FEATURED: Dows Lake Garden Party (July 22)

** Canada’s Biggest Garden Party **

• It’s here and it’s fantastic! You can’t miss this. **

** It’s the ** Dows Lake Garden Party ** , July 22 from 10:00 am to 10:30 pm. Delight yourself with a wonderful assortment of free events and activities for families, friends and visitors. It’s an all day Garden Party that stretches into evening. Bring the family and enjoy a full day of gardens and garden tips. There’s stories in the garden, face painting and ice cream. Play a game of giant JENGA. Enjoy the flowers along the Boardwalk, savour the stay-for-dinner specials and cocktails offered at the Dows Lake Pavilion restaurants. Tour ** Commissioners Park ** with NCC’s Landscape Architect, ** Tina Liu. ** Follow that up with an exploration of the ** Dominion Arboretum ** with gardening guru ** Ed Lawrence ** . It’s truly a Party and a Gardener’s paradise. The day continues with ** fireworks ** at 9:30 pm followed by a special secret surprise that’s going to blow your mind. It’s a secret, we won’t tell, you’ll have to be here. ** Here’s how your day can look ** Start at  10:00 am and ‘be garden-enlightened’ with an escorted tour of Commissioners Park hosted by Tina Liu , the National Capital Commission’s Landscape Architect. Still digging to learn? At 1 pm, explore the Dominion Aboretum at Experimental Farm with talk radio gardening guru and author, Ed Lawrence. All day long there are tons of activities for the whole family. Trust us, there’s always something to touch, see and do. Continue your adventure with from 3-5 pm with Ed Lawrence and enjoy a  gardenlicious cocktail in Malones & Mexicala Rosa’s at Dows Lake Pavilion. Plant yourself. The restaurants at Dows Lake Pavilion have planned some ‘Stay-for-Dinner’ menus to tempt you and your family to stay for more. Plus, you don’t want to miss out on the fireworks do you? ** No need to drive ** There are some road closures anticipated to make for a total activity gardening experience. OC Transpo and Gray Line are operating at full schedule with paid parking available at Dows Lake Pavilion. ** Something for everyone ** Take a stroll along the boardwalk, there are flowers and gardens everywhere to entice the senses and deliver a sense of  peace as the sun sets. You can even partake the Garden Party from the lake. Rent a paddle boat, kayak or canoe from @DowsLakeOttawa . If you’d get a chance, take some pix and use the ** #40gardensjardins ** tag so that we can all enjoy the adventures. ** We know how to go out in style ** What’s a party without fireworks? Ho-Hum … and we’re nothing like that at all. We’ve got ** a brilliant fireworks display ** ** at 9:30 ** that will light up Ottawa’s sky over Dows Lake. Be sure to be there because there is a super, secret surprise in the evening We’re not going to tell you exactly what, but here’s a hint: Did that really happen?

Other events are happening in the Gardens  and Restaurants along the promenade go to gardenpromenade.ca/events for an evolving list of activities.