th
th
At least in this one corner of your yard and life, you will have begun to heal the split between what you think and what you do, to commingle your identities as consumer and producer and citizen.
The single greatest lesson the garden teaches is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum, and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant, think and do, we can, if we bother to try, find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world.
Michael Pollan, “Why Bother?” New York Times , 2008
1

page page page page
3 8 9 11
Agenda at a Glance Details:
Pre-Conference
Workshops
Plenary Session
Details
Breakout Session
Details page page page
19 25 26
Speaker Biographies Travel Essentials Easy Registration
2

AGENDA AT A GLANCE
Friday April 8
1:00-3:00pm
Designing Ecological
Gardens
Practical tools and strategies from permaculture.
BONITA FORD
Fee $50
1:00-3:00pm
Herbaria Techniques
Join Carole Ann as she teaches you, hands on, how to make your own herbaria.
CAROLE ANN LACROIX
Fee $20
2:00-3:30pm
Simply Stunning
Succulent Frames
Make it yourself!
LOUIS & MARIAN DAMM
Fee $80
3

AGENDA AT A GLANCE
Friday April 8
12:00 Registration opens
6:00 Cocktail Reception
7:00 Dinner
8:00 Awards of Excellence
9:00pm Plenary Session James Cahill: Smarty Plants
Animals are the source of stories, sometimes adopted family members and always interesting.
Plants? Not so much.
Yet plants behave more similarly to animals than is widely recognized.
James will move past the differences in anatomy and appearance, and instead focus on deep similarities in how both plants and animals relate to the world.
4

AGENDA AT A GLANCE
Saturday April 9
7:00am Breakfast
8:30am Welcome Remarks
8:45am Plenary Session:
Novel Ecosystems and the Modern Gardener
Native vs exotic species … both theory and practical applications.
9:30am Break
9:45am Plenary Session:
Restoring Nature:
One Garden at a Time
Ecological restoration … is there a future for re-wilding, starting in our own back yards?
10:30am Discussion
11:15am Breakout Sessions I
12:15pm Lunch
1:00pm Breakout Sessions II
STEVEN D. MURPHY LIZ HOOD
2:00pm Break
2:30pm Breakout Sessions III
3:30pm Free Time
5

AGENDA AT A GLANCE
Saturday April 9
7:00pm Dinner
8:00pm Awards
9:00pm Plenary Session
Larry Peterson: When is a Flower Not a Flower?
Do you know? What about this one … when do you eat fleshy hairs? Or, what do plants have to do with Velcro?
Larry’s recent book, co-authored with his wife,
Carol, provides the answers to these and more than 130 additional thought-provoking questions about the botanical world. His discussion of these fascinating queries will be illustrated with original images.
6

AGENDA AT A GLANCE
Sunday April 10
7:00am Breakfast 9:00am Breakout Sessions IV
10:00am Break
10:15am Plenary Session Peter Cantley: Garden 2016
From a serious look at how the industry is addressing environmental concerns to an unveiling of many of the new, exciting plants and gardening products available for the upcoming spring season, Peter will inspire and prepare you to get growing.
11:15am Closing Remarks
7

Details:
Pre-Conference
Workshops
Simply Stunning Succulent
Frames
Join Louis and Marian Damm of Floral Dimensions as they show you how to create your own gorgeous piece of living art using tropical and hardy succulents.
$80
Herbarium Techniques
How would you like to learn how to identify plants with the expertise of a taxonomist? How about creating and preserving a permanent record of all those gorgeous plants in your garden?
Join Carole Ann as she teaches you, hands on, how to make your own herbaria.
Designing Ecological
Bonita Ford will describe design tools and strategies from permaculture for your own garden and for clients.
$20
Gardens: Practical Tools and
Strategies from Permaculture views; slopes and water; zones of activity and intensity of maintenance; soil conditions and species with multiple useful functions.
She will briefly explain the use of windbreaks, suntraps, swales, hugelkulturs, tree-lines on contour, raised garden beds, sheet-mulching, double digging and edible forest gardens.
You will practise design exercises to explore “problems” and “opportunities” on different types of sites and with different materials.
Your aim will be to design using what exists as a resource; having everything serve multiple purposes; and creating beneficial connections. $50
She will briefly cover permaculture principles and the
“scale of permanence”. Bonita will explain how to work with observation; sun, wind, noise,
8

