MHS Resources: The Prairie Garden

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Chairs | Editors | Themes and Guest Editors | Back Issues | Sources

​The Prairie Garden is a non-profit, annual publication dedicated to the advancement of horticulture in the northern Prairies. It is a digest-sized (about 5.5 by 8.5 inches), soft-covered book that has been published by a Winnipeg-based volunteer committee since 1937.

The Prairie Garden began as the Annual Report of the Winnipeg Horticultural Society and included not only the society’s annual reports, but also informative articles by prominent local horticulturists. Except during the war years 1940, 1943, and 1944, it appeared under the title The Winnipeg Flower Garden from 1937 to 1954 and was free to the society’s members when they paid their annual membership. Its unique focus on gardening under the challenging conditions of the northern Prairies made it popular far beyond Winnipeg. Reflecting its ever-expanding readership, the 1955 edition was renamed The Flower Garden. Two years later, it was renamed again: from the 1957 edition on, it has been called The Prairie Garden.

This reinvention as a regional publication coincides with the tenure of its first official editor Gladwyn Switzer “Glad” Reycraft. A long-time director of the Winnipeg Horticultural Society, he became chairman of the Flower Garden and then Prairie Garden Committee from 1955 to 1961, in effect the editor, a title expressly ascribed to him in the editions from 1962 to 1973.

The book continued to be published under the auspices of the Winnipeg Horticultural Society until 1999-2000, when the society was disbanded and the Prairie Garden Committee became an independent non-profit. Since 2020, the committee has been officially incorporated as TPG Publications Inc.

The hundreds of experts who have written for The Prairie Garden are a virtual Who’s Who of prairie horticulture: for example, Frank Leith Skinner, Henry Heard Marshall, John Walker, Louis Lenz, and Lynn Collicutt; more recently Wilbert Ronald, Sara Williams, Kevin Twomey, and Colleen Zacharias, to name just a few. Past contributors have included professional plant developers and scientists associated with institutions like the Morden Research Station, nurseries, and universities. Others have been landscape designers, horticultural educators, and garden journalists, as well as experienced amateurs and, of course, members of the committee. For a listing by subject of all the articles to date with their authors and the issues and page numbers where they appear, please refer to the Prairie Garden Index.

The format of the book has changed over time. Colour photos first appeared in 1961, and starting in 1974, a colour section on a special topic became a popular feature. A portion of the articles were also chosen to reflect that theme. In 1987, Lynn Collicutt was the first to be invited to serve as a guest editor to help assemble material on that year’s theme, Perennials for the Prairies. The practice continued for most issues. The books now featured a 16-page colour insert that illustrated both the theme articles and the general gardening articles. In 2012, with guest editor Rick Durand for the theme Trees, The Prairie Garden produced its first edition with colour photos throughout.

Chairs (Prairie Garden Committee)

Period	Chair
1959-1969	Gladwyn Switzer “Glad” Reycraft (1905-1986)
1970-1980	Peter Jacob “Potato Pete” Peters (1914-2012)
1981-1989	Louis Lenz
1990-1993	Gary Platford Charles Thomsen
1994-2002	Gary Platford
2003-2008	Gary Platford Roger Brown
2009	Gary Platford
2010-2015	Ed Czarnecki Colleen Zacharias
2016	Ed Czarnecki
2017	Sandra Venton
2018	Linda Dietrick
2019-present	Ian Wise

Editors (by Edition Year)

Period	Editor
1955-1973	Gladwyn Switzer “Glad” Reycraft (1905-1986)
1974-1981	Phyllis Thomson-McGrath
1982-1989	Diane Wreford
1990-2002	Frances Wershler
2003	Yvonne Dean
2004-2007	Audrey Law Hosegood
2008-2016	Richard Denesiuk
2017	David Hanson (guest editor)
2018	Lynsey Sable
2019-2021	Linda Dietrick
2021-present	Dorothy Dobbie

