Waard Ward creates floral arrangements, builds community gardens, and invites newcomers to train as florists and imagine social-entrepreneurial futures.
Collectively led by Syrian florist Abd Al-Mounim, community organizers/newcomers Hanen Nanaa and Shoruk Alsakni, educator Laura Ritacca, curator/educator Patricia Ritacca, and artist Petrina Ng, Waard Ward collaborates in floristry, decolonial research, and newcomer support. Waard Ward's name proposes the idea of a diasporic flower district; "waard" is a romanization of the Arabic word for flower.
Waard Ward's advisors are Allison Chow and Joseph Pitawanakwat. Allison is a cut flower grower and garden designer. Her urban flower farm and design studio, together named Posy Gang, are located in Whitby, Ontario. Joseph is an Anishinaabe educator from Wiikwemkoong First Nation and founder/director of Creators Garden, an Indigenous outdoor education-based business, focused on plant identification, beyond-sustainable harvesting, and teaching every one of their linguistic, historical, cultural, edible, ecological and medicinal significance through experience.