Plenary Session
Details
9:00pm Friday April 8 James
Cahill: Smarty Plants
Rarely is the public fascinated by plants, unlike their interest in animals.
But what if plants had the ability to talk to allies and enemies? What if plants were able to recognize close relatives, and treat them different from strangers?
What if plants had the ability to integrate information and perform complex behaviours?
They can … and they do.
Plants behave more similarly to animals than is widely recognized. James’ talk will focus on deep similarities in how both plants and animal relate to the world.
8:45am Saturday April 9
Stephen D. Murphy: Novel
Ecosystems and the Modern
Gardener
Stephen will discuss what the novel ecosystem concept really means, particularly in the context of using native vs exotic species in all types of gardens and ecological landscapes.
He will focus a bit on the theoretical underpinnings and the pearl clutching issues but mainly will discuss the practical applications of the concept.
9:45am Saturday April 9
Liz Hood: Restoring Nature:
One Garden at a Time
The modern idea of ecological restoration was never a concept uniquely directed to
(sub)urban gardeners. But in some gardening circles, the research that demonstrates that human-altered landscapes have drastically impacted biodiversity and ecological function has led to a call to arms on behalf of our
Tierra Madre.
Can gardening practices truly reshape the face of our cities, country and planet? Is the idea of ecological restoration itself going extinct?
Contemporary thinkers in horticulture and design see a future for re-wilding, starting in our own back yards.
9

Plenary Session
Details, 2
9:00pm Saturday April 9
Larry Peterson: When is a
Flower Not a Flower?
Larry’s talk is based the recent book co-authored with his wife, Carol, in which they pose this plant question and 139 others.
Do you know the answer?
How about what makes stinging nettles so painful when touched? How do you like eating fleshy hairs? How do bees perceive the colour of flowers?
What is the difference between a fruit and a vegetable? How can plants be used in solving crimes? Which plant species inspired the development of Velcro?
Which legume plants its own seeds? Which plant species have been used as sources of cancer drugs?
Larry will illustrate the answers to these and other questions with high quality original images.
10:15am Sunday April 10
Peter Cantley: Garden 2016
Join Peter and welcome in the
2016 gardening season.
From a serious look at how the industry is addressing environmental concerns to an unveiling of many of the new, exciting plants and gardening products available for the upcoming spring season, you will be ready and anxious to get growing.
10

Breakout Details 2. Gardens that Work with
Nature: Design Principles from Permaculture, Bonita
Ford
11:15am Saturday, April 9
Breakout Session I
1. Everything You Always
Wanted to Know about
Composting, Susan Antler and Guest
What can nature teach us about gardening? How can we (re)design our gardens to optimize resources, make less work for ourselves and be more ecologically friendly?
This session might be the sexiest topic at our conference – after all composting is a healthy, natural process involving fertility, tumbling around, and … when it is going right, heat & steaminess.
In permaculture, we learn to
“design like nature”, drawing on simple principles from the natural world.
Bonita will explore those principles and how to apply them.
This session will cover the basic how-tos and answer those questions you always wanted to know about composting but were afraid to ask.
3. Growing and Enjoying
Thornless Succulents, Louis and Marian Damm
Is there a plant more versatile, unique and beautiful than a succulent?
Learn about the incredible variety of desert succulents available for home and patio plus how the experts care for them.
4. Growing Native Woody
Plants from Seed, Sean Fox
Eastern North America is home to an incredible diversity of woody plant species, not offered in garden centres, or not sourced from suitable, locally-adapted seed.
By understanding strategies that plants use to regenerate themselves from seed, we can also apply many of the same concepts to propagating them in our own nurseries.
Discover how to collect, store, pretreat, sow and germinate seeds of all kinds for your very own garden.
11