Themes and Guest Editors

Year	Theme	Guest Editor
1987	Perennials for the Prairies	Lynn Collicutt
1988	Gardening Indoors
1989	The Best of Fifty Years of Prairie Gardening
1990	Bulbs and Perennials, Lilies	Wilbert G. Ronald
1991	The Sustainable Landscape	JoAnn Joyce
1992	Gardening Oddities
1993	Herbs	Lorraine Loptson
1994	Xeriscaping – Gardening in Dry Conditions	Sara Williams
1995	Accessible Gardening	Phil Graham
1996	New Themes in Prairie Landscapes
1997	Propagation
1998	Prairie Trees	Rick Durand
1999	Perennials	Brian Duncan
2000	Herbs	David Hanson
2001	Container Gardening	Christopher Tarrant
2002	Landscape Design	Roger Brown
2003	Themes & Extremes	Linda Stilkowski
2004	Pleasing Prairie Places	Bob Golinoski
2005	Lilies	Jennifer Bishop Barbara Jean Jackson
2006	Myth, Magic & Meditation	Stefan Fediuk
2007	The Edible Landscape	Jim Kohut
2008	Roses	Paul Olsen
2009	Deciduous Shrubs	Philip Ronald
2010	Annuals & Biennials	Carla Hrycyna
2011	Healthy Gardening
2012	Trees	Rick Durand
2013	Perennials	Jane Reksten
2014	75th Edition - Gardens
2015	Grasses & Succulents	Tammy Jensen
2016	Fruit & Berries	Bob Bors
2017	Herbs & Spices	David Hanson
2018	Shade
2019	Growing Food	Tiffany Grenkow
2020	Inspired by Nature	Maureen Krauss
2021	Flowering Shrubs, with a Special Feature on Roses	Philip Ronald
2022	Smaller Spaces	Mr. Tomato

Back Issues

In 2020, all editions of The Prairie Garden and its predecessors were digitized in order to preserve the information from the print material, which is starting to decay, and to make this information more widely accessible and searchable for purposes of research. The Prairie Garden Committee is now pleased to offer this online digital collection of historical editions. For more recent editions that are still available for purchase, please visit https://www.theprairiegarden.com.

The Prairie Garden Committee acknowledges with gratitude the support of Manitoba Sport, Culture, and Heritage in the form of a Heritage Grant to assist with the digitization of our past editions.

Winnipeg Flower Garden 1937	Winnipeg Flower Garden 1938	Winnipeg Flower Garden 1939	Winnipeg Flower Garden 1941
Winnipeg Flower Garden 1942	Winnipeg Flower Garden 1945	Winnipeg Flower Garden 1946	Winnipeg Flower Garden 1947
Winnipeg Flower Garden 1948	Winnipeg Flower Garden 1949	Winnipeg Flower Garden 1950	Winnipeg Flower Garden 1951
Winnipeg Flower Garden 1952	Winnipeg Flower Garden 1953	Winnipeg Flower Garden 1954	Flower Garden 1955
Flower Garden 1956	Flower Garden 1957	Prairie Garden 1958	Prairie Garden 1959
Prairie Garden 1960	Prairie Garden 1961	Prairie Garden 1962	Prairie Garden 1963
Prairie Garden 1964	Prairie Garden 1965	Prairie Garden 1966	Prairie Garden 1967
Prairie Garden 1968	Prairie Garden 1969	Prairie Garden 1970	Prairie Garden 1971
Prairie Garden 1972	Prairie Garden 1973	Prairie Garden 1974	Prairie Garden 1975
Prairie Garden 1976	Prairie Garden 1977	Prairie Garden 1978	Prairie Garden 1979
Prairie Garden 1980

See also:

World-Famous Plants from Manitoba and the Breeders Behind Them by Linda Dietrick
Prairie History, Number 3, Fall 2020

The Prairie Garden

Sources:

This page was prepared by Linda Dietrick, Ian Wise (Chair, The Prairie Garden), Sarah Piercy (member, The Prairie Garden Committee), and Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 7 November 2021