About The Prairie Garden
Since 1937, The Prairie Garden has published an affordable, digest-sized book written and edited by an enthusiastic volunteer committee. Dedicated to the advancement of horticulture in the prairies, The Prairie Garden is proudly published in Winnipeg, Manitoba, CANADA. The Prairie Garden is western Canada's only gardening annual publication.
Each year, The Prairie Garden committee selects a theme and invites a Guest Editor, who is an expert on the theme, to join The Prairie Garden committee. Articles, and photos, submitted by skilled gardeners, horticulturists, academics, and committee members are edited to meet The Prairie Garden style and standards. The Prairie Garden Committee also includes associates who write articles, edit and provide photos and images for the book. Collectively, all of these contributors, are what make The Prairie Garden possible, as are our sponsors, and you, our loyal readership.
​
Click here to learn more about our history.
The Prairie Garden Committee
Tim Evans
Chair
My profession has been for 31 years a Registered Massage Therapist specializing in deep tissue massage, postural and structural work and therapeutic treatments ‘by day’. I am a Manitoba Master Gardener ‘by night’ (and on the weekends) mostly tending to my home gardens which have been used frequently for weddings, renewal of vows, wedding photo opportunities, memorial services, fundraisers and other events during the summer months. I have been a dedicated gardener for over 30 years with a confession for having a weak spot for tall flowering perennials and a favourite idol, world famous Dutch gardener, Piet Oudolf.
As a result of having my more recent homes on umpteen garden tours, I became irrevocably addicted to them with no desire to find a cure which eventually led becoming the coordinator for Nature Manitoba’s Gardens of Distinction garden tours for the past 5 years, a fundraiser event which had their inception 24 years ago.
I am also a beekeeper of 4 hives right on my home property. My gardens comprise of umpteen perennials, clematises and fruit trees which led to the addition of bees as a natural progression beyond growing flowers. My gardening interests keep changing yearly from one variety of perennials to another. As well, one of my personal goals has been to try to maintain my gardens in bloom in some form or fashion from early spring to late fall in a prairie zone of 3/4. The progression is slowly happening. It just takes time and patience.
Evelyn Lundeen
Editor
I have been interested in gardening since about four years of age. I remember waking up very early one summer morning and wandering outside in my pyjamas and bare feet onto the wet, dew-covered grass to see my father occupied with all these wonderful tiny green things in little brown pots. My education carried me onto a totally different path as I ended up becoming a nurse - first working in the ICU and, when I grew tired of working every second weekend, being away from family on many holidays and switching back between day and night shifts, I became an instructor at Winnipeg’s Red River College. I retired after chasing nursing students around the hospital wards for 25 years. My love of gardening sustained me in a career that had many highs but also many lows. That love continues to this day and I still go out many a summer morning in my pyjamas and bare feet to see how all the “tiny green things” in my garden are doing.
Barb Shields
Guest Editor
Barbara Shields, B.A. (Hons), M.A. Medieval Studies, LLB. is a retired tax lawyer who has been collecting and cultivating roses for more than 30 years in Winnipeg.
She is an avid reader and is very enthusiastic about knitting.
Lesa Guy
Editorial Assistant
I was raised on a farm in southwestern Manitoba, where my family grew canola, wheat, and barley for others while relying on its own subsistence gardening; I saw from an early age that growing one's own food is essential to true food security. Growing food and flowers has been a key part of my life ever since, all through university (while earning B.A. and M.A. degrees in English), then in my tiny balcony garden in Toronto,
and today in my backyard in Winnipeg.
A freelance copy editor and proofreader of academic journals and business and financial reports for over 20 years, I recently enrolled in the Prairie Horticulture Certificate and Urban Agriculture Certificate programs (through University of Saskatchewan and Toronto Metropolitan University, respectively), and specialize in soil management, applied botany, and Indigenous food sovereignty. When not studying or working in my garden, I can be found perfecting vegan recipes, reading seed catalogues, and researching old-school food preservation techniques.