Breakout Details
11:15am Saturday, April 9
Breakout Session I, cont.
5. How Trees Respond to
Abnormal Winter
Conditions, Darrell Bley
A professional perennial grower, Melissa anticipates pest problems before they get out of control and finds phenology and Don Orton's
“System of Integrated Pest
Management” valuable for that purpose. She will speak to three case studies and show you how to create an anticipatory phenology calendar tailored to the worst pest in your garden.
Winter conditions can cause many tree problems that become evident as the spring weather unfolds.
Darrell will focus on the tree’s response to severe or abnormal winter weather, the tree’s biology as winter is waning and tree symptoms that may be evident during early spring.
If you have Orton's book, please bring it along, but it is not necessary to attend. If you wish to order it, go to www.laborofloveconservatory.com
7. The Silent Takeover:
Invasive Species, Dirk Steinke
6. Orton in Action: Using
Flower Phenology to
Anticipate Pest Problems in
Your Garden, Melissa
Spearing
Invasive species are considered the second greatest threat to biodiversity after habitat loss.
Dirk will introduce you to some of the invasive species that live in our gardens and demonstrate what makes them more successful than native species.
Learn how invasives got here and what we can do with them.
8. Winter Tree Identification
(outdoor session) Liz Hood
Does your tree expertise drop off with the leaves each fall?
Go outside with Liz to learn to sharpen your skills of observation to reveal the beauty inherent in a winter tree’s guise: bark, twigs, buds, form.
Learn to identify winter trees and shrubs like a pro, taking a holistic approach; first identifying habitat, then genus and species.
12

Breakout Details
1:00pm Saturday, April 9
Breakout Session II
1. Haskap and Its Uses, self-sufficiency but uses plants that are specifically chosen for particular uses.
You will come away from this workshop with an understanding of how forest gardens function and the tools to design your own.
Greg Melien
3. Living Underground: How
Plants Interact with Beneficial
Fungi, Larry Peterson
Greg will outline what haskap is, how and where it grows, and its current and possible future. His talk is geared towards both home gardeners and professional orchard managers. He will provide enough information on growing haskap to inspire anyone interested in growing this new fruit!
Approximately 90% of all plants have formed symbiotic associations with fungi known as mycorrhizae. Plants receive nutrients from fungi in exchange for sugars that allow fungi to grow and reproduce.
2. Forest Gardening, Jessica
Robertson
Perennial food systems are the way of the future. A forest garden mimics a forest in structure and in
Plants in all ecosystems world-wide are dependent on these associations. Very specific structural changes occur in both partners during the establishment of these associations in order for nutrient exchange to occur.
Larry will provide details of the various types of mycorrhizae and the importance of these associations in the establishment and growth of plants.
4. Problem Solving Pruning,
Sean Fox
Join Sean Fox who will
guide you through the
techniques of pruning. He will explain how to choose and care for the right tools and review safety considerations.
You will learn how to rejuvenate overgrown shrubs, prune fruit trees correctly, prune vines and roses to achieve maximum flowering and how to shape evergreens for formal and informal designs.
13

Breakout Details 6. Soil Amendments, Ed Topp
1:00pm Saturday, April 9
Breakout Session II, cont.
5.
Rain Gardens and
Infiltration Landscaping,
Sharyn Inward
Every gram of soil contains a wealth of organisms that largely determine soil productivity. The rhizosphere, the narrow zone of soil that surrounds and is influenced by plant roots is one of the most dynamic interfaces on
Earth. Organisms that are present in the rhizosphere have profound effects on the growth, nutrition and health of plants.
Sharyn will introduce the important issue of urban stormwater and the proliferation of hard surfaces and extreme weather that have led to repeated flooding with alternating periods of severe drought across Canada. Focusing on addressing this with rainwater harvesting and infiltration landscaping, she will explain all aspects of rain gardens. Sharyn will share a variety of resources, monitoring data and before and after studies.
Ed will discuss recent discoveries in plant-soil microbe interactions and explain how organic amendments can vastly improve soil physical, chemical and biological quality, improving plant production. Also, he will review recent research concerning risks from microbiological and chemical contaminants.
7.
Uninvited Visitors, Hannah
Fraser
Get an update on all those pests such as the Brown
Marmorated Stink Bug and
Spotted Wing Drosophila.
Hannah will describe how they are affecting our gardens and what’s new in the fight against them.
14

