Why Brampton Was Named The Flower City

By Author: Rob Parker
Total Articles: 312
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Brampton, one of Canada's fastest growing municipalities, with a population of over 430,000, seems unlikely to carry a nickname like the Flower City. Industry abounds, and certainly the climate is not as conducive to a surplus of flowers such as may be found in Victoria or even Vancouver. Yet, Brampton does proudly boast the title of Flower City, due to reasons both historic and current. In this article we will take a look at why.

The first nickname referring to Brampton and flowers was actually Flowertown. This nickname was popular during the 1960s and 1970s. The name did not come about due to an abundance of wild flowers naturally blooming along the busy streets (during these decades Brampton began to earn its reputation as one of Canada's fastest growing municipalities). Rather, Brampton took the nickname Flowertown because of the thriving greenhouse industry.

In fact, Brampton's greenhouse industry was so successful that it was the main supplier of buds, blooms, trees and shrubberies not just to the local area, but also to the entire Quebec City/ Windsor corridor and beyond. With its close proximity to the ...
... border with the United States, Brampton flowers were in high demand in major international cities including New York and Detroit.

One of the key players in the Brampton greenhouse game was a company known as Dale's Flowers. This company was renowned all over the continent for the quality of the blooms it produced. In fact, the company was the proud recipient of many international rose awards for the quality of several species of roses they grew during their half-century existence. Although operating out of New York, the actual flowers sold by Dale's, and the ones that were internationally recognized, were grown in Brampton.

Today Brampton still has a thriving greenhouse industry, although the nickname of the city has changed with is growth. Instead of being Flowertown, today Brampton is known as Flower City. Moreover, the city government has decided to make the name more obvious to the observing eye through an initiative to encourage floral and green growth throughout the city, from residences to public parks. The city began moving forward with the implementation framework for Flower City in 2005, identifying major public areas (including the transportation system), which would be the focus of planting strategies.