02
Feb
Cochrane & Area Gardening Expo – April 26, 2026
It’s the 3rd annual Gardening Expo! This is the event for every gardener – whether you’re an experienced gardener, taking your first steps into gardening, or newly relocated to Cochrane and looking for a few tips for gardening in this zone – this event will get you excited about digging in the dirt!
SUNDAY, APRIL 26
11:00 am – 3:00 pm
Cochrane Lions Event Centre | Entry is free of charge
Here’s what you will discover at the Gardening Expo
- Vendors: 30+ vendors selling seeds, seedlings, and gardening related products
- Experienced Local Gardeners: take time to chat with subject matter experts about your gardening challenges
- Seed Exchange Table operated by the Cochrane & District Horticultural Society: bring your extra seeds to add to the exchange and/or purchase seeds (by donation) to fill the gaps in your garden.
- Guest Speaker Presentations: throughout the event you can take a seat in the speaker’s zone and have the opportunity to hear local gardeners share their knowledge, tips and tricks for making their gardens flourish.
- 11:30 am – Pollinators and Sustainable Gardens. Are you interested in in learning about sustainable, drought-tolerant gardens that can not only provide food and beautiful flowers but ALSO help our native pollinators? Join Sydney Worthy, Native Bee Stewardship Specialist with the Alberta Native Bee Council, to learn about what you can do to help pollinators in urban areas while also benefiting from a beautiful native garden! Topics covered will include:
- Bee diversity in Alberta / Calgary / Cochrane
- Why bees are important and why they need our help (especially in urban areas!)
- How a native garden can help you AND pollinators
- What types of flowers and shrubs are best to plant in the area
- 12:30 pm – Soil Health – The Key to Successful Gardening. Good soil health is key to our gardening successes! In this talk, Sheryl Normandeau will explore how to improve soil structure, enhance nutrients, and show the vital connection between water and soil. All of these things are necessary for thriving plants, and we can promote soil health all through the growing season. Sheryl Normandeau is the co-author (with Janet Melrose) of the ten books in ‘The Guides for the Prairie Gardener’ book series, as well as ‘Staying Alive: The Go-To Guide for Houseplants and the The Houseplanter: Your Go-To Gardening Journal’. Sheryl is the author of the children’s book ‘Save Our Seeds: Protecting Plants for the Future’ and the cookbook ‘The Little Prairie Book of Berries’. Sheryl has written hundreds of articles for various international publications, and is an administrator and content creator for several plant-related social media sites. Sheryl volunteers for many different gardening organizations, including the Calgary Horticultural Society, and is the director of a community garden in southwest Calgary.
- 1:30 pm – Regenerative Yard Care. Stop using fertilizer and weed killers. Learn how to mimic nature and use simple DIY practices to grow a healthier yard. This presentation will cover the basics of how healthy plants grow in symbiosis with biology in the soil and how this relates to insect or disease pressure. And of course, simple DIY solutions that fit the paradigm. Kurt Stenberg, Arborist with Cochrane Tree Care, will speak on:
- The regenerative philosophy around yard care.
- Holistic care and understanding of a complete yard and ecosystem VS treating a tree separate from your lawn (as an example).
- Weeds and why they grow. What it’s telling you and why not to use synthetics or herbicides when possible.
- 11:30 am – Pollinators and Sustainable Gardens. Are you interested in in learning about sustainable, drought-tolerant gardens that can not only provide food and beautiful flowers but ALSO help our native pollinators? Join Sydney Worthy, Native Bee Stewardship Specialist with the Alberta Native Bee Council, to learn about what you can do to help pollinators in urban areas while also benefiting from a beautiful native garden! Topics covered will include:
Vendor List
The following includes vendors and community groups & organizations participating in the Gardening Expo. This list will be updated in the days preceding the event – check back for updates.
