In response, many are taking to this enforced period of solitude and self-reflection like Voltaire's Candide, "to cultivate our gardens", albeit literally. Hartley Rosen, who owns Figaro's Garden store on Victoria Drive, says there has been a tremendous appetite for gardening supplies. "There is a real, real demand for this right now. While governments have said food supplies are secure, empty grocery stores shelves have had people worried about a shortage of food staples. The business takes the name from victory gardens, which were common during the First World War, the Great Depression and the Second World War, as private and public plots of land were taken over and planted as vegetable gardens.

Source: CBC News March 28, 2020 16:52 UTC