The original Victoria Horticultural Society, affiliated with the Royal Horticultural Society of Great Britain. became inactive during the ‘Great War’ of 1914-1918. Then, in 1921, a group of gardeners formed an organization they called the Victoria Cottage Gardeners Mutual Improvement Society. The following year, 1922, they changed the name to the Victoria and District Gardeners Association; in 1927, it became duly constituted as a new Victoria Horticultural Society, which assumed the former affiliation with the Royal Horticultural Society in 1928.
The first Flower and Vegetable Show of the new association was held on July 11, 1924, in the basement of the Arcade Building on Government Street. The Band of the Boys’ Naval Brigade was in attendance, Mayor Charles Hayward gave the opening address and commented on the general excellence of the show.
The Spring Garden Festival of 1947, held under the auspices of the Victoria Horticultural Society and the Vancouver Island Rock and Alpine Garden Society, was sponsored by the management of the Empress Hotel. From May 5 to May 10, with the Empress Hotel as headquarters, approximately 50 gardens were opened. Garden tours by Gray Line bus were arranged morning and afternoon of the four-day festival with members of the horticultural society as guides. In addition, an interesting program at the Empress included decorated tables, short talks, movies and slides on horticultural subjects.
The Society staged judged seasonal shows up to four times a year until the mid-1990s. These were extremely popular, raising significant funds for the organization. They garnered a lot of publicity, with regular reports appearing in the local Press. As well as general flower and vegetable shows, there were more specialized events focusing on chrysanthemums, dahlias or roses, for example.
“Spring Garden Week” was a very popular event in the Victoria district for many years. Members of the public could purchase tickets which gave access to the best gardens in the area, many of which were those of Society Members — these were even promoted by the Victoria tourist board!
Plans to mark our Centenary, in 2021, were seriously hampered by the Covid pandemic. Nonetheless, we were still able to mark this milestone in a number of significant ways. The broad objectives of the VHS formed the starting point for our Centenary plans, along with our motto “Share What You Know, Show What You Grow”. These objectives are:
a. To collect and diffuse information on all topics relating to horticulture.
b. To cooperate and/or affiliate with other horticultural organizations.
c. To support education in horticulture.
Five major projects were undertaken. Click on the images below for more information about each of them. NOTE: some of these files are large, and may take some time to open on your device!
