Flowers in the front yard of one of the homes participating in this year's Flower Power Garden Tour.

(JESSE TOMAS / iNFOnews.ca)

Gardeners in Kelowna opened their flower beds to the public at an event over the weekend, and some exemplified eco-friendly approaches to landscaping.

The Flower Power Garden Tour took place on Saturday at homes throughout Kelowna and West Kelowna.

Attendees were given a map of participating homes and a recommended route to go from garden to garden and see some stunning flower beds. There were artists, vendors, live music, and of course flowers.

Tanya Ward is one homeowner who opened up her yard to let ticket holders take a look at her flower beds.

When she was planning her home’s landscape she decided to take an environmentally friendly approach and make her front yard a meadow style flower bed with plants preferred by local pollinators.

“It's nice for people to see how you can do that instead of having a lawn all the time,” she said. “They are low water, indigenous plants, things like that.”

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The meadow approach using indigenous flowers in Ward's front yard.

(JESSE TOMAS / iNFOnews.ca)

Ward sought help from a landscaping company called Seed and Sparrow, and one of their specialties is sustainable gardening.

Christopher Szymberski is one of the owners of Seed and Sparrow and he’s been creating environmentally conscious gardens for the past seven years.

“We specialize in building what we call climate resilient landscapes, which have different tricks and approaches to it. The meadow is one of those. So that's done with mostly native plants, some what we call regionally appropriate plants,” he said. “Plants that are from similar climates, but in different parts of the world. That helps us to extend the bloom period, pollinator food sources and visual interest.”

He said the general trend towards sustainable gardening is positive, and hopes events like the Flower Power Garden Tour help promote plants that are good for the pollinators and the local ecosystem.

“Hopefully it will spread. I think it's clear to me that a lot of people have been impacted by this garden today,” he said. “It's not really very sunny today, so the pollinators aren't really out. But usually, there's kind of a quiet hum of life in the front garden.”

iNFOnews.ca has some photos of the garden tour for those who missed out.

A close-up of the massive globe allium gigantium in Ward's backyard.

(JESSE TOMAS / iNFOnews.ca)

A sculpture in a flower bed at one of the participating homes.

(JESSE TOMAS / iNFOnews.ca)

A close-up of a flower on display at the garden tour on Saturday.

(JESSE TOMAS / iNFOnews.ca)

Another shot of Ward's meadow style front lawn.

(JESSE TOMAS / iNFOnews.ca)

A vibrant pink flower soaking up the rain on Saturday.

(JESSE TOMAS / iNFOnews.ca)

A metal horse head sculpture by Daren Williams on sale at one of the participating homes.

(JESSE TOMAS / iNFOnews.ca)

A close-up of a flower bed on display at the garden tour.

(JESSE TOMAS / iNFOnews.ca)

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