Three other cities in Quebec received four blooms: Rosemere, Saint Bruno, and Quebec City. It’s nice to see Quebec City and Westmount on the same page for once.

The Fleurons du Quebec is not a competition, so we don’t win a prize. We do win the right to compete in the Communities in Bloom competition next year, and we will. Participating in the Fleurons du Quebec event gives us the opportunity to be assessed by unbiased experts at no cost, and the report that accompanies our evaluation sheds some light on the way our city looks and feels to visitors.

The assessors loved the floral clock, and the library. They loved the fact that Westmount has a fall leaf collection program, and that the city has a program for picking up green garden waste from residences. They were impressed that citizens can bring e-waste, scrap metal and other recyclables to the Public Works yard at Bethune Street, and that composting bins are available to citizens for only $30. They also noted that the yard itself needs sprucing up. It’s ironic that the place from which come so many of the ideas and so much of the work that keeps our city looking its best has a look that is best described as utilitarian. The cobbler’s children have no shoes, as the saying goes.

The report also gives full marks to Westmount Park, as seen from Sherbrooke Street, to King George Park, and to many smaller areas of floral embellishment such as Forden Crescent. It praises our grand old City Hall building, and congratulates all our citizens for shouldering their share of the community’s beautification effort. However, we are scolded for our shabby notice boards, and ticked off for our unkempt schoolyards, and the sad state of the fences at the Westmount Athletic Grounds.

On the whole, it’s a very good report, and the city horticulturalist is justly proud of our achievement. I say ‘our’ because it’s not just about flowers. Even the horticulturally challenged (like me) have played a part in our four-bloom score. If we swept our paths, watered a flower-box, picked up a bit of litter, we helped a bit. And those who know more, and do more, have helped a lot.

It also helped that, on the day that the assessors toured the city, they were greeted by a very impressive array of city staff, including the mayor, with a brief speech explaining how their work contributes to the city’s allure - and in French, too. It was a charming reception.

Westmount is a charming city. It takes work, a little sacrifice, some patience, some planning, even the odd frank and open exchange of views, as they say in diplomatic circles. But it pays off in spades. Or in this case, in blooms: four of them. Blooming marvelous.



George Bowser is Westmount's city councillor for Ward 5.