Breakout Details 2. Edible Ecological Gardens:
Integrating Perennial and
Annual Food Plants in Our
Gardens, Bonita Ford
2:30pm Saturday, April 9
Breakout Session III
1. The Barcode of Life on
Earth, Dirk Steinke
Researchers from the
Biodiversity Institute of
Ontario are leading an ambitious project to catalogue all of Earth's species with DNA barcoding.
Dirk will provide an introduction to the Canadian invention DNA barcoding and how he and his colleagues at the Institute attempt to understand life on our planet.
Learn how you can help with this endeavour.
Conventionally, we keep
“ornamental gardens” in a separate area from “veggie gardens”. Bonita will explore ways to blend food and flowers in wild/naturalized or manicured/cultivated gardens.
In permaculture, we aim to mimic nature.
When (re)designing gardens to add more edibles, consider preferred species for eating and aesthetics, existing site conditions, maintenance, harvest and permanence.
Beyond food and beauty, our gardens can provide medicine and privacy; attract pollinators, build healthier soil and protect water.
3. Building a Hugelkultur,
Jessica Robertson
This German word means ‘hill culture’. It is a cultivation technique that mounds soil on top of a large pile of wood.
The advantages of hugelkutur are very low to no watering needs, warm microclimate creation, and a slow release of nutrients to the plants over time. Learn how and why to build hugelkulturs and the best techniques for making them successful.
4. Orton in Action: Using
Flower Phenology to
Anticipate Pest Problems in
Your Garden, Melissa
Spearing
See page 12.
15

Breakout Details
2:30pm Saturday, April 9
They will explain how to get your soil tested, how to interpret the results and what you can then do to make your soil the healthiest possible.
Breakout Session III, cont.
5. The Soil Test, Susan
Antler
6. Tree Health: A Diagnostic
Approach, Darrell Bley
The health of an urban tree can be difficult to establish. We all know how important healthy soil is to a healthy garden. But how can we know that our soil is all it should be and if it isn’t, how can we fix it?
Scientific testing can reveal the components present in our garden soil, in detail.
Darrell will focus on the interpretation of signs and symptoms related to establishing the overall health and vigour of common urban shade trees.
7. Growing Native Woody
Plants from Seed, Sean Fox
In this session, Susan will be joined by members of the
Compost Quality Alliance
(CQA), the voluntary testing and compost application program championed by the members of The Compost
Council of Canada.
See page 11.
8. Winter Tree Identification
(outdoor session), Liz Hood
See page 12.
16

Breakout Details 2. Children’s Programming for
Master Gardeners
9:00am Sunday, April 10
Breakout Session IV
1. Canadian Botanical
Gardens, Liz Klose
Have you ever wanted to visit every botanical garden in Canada?
This is your opportunity to virtually travel coast to coast to view the beauty and horticultural excellence featured in these great botanical gardens. It will be a delightful and inspirational journey!
The profiled Botanical
Gardens are members of the Canadian Garden
Council and are showcased on Canada’s Garden Route. www.canadasgardenroute.ca
The future of gardening lies in the hands of the next generation. What are the dos and don’ts of creating effective programmes for children?
Let’s look at several established and successful children’s programmes run by
Master Gardeners.
3. The Future of Master
Gardeners in Canada
Successful Master Gardener programmes exist in several provinces. Is it time to take our organization to the next level and create the Master
Gardeners of Canada? Could we ever standardize our educational standards, our volunteer requirements and create a CMG brand? Let’s start the conversation.
4. Community Programming for Master Gardeners
The most successful Master
Gardener groups are those that have become an integral, valued source of gardening information in their communities.
How do we reach out to our communities? What services are most appreciated? Most needed?
Come hear some success stories with tips on how to have your community embrace what you have to offer.
17

Breakout Details The Master Gardeners have an existing network of social media communication.
9:00am Sunday, April 10
Breakout Session IV, cont.
5. How to Answer Any
Gardening Question
Come figure out how you can fit in with the cool kids. It will open an entirely new world of garden information and offer a huge audience ready to hear what you have to say.
The first thing Master
Gardeners learn is that we cannot possibly know everything about gardening.
We learn to say, ‘I don’t know, let me find out and get back to you’. Find out where to go next – reliable resources, proven methods of finding the right answer and ensuring accurate responses.
7. Present Like a Pro: Public
Speaking Tips for Master
Gardeners
Most Master Gardeners would rather weed a backyard of goutweed than stand in front of an audience and speak!
However, public speaking is an important and efficient way for one person to educate a community.
6. Social Media for Master
Gardeners
Social media is here to stay.
So, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!
Don’t be shy, there are ways to improve your speaking skills and create presentation skill training for your entire group.
18

