Donna Dawson has had a long and cherished history not only with having the very first large internet website on gardening in Canada in 1996 but as a tour operator offering boutique garden tours to some of the most incredible gardens all over the world since 1999.
She earned her Master Gardener certificate from the University of Alberta Devonian Botanic Garden in 1995/6 and that changed her life.. As the owner/publisher of her Internet web site, ICanGarden.com (Now retired in 2022), Donna has been featured in Canadian Gardening magazine, The Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, Canadian House & Home Gardening Life, Alberta Venture, East Coast Gardener, Alberta Gardener, Chatelaine Gardens and a number of other Canadian publications. She has appeared on Canada AM, HGTV’s Indoor Gardener, CFRB radio, as well as being a featured guest speaker at numerous prestigious Canadian gardening events. These events include the Edmonton Home and Garden show, two consecutive years at Canada Blooms and Victoria’s Art in Bloom. Donna has also written articles for Alberta Views, the Edmonton Journal and is currently writing a monthly article in a international magazine – Tai Pan. She has also co-authored three books on gardening in Alberta with Lone Pine Press when she was living in Canada. Past board member of Alberta Gardener magazine.
In 1997, Donna was awarded the Canadian Internet “Person of the Year Award”. At the same time ICanGarden was voted the Canadian Community Site of the year. In 1998 Donna was selected as one of the five Canadian Gardening “Gardening Angels” who have made a difference to the Canadian gardening community. In 1999 Donna was awarded the Canadian Women’s Entrepreneur of the Year, Regional Finalist Award. In 2001 she was honoured to be included in a select few women that were chosen for an exhibition celebrating women in the community of St. Albert called ‘Connected Voices’. The St. Albert Chamber of Commerce awarded ICanGarden.com the 2004 Info Tech Award of Distinction. In 2006 the HGTV Show ‘Recreating Eden’ did a one hour special on Donna and her life in Panama called “The Garden Tourist’ centered both in France while she was leading a tour and where she now lives in Panama.
Episode 64 – The Garden Tourist – Donna Dawson, Panama and France
‘Currently Donna Dawson’s only garden is a virtual one in the form of an internet website she founded called ICanGarden.com, which has now “grown” to be one of Canada’s largest internet gardening resources. And although she is temporarily a gardener without her own physical garden, Donna gets her fix leading tours around famous public and private gardens in Europe. For Donna, the joy of being in a garden is unrivalled, even if for the moment, the garden is not her own.’
Her St. Albert, AB, Canada garden received a first prize from Canadian Gardening magazine in the countrywide “Cold Climate” division. She has received various awards from the Edmonton Horticultural Society for Ecoscape Gardens, Perennials and Water Gardens. She is a past Secretary of the Alberta Horticultural Association and is a past Director with the Edmonton Horticultural Society responsible for Programs and Special Speakers.
In 1999 Donna began organizing and hosting garden tours to England and Europe and she has not looked back…Her custom designed tours are for gardeners and created by a gardener and garden lover. www.gardeningtours.com is celebrating 25 years of creating small group tours all over the world in 2024 and she is still filled with joy in creating them and excitement in meeting so many travelers who come again and again!
In November 2023 at the International Garden Tourism Awards in Victoria, BC, Donna was awarded The ‘Garden Tourism Person of the Year’ an award she is humbled by and proud of…
Victoria, BC – At the International Garden Tourism Conference, echoing the convention’s theme of ‘Seizing the Moment,’ the winners of the 2023 International Garden Tourism Awards were revealed. “As we bring the garden and tourism together at this conference, we take great pride in unveiling in the 2023 awardees of the ‘International Garden Tourism Awards’,” says Ibo Gülsen, Chair of the International Garden Tourism Network. “These recipients exemplify true leadership in the world of garden tourism.” The ‘International Garden Tourism Awards’ are presented to organizations and individuals who have distinguished themselves in the development and promotion of garden experiences as tourism attractions and motivators for travel. The awards are proudly organized by the International Garden Tourism Network with recipients being selected by a jury. (full PR under Pen & Tea)
Donna Dawson has had a long and cherished history not only with having the very first large internet website on gardening in Canada in 1996 but as a tour operator offering boutique garden tours to some of the most incredible gardens all over the world since 1999.
She earned her Master Gardener certificate from the University of Alberta Devonian Botanic Garden in 1995/6 and that changed her life.. As the owner/publisher of her Internet web site, ICanGarden.com (Now retired in 2022), Donna has been featured in Canadian Gardening magazine, The Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, Canadian House & Home Gardening Life, Alberta Venture, East Coast Gardener, Alberta Gardener, Chatelaine Gardens and a number of other Canadian publications. She has appeared on Canada AM, HGTV’s Indoor Gardener, CFRB radio, as well as being a featured guest speaker at numerous prestigious Canadian gardening events. These events include the Edmonton Home and Garden show, two consecutive years at Canada Blooms and Victoria’s Art in Bloom. Donna has also written articles for Alberta Views, the Edmonton Journal and is currently writing a monthly article in a international magazine – Tai Pan. She has also co-authored three books on gardening in Alberta with Lone Pine Press when she was living in Canada. Past board member of Alberta Gardener magazine.
In 1997, Donna was awarded the Canadian Internet “Person of the Year Award”. At the same time ICanGarden was voted the Canadian Community Site of the year. In 1998 Donna was selected as one of the five Canadian Gardening “Gardening Angels” who have made a difference to the Canadian gardening community. In 1999 Donna was awarded the Canadian Women’s Entrepreneur of the Year, Regional Finalist Award. In 2001 she was honoured to be included in a select few women that were chosen for an exhibition celebrating women in the community of St. Albert called ‘Connected Voices’. The St. Albert Chamber of Commerce awarded ICanGarden.com the 2004 Info Tech Award of Distinction. In 2006 the HGTV Show ‘Recreating Eden’ did a one hour special on Donna and her life in Panama called “The Garden Tourist’ centered both in France while she was leading a tour and where she now lives in Panama.