Victoria’s annual flower count kicked off its 44th year Monday in the gardens of Hartley Castle at Royal Roads University.
The Greater Victoria Flower Count is billed as a fun and lighthearted way for the region to showcase its mild climate and poke fun at the rest of the country as it continues to deal with winter weather.
The count, which officially gets underway from March 6 to March 13, is also a way to build community spirit and help promote tourism in the region.
Every year communities, organizations and schools in the region compete to be the area's “bloomingest” community.
Last year, Colwood won first place for the fifth year in a row. The 2018 count saw 3.4 billion blossoms counted across Greater Victoria.
Residents can submit and track flower counts at flowercount.com.
The Greater Victoria Flower Count launch was also used as a backdrop to announce that the North American Garden Tourism Conference will be held in Victoria for the first time this year.
The conference will bring together garden and tourism representatives from Nov. 3 to Nov. 5. The theme of the conference is “Taking Garden Tourism to the Next Level” and will feature 22 speakers from around the world.