Speaker Bios
Susan Antler
Susan Antler is the Executive
Director and a founding member of the Compost
Council of Canada, the national non-profit memberdriven organization dedicated to the advancement of organics recycling and compost use. Organics are now the #1 material being recycled in tonnage across
Canada, producing the essence for continued soil life
– compost – to feed the soil and continue life on Earth.
young and older trees, as well as conifer and deciduous tree plant identification in summer and winter. His curatorial responsibilities include the
Arboretum, the Residence gardens and the woody plants of the Niagara Parks Botanical
Gardens. He has taught courses for the Continuing Education
Horticultural Certificate Program at Niagara College for 25 years.
Darrell co-authored the woody plant section of The Best
Garden Plants for Ontario .
Darrell Bley
As Instructor/Curator of
Woody Plants at the Niagara
Parks Botanical Gardens and
School of Horticulture, Darrell lectures on arboriculture matters with a focus on the horticultural practices for
James Cahill, PhD
James is a professor of experimental plant ecology, and
Faculty of Science research fellow, at the University of
Alberta, Edmonton. The author of nearly 100 research articles, his research interests are broad, and include the study of behavioural ecology of plants, competitive games in social networks, and exploitation and collaboration among plants, fungi, and pollinators. In addition to the traditional job of an academic researcher, he is passionate about communicating science to diverse groups of people. James is well-known as the lead scientist and public face of the documentary “What Plants Talk
About” in the PBS series Nature.
Peter Cantley, BAS
Peter spent nearly 30 years as
VP, Floral and Garden, Loblaw
Companies Limited, where he developed the indoor floral business, expanded the garden centre business, built a national network of growers and developed exclusive floral and garden centre products and programs nationally. He met with breeders world wide to discover what will grow best in the
Canadian climate. His garden centre consultancy now works with growers, supermarket retailers and manufacturers from across the globe.
19

Speaker Bios
Louis and Marian Damm
Along with sons Peter and
Ben, Louis and Marian operate
Floral Dimensions, a Niagara area greenhouse. Eight years ago, they began focusing on succulents, and now grow hundreds of varieties of tropical succulents, as well as a growing selection of hardy varieties.
Their succulents are shipped via brokers all over Canada and into the U.S; directly to garden centres in Ontario, florists and event planners; as well as direct to customers across Canada, who can visit the facility or order online at www.floraldimensions.com and www.succulents.ca
(Succulents of Canada).
Denis Flanagan
After graduating from
Horticulture in Surrey, England,
Denis’ career included projects for the Royal Family and winning a Gold Medal at the Chelsea
Flower Show. In Canada, Denis continued designing award winning gardens including many for Canada Blooms. He has taught at several community colleges including Humber and
Seneca. Denis is well known for his shows on HGTV and continues to promote the joys and benefits of horticulture as the Director of Public Relations and Membership Services of the
‘Green for Life’ programme at
Landscape Ontario.
Bonita Ford, BSc, MA
Bonita aims to inspire and empower people, giving them tools for healthier and more sustainable ways of living.
Bonita teaches permaculture, facilitates community design projects, coaches individuals and small businesses, and grows much of her own food.
She has been leading workshops and groups around the world for over 13 years. At the heart of it, her work is about creating more harmonious relationships with ourselves, others and the Earth, about which you can learn more at www.eonpermaculture.ca
.
Sean Fox
As Arboretum Manager and
Head Horticulturist at the
University of Guelph Arboretum,
Sean oversees more than 30 woody plant collections represented by over 1900 different taxa of trees and shrubs from around the world.
There also, over the past 15 years, Sean has spent a significant portion of his time dedicated to the Rare Woody
Plants of Ontario Program, and the Elm Recovery Project, both sited at The Arboretum.
…cont.
20

