February 14, 2024
Communities in Bloom announces Orange as the Colour of the year 2024
Communities in Bloom announces the colour of the year for 2024
Orange is this year's choice for the flower colour theme of the year, announced at this year’s Communities in Bloom (CiB) Symposium held in Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo, Alberta. This announcement coincided with the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation on September 30.
Among those instrumental in recommending the orange theme was Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (RMWB) Ward 2 Councillor Kendrick Cardinal, who is also President of the Fort Chipewyan Métis Nation.
“The colour orange is not only the colour of the flower, it’s also the colour of the relationship we want to build,” said Cardinal.
“When you’re holding an orange flower, it symbolizes a way to build a better tomorrow for indigenous communities,” he said. “Our motto in the region is: it’s time. It’s time to build those relationships, and continue for 100 years to fix them, because that’s what it’s going to take to fix it all.”
In what has become an annual tradition, the National Capital Commission (NCC) donated tulip bulbs to the CiB Symposium’s host municipality. This year, Wood Buffalo received 2,800 Orange Dream tulip bulbs.
Tina Liu, a national judge and board member of CiB, is also a senior landscape architect at the NCC. She leads the design of year-round floral displays throughout Ottawa — encompassing 30 different sites in 120 flower beds on 13,000 square metres of space. Liu has experimented with a few orange-themed planters around Parliament Hill, and is planning for a whole lot more as the year progresses.
“Get ready for a splash of orange,” Liu said.