| Alberta Native Bee Council | Native bee & pollinator educational resources; Guides; Merchandise website |
| Anything Grows Cochrane Garden Center | Gardening education; Gardener’s handbook; Plants; Gardening accessories; Garden Craft/Art (metal) website |
| Birds Nest Designs | Unique Garden Decor website |
| Blooming Bee Gardening | Seeds; Plants / Flowers; Garden Craft/Art (fibre/sewn) website | facebook | instagram |
| Bloomshift Crafts | Plant Crafts 3D Printed |
| Brandywine Blooms | Garden maintenance services website | instagram |
| Cochrane & District Horticultural Society * | Seed Exchange Table; Information; Plants / Flowers; Books website | facebook group |
| Cochrane Public Library | Information Resources; Library of Things website | facebook | instagram |
| Cochrane Tree Care | Tree Care; Regenerative Soil Health; Landscape (horticulture and permaculture design) website |
| Common Sense Seeds | Seeds (vegetable: tomato, peppers, and other veggies) website |
| Cultivate Cochrane | Vegetable seedlings; Seeds; Plants/Flowers; Education website | instagram |
| Dan’s Creative Custom Woodwork | Garden Craft / Art (wood). |
| Linda Fee | Self-watering pots |
| Growing Roots Forest Play | Kids Activity website |
| Guides for the Prairie Gardener | Gardening books for prairie gardeners, Sheryl Normandeau website | facebook | instagram |
| Helping Hands of Cochrane and Area | Free Food Sheds accepting local grown produce website | facebook | instagram |
| Hillside Homestead and Woodworks | Vegetable seedlings; Seeds; Garden Craft/Art (wood) website | facebook |
| Hive and Harvest | Vegetable Seedlings |
| Kate’s Gardens | Vegetable seedlings; Plants; Flower Seedlings instagram | facebook |
| Little Daisy Flower Garden | Seeds; Plants; Flowers website | facebook | instagram |
| Living Through the Seasons | Karen Begg | Plants; Flowers; Garden Craft / Art (metal craft); Custom Handmade Concrete Patio / Garden Stones |
| Liza’s Plants YYC | Seeds website | instagram |
| Matches Seeds | Vegetable seedlings; Seeds; Garden Products website | facebook | instagram |
| Matters of the Garden | Seeds; Plants; Flowers; Bagged Compost website |
| Megan Luscombe | Seeds; Plants; Flowers |
| Nootka Tree Care | Tree Care Services (removal, pruning, risk assessments, planting & more) website | facebook | instagram |
| Range2Town Farms | Vegetable seedlings; Seeds; Plants; Flowers |
| Short Season Gardening | Vegetable seedlings; Plants; Flowers |
| Steven Pollard | Vegetable seedlings; Plants; Flowers |
| The Crazy Sunflower Lady | Plants; Flowers |
| Totally Hooked YYC | Vegetable seedlings; Plants; Flowers; Garden Craft / Art (sewing / fibre craft) facebook | instagram |
| Tower Garden | Aeroponic, Hydroponic Growing Systems website |
| Town of Cochrane Water Conservation | Promotion & Awareness: Town’s water conservation rebate program website |
| Watering Tropical Fever | Vegetable seedlings; Plants; Flowers; Beneficial bugs; Plant supplies website | instagram |
| Wildwood Flowers | Vegetable seedlings; Seeds; Plants; Flowers website | instagram |
| Worm Worked Composting | Worm Compost; Vegetable Seedlings; Plants; Flowers |
Vendor Information
Are you a local gardener that would like to sell your seedlings, collected seeds, or plants? Perhaps you’re a maker of yard & garden handcrafts? If you grow or make the items you wish to sell, you may be a good fit for this event. Vendor fee is $15 for a 6′ table (provided).
Online Vendor application submission is now closed.
Questions? Email: cage@cochraneenvironment.org
The Cochrane & Area Gardening Expo is hosted by the Cochrane Environmental Action Committee (CEAC). Proceeds from the vendor fees and seed exchange table will be donated to a local organization to support environmental action in the Cochrane community.