AGELESS GARDENS - SERIES PREMIERE ON VisionTV!
THE WORLD IS A GARDEN. WE’RE ALL GARDENERS.
AGELESS GARDENS
New five-part documentary series shows how Canadians can age gracefully, in the garden.
World premiere on VisionTV
Monday, February 12 at 9 pm ET
Watch The Trailer: http://www.agelessgardens.ca
Download the Press Kit & Photos: http://bit.ly/2D7GcUe
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Toronto, January 15, 2018) Ageless Gardens, a new five-part documentary series, gets down in the dirt to explore the role gardens can play in healthy aging, The series will have its World Broadcast Premiere on VisionTV, Monday, February 12 at 9 pm ET.
Ageless Gardens is both a visual celebration of gardens – and the gardeners behind them. Each episode presents a portrait of a wide range of Canadians whose lives have been greatly enriched through the gardening experience:
- “Healing Plants” - Monday, February 12 at 9 pm ET Gardening is the secret to good health and longevity, according to Toronto author and gardening columnist Marjorie Harris. Similarly, 70 years of backyard gardening continues to inspire Regina sculptor Vic Cicansky’s art. Meanwhile, on BC’s Gabriola Island, John Coleman, a backyard gardener in his 80s, grows a controversial healing plant to share with his friends who need it.
- “Therapeutic Gardens” - Monday, February 19 at 9 pm ET Hospitals are increasingly using gardening as a source of therapy. A Vancouver Island hospice’s outdoor garden soothes patient Margery Littley, who selects flowers with her daughter to plant in her garden box, while a Victoria-based hospital hired horticultural therapist Paul Allison to design a Zen Japanese Garden.
- “The Wild Garden” - Monday, February 26 at 9 pm ET Foraging, or ‘wild gardening’, is an adventurous gardening option practiced by people like famed BC restaurateur Sinclair Philip of Sooke Harbour House, who forages for mushrooms for his menus. Wild harvesters Danielle Prohom Olson and Jennifer Aikman conduct workshops on wild plants to promote them as a natural healthy alternative to store bought foods.
- “Gardens Grow Community” - Monday, March 5 at 9 pm ET Gardening connects Canadians, whether over the airwaves or in local communities. Zoomer Radio’s Charlie Dobbin hosts Toronto’s only radio call-in gardening show to offer her sage advice, while across the country Rainey Hopewell fought for the right to grow gardens on the boulevards in her Victoria neighbourhood where grown food is shared, and the residents get to know each other.
- “Adaptive Gardening” - Monday, March 12 at 9 pm ET When situations call for people to adapt, they do, and so does their style of gardening. Victoria-based Mary-Wynne Ashford, a retired physician, downsized her home and corresponding garden, learning new techniques to garden independently without the help of her husband, now in a long-term care facility. To complement his chic urban condo, Toronto landscape designer Ron Holbrook created a low maintenance rooftop garden he can tend to at any age. And thanks to her raised garden beds, Vancouver Island’s Lorna Popham was able to continue gardening after hip surgery.
Ageless Gardens director, producer, and cinematographer Ian Toews taught his son from an early age about the importance of growing plants and plans on cultivating his family garden for as long as he can. "What fascinated me most was learning about the billions of beneficial bacteria and microbes in fungi and soil,” says Toews. “Having our hands in the dirt and breathing the air around fresh soil is one of the world’s best kept secrets for health and longevity.”
Ageless Gardens was produced by Mark Bradley, David Springbett, and Ian Toews for Ageless Gardens Productions Inc., in association with VisionTV and ZoomerMedia Limited (Executive Producer Moses Znaimer and Supervising Producer Beverley Shenken, Vice-President, Content & General Manager, Television), The Province of British Columbia Film Incentive BC, The Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, Canada Media Fund, and Rogers Telefund.
About the Producers:
Gemini Award-winning 291 Film Company creates high production-value film and television programming that is broadcast and exhibited around the world. The primary focus of the Victoria, BC-based company is documentaries dealing with nature, art, and food. Producers Ian Toews and Mark Bradley have a combined 40 years of producing experience. Productions have included the Gemini Award- winning arts and nature series Landscape as Muse (Bravo!, SCN, Knowledge), nature one-offs Grasslands (Oasis HD, City) and Saskatchewan River Delta (Oasis HD, SCN), and the theatrical feature Bugs on the Menu, which was nominated for a 2017 Canadian Screen Award. www.291filmcompany.ca
Producer David Springbett has worked at the National Film Board’s Ontario Region Studio, at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, as an independent producer for other production companies, as well as running Asterisk Productions Ltd., the independent production company established in 1976 in Toronto, and based in Victoria, BC since 1993. David's company Asterisk produced the series Ways we Live: Exploring Community, Reinventing the World, and Finding the Future, followed by the award-winning The Man We Called Juan Carlos. Hell: A Survivor’s Guide is his most recent production with VisionTV. www.asterisk.ca
About VisionTV
Available in over 10-million homes, VisionTV is Canada’s only English language cable and satellite specialty channel that airs multi-faith, multicultural and family-oriented entertainment. www.visiontv.ca
Social Media
Instagram / Facebook / Twitter / YouTube
Visit the Ageless Gardens website for webisodes, gardening tips, and more: www.agelessgardens.ca
For further information, media preview link, and interview requests:
Jeremy Katz Leanne Wright
Publicist, AGELESS GARDENS ZoomerMedia Limited Television Division
Office: 416-656-6970 Tel. 416-886-6873
Mobile/Text: 416-997-6970 Email: Leanne@zoomer.ca
Email: jeremyk@sympatico.ca