The 2020 East Vancouver Garden Tour! NOT Sunday, June 21st!

 Hello Fellow Garden Lovers!

We're very sorry to make this announcement, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year's East Vancouver Garden Tour will be cancelled.  We have always had it on Father's Day. It's our one fundraiser for Britannia Neighbours, and the proceeds go to maintaining the Napier Square Greenway (at Napier and Commercial). We use the money to buy plants and supplies and to pay people to water and pick up litter in the Greenway. Luckily, we have a bit of cash in the bank as a cushion, so we'll survive. But do watch for the Tour to happen next summer. Here's to a "normal" summer of 2021!

Cheers,
The East Van Garden Tour team

The 2020 East Vancouver Garden Tour is on Father's Day, Sunday, June 21st.  Like other years, this year's tour will be walkable, and we are actively lining up more than a dozen delightful gardens for your touring pleasure!

Our home base is at Figaro's Garden Centre (1896 Victoria Drive at 3rd Avenue).

Click on this green button to buy tickets (which won't work until May 1, 2020, but will work any time between May 1 and June 20th, 2020).

There are THREE ways to get tickets — online through Eventbrite, at Britannia, and/or at Figaro's Garden:

• Click on the "buy tickets" link to get your tickets online. (Note that there's a small Eventbrite service charge on top of the $15 for each ticket).
• Or ... Order your tickets for the tour at Britannia Centre's Info Centre, 1661 Napier, either in person or by phone at 604-718-5800.
• Or ... Drop in to Figaro's Garden to buy tickets ($15 — in person and cash only).

(We recommend that you sign up for the tour ahead of time to avoid disappointment. It's very popular, and, although we will have some cash-only tickets available at Figaro's on the day of the tour, tickets are limited and we have been known to sell out.)

On the day of the tour, you start at Figaro's, check in, pick up your tour map, enjoy coffee, juice, and goodies (by donation), and then head off to the gardens.

The tour runs from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., but this is not an event you need to come to right on time. We often get a big rush of people right at 10:00, but there's no need to hurry. You can come and go as you please. You'll see exactly the same gardens if you get started at 11:00 or noon or 1:00 or even as late as 2:00! (Do, however, make sure you leave yourself enough time to see all the gardens! We don't recommend starting the tour after 2:00.)

You could, for example, pick up your tour map at 11:00, go visit a few gardens, stroll over to Commercial Drive for a leisurely lunch, and then come back to see the rest of the gardens on the tour. Do, however, plan on being done by 4:00!

Important: Most gardens are not stroller- or wheelchair-accessible. Children must be 12 years or older or babes in arms. Pets are not allowed. Also, unless you get the gardeners' permission, photos are not allowed.

People who attend the tour will get a one-time 20% discount at Figaro's, starting on the day of the tour and running through July 1st (Canada Day).

Also, you may want to get on the Figaro's e-mail list; if you do, they will let you know about special seasonal discounts and sales for their regular customers. To get on their list, just e-mail info@figarosgarden.ca, and let them know.

Finding Gardens for Future Tours!

As usual, for this year's tour, Sandy and Janet are scouting out good gardens in our target area.

We prefer to cluster our gardens in a relatively small area so that the whole tour is walkable, but we also like to save up suggestions of splendid East Vancouver gardens for future tours!

If you know of an East Vancouver garden that you think deserves to be featured on the Tour (or, for that matter, if you'd like to have your own garden on the Tour), please get in touch. Send an e-mail to britannianeighbours@gmail.com.

A couple of Commercial Drive "locals" enjoying the Napier Square Greenway... The Garden Tour is a fundraiser for Britannia Neighbours, the volunteer group that maintains the Greenway. Proceeds pay for someone to water the Greenway all summer and someone else to pick up litter just about every day all year long, and for gardening supplies and plants.

Volunteering for the Garden Tour!

Let us know if you would like to help us organize next year's tour ...

Or if you would like to volunteer to help with publicity just before the tour ...

Also, we always need garden sitters on the day of the tour!

If you have time to volunteer for a three-hour shift (10:00-1:00 or 1:00-4:00) as a garden-sitter in one of our beautiful gardens this year, you can take the rest of the tour for free! Plus, you get to meet all the people who go on the tour.

If you're available, please send an e-mail to britneighbours@gmail.com.

The self-guided tour runs from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Who organizes and profits from the East Side Garden Tour?

The Garden Tour is organized by Britannia Neighbours. The Garden Tour is our only fund-raiser for the year and all proceeds go to support our activities, mostly maintenance of the Napier Greenway, which includes paying for someone from the Kettle Friendship Society to pick up litter almost every day all year ... and for someone to hand-water the Greenway and the big cement planters in the Britannia courtyard, as needed, all summer. And some of the money also goes to the purchase of plants and trees and hoses and tools and leaf bags and sea soil, etc.

Britannia Neighbours is a community-based volunteer group dedicated to the greening and beautification of our East Vancouver neighbourhood. Besides putting on the Garden Tour every year, we are also the group that started the Grandview Garden Club.

We work with the City of Vancouver Green Streets Program, which encourages community volunteers to beautify and maintain the City's greenways, boulevards, traffic circles, and corner bulges.

As well, Britannia Community Centre sponsors Britannia Neighbours and our various activities by providing storage, meeting space, and a snail-mail address (plus a mailbox at Brit). We also collaborate with other community organizations, including Britannia Elementary School, the Britannia Branch of the Vancouver Public Library, Figaro's Garden Centre, and the Kettle Friendship Society.

Join us! We always welcome new workers, members, and neighbours! Send us a message to volunteer with us in the Greenway — it's fun! — or to get on our e-mail list.

We have a Britannia Neighbours blog and our e-mail address is britneighbours@gmail.com. (That e-mail serves both Britannia Neighbours and the East Vancouver Garden Tour.)