Speaker Bios
These native plant conservation programs ultimately aim to establish seed orchards to protect the unique genetics of Ontario’s threatened species, and aid in recovery efforts.
Sean enjoys hiking and exploring, and presents his observations of many ecologyrelated issues to different groups several times a month.
Hannah Fraser, BSc, MSc
As the Entomology Program
Lead for Horticultural Crops at
OMAFRA, Hannah works with crop specialists and researchers to optimize pest management solutions for sustainable crop production, and to transfer new information and technology to the Ontario agricultural industry. Hannah is responsible for monitoring provincial insect pest issues, including productions threats posed by invasive alien species such as the spotted wing drospophila
(SWD) and brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB). Hannah
Chairs the National Technical
Working Group for BMSB, which addresses research, extension and regulatory needs for the agricultural sector. She edits
HortMatters, OMAFRA’s electronic publication for agribusiness and growers. Hannah encourages others to take a broader view of insects, beyond seeing them as pests, and has enjoyed mentoring future generations of entomologists.
Liz Hood, BES
A passionate outdoor educator, professional naturalist, avid gardener and urban beekeeper
Liz uses horticultural and experiential education and mentorship to re-connect city dwellers to the intelligence, resiliency and beauty of nature.
Until mid-2015, Liz was the
Toronto Botanical Garden’s first
Director of Education, where she oversaw the adult and children’s education programmes, horticultural tours and Canada’s largest private horticultural library. Through the delivery of diverse learning opportunities,
Liz and her team encouraged urbanites to re-engage their curiosity and reawaken their senses to create or renew lasting relationships with a sustainable natural world.
Now a Masters of Theology candidate in Psychotherapy and
Spiritual Care at Wilfrid Laurier
University, her new focus is on integrating a thoughtful and attuned intelligence to support healing individuals, communities, and ecologies.
21

Speaker Bios
Sharyn Inward
Sharyn has spent more than two decades researching, developing, funding, implementing, managing and evaluating community-based environmental awareness and action programs. Her latest work includes developing and implementing the RAIN
Community Solutions and
RAIN Home Visit Programs in
Ontario, Winnipeg and
Calgary. This has included extensive training and knowledge of managing rain where it falls via rainwater harvesting and infiltration landscaping (rain gardens).
Sharyn’s work for Green
Communities Canada has included developing the Well
Aware, Pesticide Free
Naturally and Depave
Paradise programs.
Liz Klose
An Honourary Master Gardener and Certified Landscape
Professional, Liz was Botanical
Garden Director of Memorial
University of Newfoundland
(MUN) Botanical Garden. Prior to that, she was the Landscape
Priorities Manager with the
Canadian Nursery Landscape
Association (CNLA) and the
Superintendent of the Niagara
Parks Commission School of
Horticulture. She received
Landscape Ontario’s Ontario
College Horticulture Educator of the Year Award, and an Honour
Roll Award and Spirit Award from the Ontario Parks
Association Foundation. Liz has made several TV appearances and has co-authored two gardening books: Roses for
Ontario, and The Best Garden
Plants for Ontario. She is currently the Canadian Region
Director of the Perennial Plant
Association and a volunteer with the Canadian Garden Council.
Carole Ann Lacroix, MSc
Carole Ann is a professional taxonomist with 37 years experience as Curator of the
OAC Herbarium. She is responsible for the training of
Herbarium volunteers and interns within the biodiversity research program and is the cofounder and curator of the
Ontario Invasive Plant
Information Service (OIPIS). As a plant identification expert, she provides support for the university community, government research agencies,
NGOs, weed inspectors, veterinarians, hospitals and police departments.
Nationally recognized as an ethnobotanical expert in herbal and edible plants, Carole Ann was recently featured in a
Canadian Geographic Special.
She served as president of the
Field Botanist of Ontario for 5 years.
22

