extremely motivated and inspired. It was such a welcome change to be among so many people that shared the same wonderful hobby and who willingly opened their wealth of knowledge to others."

The 2009 Ottawa Water Garden Festival will be held on Saturday, July 11 th from 9:00AM until dusk. Our annual pond tour, seminars and children's activities will be held throughout the day. On Saturday evening, everyone is invited to gather together for a fabulous pond side BBQ reception and a live outdoor concert.

Admission for the tour portion of the festival is $35.00 per person which includes dinner. All other events are free. Tickets for The Ottawa Water Garden Festival go on sale June 15 th and can be purchased at The Pond Clinic Water Garden Centre located at 215 Stafford Road West (Off Moodie Drive) or call 613-225-7663. Check back to this space for more information as the tour date approaches.

Pondemonium 2009

Pondemonium is the largest annual event in the water gardening industry. Every year, thousands of pond professionals gather together in St-Charles , IL ( Mecca to those of us in the water feature business) to share their expertise with one another.

To celebrate its 10-year anniversary of Pondemonium, Aquascape Inc. invites the industry to join in July 16-19, 2008 for hands-on training, classroom seminars, and networking events. Following are some of the events scheduled for this year's anniversary celebration:

•  Hands-on rainwater harvesting training using Aquascape's new
   RainXchange System

•  Sustainability Seminars

•  Hands-on Build-A-Pond Days

•  Special visit from Richard Petty, NASCAR champion

•  IWGS Symposium (International Waterlily and Water Gardening
   Society)

•  Trade Show

•  Anniversary Dinner and Customer Awards

•  Select Pond Tours

•  Press Conference

Aquascape is also hosting this year's International Waterlily and Water Gardening Society's annual symposium during Pondemonium. The IWGS is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and have slated several water gardening experts for seminars, including Pairat Songpanich from Thailand , who hybridized the first blue hardy water lily, Siam Blue Hardy.  

For additional information, contact Jennifer Zuri at: jzuri@aquascapeinc.com or 630/659-2097. For hotel and travel information, visit: www.aquascapeinc.com/contractors/pondemonium .