Collection - Canadian Horticultural Societies Collection

Horticultural societies have played an important role in the beautification movement, which aimed at making towns and cities tidier and more aesthetically pleasing as a means of fostering good citizenship, social remedy, and morality.

From the late 1880s to the 1920s, Canada was characterized by rapid industrialization, urbanization, and immigration. Existing social welfare institutions, often municipal in scope, were unable to cope with the social ills that these changes elicited. In response, Canadians, especially those of the middle class, became engaged in social reform. Horticultural societies were a product of this reforming zeal with the earliest founded in Toronto in 1834.

Societies were organized by men who were interested in amateur and commercial growing of fruit, vegetables, and ornamentals. Women were society members but did not hold official positions until the 1920s.

Several provinces have adopted a Horticultural Society Act, which outlines criteria that groups must meet in order to be considered a society. In return, authorized societies are given funding from the provincial government.

Horticultural societies still exist today; its members continue to beautify cities and towns for all to enjoy.