History

The Edmonton Horticultural Society was founded in November 1909 to serve gardeners’ needs for information as well as to encourage public beautification through horticulture.

The EHS has long attracted some of the areas most prominent and enthusiastic gardeners, including our first president, Walter Ramsay whose greenhouses have been recreated at Fort Edmonton Park; Gladys Reeves, a local photographer and our first female president, who tirelessly promoted gardening and tree planting as expressions of civic duty; Robert Simonet, the famous Edmonton plant breeder who was a director of the society as well as an honorary president and honorary horticulturist; and Fred Tarlton, Alberta’s first lily hybridizer who was an honorary president and is an EHS lifetime member.

From vacant lot gardening to meet the food shortages of the First World War and Great Depression, to our work on the Annual Trials Bed Evaluations on the grounds the Muttart Conservatory today, the EHS continues to make significant contributions to local horticulture. From bench shows to plant exchanges, our commitment to encouraging and supporting local gardeners is unwavering.

The history and evolution of the Edmonton Horticultural Society is laid out in the 2009 EHS Centennial publication, A Century of Gardening in Edmonton, produced by a team led by local writer, EHS member and unofficial EHS historian Kathryn Chase Merrett. This full-colour Centennial publication chronicles, through stories and photos, much of the evolution of gardening in Edmonton. Each EHS member was presented with a complimentary copy in 2009. New members will receive a complimentary copy upon joining, while supplies last.

To read Kathryn's brief history of the EHS, click here.

For information on purchasing A Century of Gardening in Edmonton call 780-456-3324 or send us an email.