Speaker Bios
Greg Melein
Greg has a passion for crafting innovative and distinctive wines and ciders that showcase our unique terroir.
Greg’s dedication to organic farming and environmental sustainability show in the quality and attention to detail in his winemaking. He is not only a winemaker but also an orchardist and therefore spends considerable time working with his orchard manager to produce the highest quality fruit for our world class handcrafted artisan wines and ciders.
Stephen Murphy, BSc, PhD
Professor and Chair of the
Department of Environment and Resource Studies,
University of Waterloo, Steve is Director of the University's
Centre for Ecosystem Resilience
& Adaptation and Research
Chair and Chair of the Provincial
Centre for Applied Science in
Ontario Protected Areas, as well as editor-in-chief of the world's foremost academic journal of
Restoration Ecology. He is Past-
Chair, Society for Ecological
Restoration (SER) Ontario, a
Member of the Restoration
Institute, and advisor to a dozen boards focused on ecological sciences. A prolific researcher and author, Steve’s work focuses on the theoretical basis for and measurement of ecological restoration and resilience in socio-ecological systems. His work influences public policy on restoration to increase a range of initiatives: interaction between academics and practitioners, linkages with like-minded professional societies, inclusiveness especially with respect to gender balance, cultural diversity, and engaging younger members.
Larry Peterson, BEd,MSc,PhD
Larry is Professor Emeritus at the University of Guelph, where he spent his entire career. His main research interest has concerned the interactions between plants and fungi.
He has published over 200 papers in refereed journals, and
25 book chapters. He has coauthored 3 books.
Larry received two George
Lawson Medals from the
Canadian Botanical Association, one for career contributions to
Botany and a second for the coauthored book with Dr. Carol
Peterson “Teaching Plant
Anatomy Through Creative
Laboratory Exercises”.
He has received several research awards and two
Teaching Awards from the
University of Guelph and is a
Fellow of the Royal Society of
Canada.
23

Speaker Bios
Jessica Robertson
Jessie has been practicing permaculture since 2008 and started Wild Craft
Permaculture in 2011. With projects ranging from small urban front yards, to public parklands, to 50-acre rural properties she has a broad range of experience in the design and implementation of sustainable and productive landscapes. She lives with her family and animals in London
Ontario, where she cherishes the parks and river valley system for their bountiful harvest of wild edibles.
Melissa Spearing
Having grown up at Ground
Covers Unlimited, a wellestablished perennial nursery near Peterborough; after a big city career, Melissa returned to the business three years ago armed with ideas, passion and an education from the Niagara
Parks School of Horticulture, and study at Kew Garden’s
Millennium Seed Bank.
She has succeeded in propagating difficult native plants, loves growing what she eats, and promotes wider use of our native trees and shrubs as functional ornamentals. She is an avid seed collector and also works with the Ministry of
Natural Resources in training others to do the same.
Dirk Steinke, PhD
Always fascinated by nature, as a child in Germany, Dirk and his father bred freshwater fishes from around the world. After apprenticing as a gardener, he achieved a Masters in Zoology,
Ecology and Evolution and a
PhD in Evolutionary Biology.
Moving to Canada in 2006, he joined the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIO). Involved in
DNA barcoding research for over 10 years, he leads BIO’s
Education and Outreach team, develops learning programs and activities, and teaches distance education courses.
Ed Topp, PhD
Ed is a research scientist with
AAFC, with an adjunct appointment in the Department of Biology at the University of
Western Ontario. Ed’s research concerns the interface between agriculture and human and environmental health. He has worked on the environmental fate, significance and management of microorganisms and pharmaceuticals carried in amendments of animal and human [biosolids]. Past-
President of the Canadian
Society of Microbiologists, Ed has been published in and also served in editorial roles of several respected scientific journals.
24

Travel Essentials One of National Geographic Traveler Magazine's "Best of the World
2012" recommended places to visit, Deerhurst Resort is 2 hours north of Toronto, in Ontario’s beautiful Muskoka region.
http://bit.ly/1QkVBQk
25

Easy Registration
Basic conference fees:
BEFORE Dec. 1, 2015
Master Gardener
Gardener
AFTER Dec. 1, 2015
Master Gardener
Gardener
$290
$335
$320
$365
Companion fees
2 dinners & reception
2 dinners, reception &
2 breakfasts
$200
$250
Optional Pre-Conference Workshops from $20-$80
Register online at http://conference.mgoi.ca
Fill in the online form and pay with your PayPal account.
Visit the conference web site
.
http://conference.mgoi.ca
Print off the form, fill it in and mail it, with a scheque made payable to
MGOI, to
Kelly Noel
19 Orville Kemp St.
Ottawa, ON
K1T 3W8
If you have questions about the registration, contact Kelly by email at: conferenceregistrar@mgoi.ca
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