Three more Canadian gardens to grow with help from Recreating Eden/VisionTV Community Garden Initiative

TORONTO, July 18, 2008 – For the second year, Toronto-based multi-faith broadcaster VisionTV and Winnipeg-based Merit Motion Pictures, producers of the acclaimed gardening series Recreating Eden,have teamed up to support the greening of Canadian communities.

The Recreating Eden/VisionTV Community Garden Initiative sponsors community garden projects in cities and towns across the country.

After an open call to gardeners and gardening organizations all over Canada, VisionTV and Merit Motion Pictures have selected three gardens to support.

1. Greenest City, Toronto
   Greenest City is a non-profit environmental organization that inspires local communities to green the city of Toronto. These garden initiatives connect communities to their environments, enhance social justice and improve health. This year, Greenest City will create a youth garden in a neglected Parkdale-area parkette. Shannon Thompson, Director of Projects for Greenest City, says the youth garden will help to “grow youth leaders and create meaningful work; produce organic local food that is donated to the community; and provide the area with a safe and beautiful park. It improves the environmental, economic and social fabric of the community.”



2. North Central Community Garden, Regina
   The story of North Central Community Garden reveals how a single garden can transform a neighbourhood. A group of volunteers from a Regina, Sask. neighbourhood that Maclean’s Magazine called “Canada’s worst” banded together to turn a weed-choked and rubble-strewn lot into a thriving oasis for healthy food. Says Jan Morier, Co-Chair of the North Central Community Garden: “We're thrilled to invest the Recreating Eden funding in garden tools and supplies, so volunteers don’t have to haul their own. This is our commitment to the permanence of the gardens in North Central Regina.”



3. Bayview Memorial Park Stream Restoration, Township of Oro-Medonte, Ont.
   Located on the shores of Lake Simcoe, The Bayview Memorial Park has three linked water gardens, which have seen rapid deterioration in recent years. The Stream Restoration Project will revitalize this small watercourse by re-establishing the original stream, increasing wetland habitat, and stabilizing soil with rocks and the native plants. Edna Caldwell, President of the Oro-Medonte Horticultural Society, says that in addition to improving the health of the lake, the project will serve as “an area for residents and visitors to learn the value of the use of native plants.”

The Gemini Award-winning series Recreating Eden presents intimate portraits of gardeners from Canada and around the world, and reveals how the simple act of tending to the natural world brings spiritual health and renewal to individuals and communities alike.

VisionTV presents Recreating Eden on weekdays at 3 p.m. ET / Noon PT, and on Mondays at 10:30 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT.

For complete information on the series, please visit www.recreatingeden.com.