Meeting Activities: Speaker, Flower Show

Clickherefor Flower Show details. Flower Show entries need to be in place by 6:30pm.

Guest Speaker: Cathy Kavassalis

Topic: Gardens that Give Back

Floods, heatwaves, and vanishing wildlife can feel overwhelming,
yet every patch of soil can help.
In this science‑rich session, Master Gardener Cathy Kavassalis reveals how climate‑smart design, converting lawn to habitat‑rich plantings, harvesting stormwater in rain gardens, selecting keystone native species, and ditching invasive ornamentals—delivers outsized rewards: cleaner air and water, cooler microclimates, stronger communities, and flourishing birds, butterflies, and bees.
Packed with actionable tips and inspiring case studies, “Gardens That Give Back” will equip Etobicoke gardeners to create resilient, beautiful spaces that truly serve people and the planet.

Bio:

Cathy Kavassalis is a passionate gardener and conservationist.
She is a Master Gardener and loves to answer questions posed in the popular Master Gardeners of Ontario Facebook forum.

Cathy loves to garden and believes that caring for plants is critical for our well being and that of our planet. She enjoys learning and sharing knowledge and by doing so endeavours to stimulate interest and awe in the living world.

Meeting Activities: Speaker, Flower Show

Click here for Flower Show Details. Flower Show entries need to be in place by 6:30pm.

Guest Speaker: Shaun Booth

Topic:Edible Native Plant Landscapes

In this talk, Shaun combines two of the most popular topics in gardening right now - native plants and urban agriculture. We will explore how native plants can be used to beautify our gardens while feeding humans and wildlife alike.

Bio: Shaun Booth is owner of In Our Nature, a natural garden design firm and native plant nursery based out of Alton, ON.

Shaun is on a mission to change the way we see our gardens by empowering gardeners to invite nature back into their lives through natural garden design. 

As a co-author of the Globe & Mail bestselling book "The Gardener's Guide to Native Plants of the Southern Great Lakes Region," Shaun brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to design projects. His approach to garden design increases biodiversity and reduces maintenance all without sacrificing beauty.

Shaun is the founder of the "Ontario Native Plant Gardening" facebook group with over 38k members and regularly posts free resources on his website inournature.ca.

Meeting Activities: Speaker, Flower Show

Click here for Flower Show Details. Flower Show entries need to be in place by 6:30pm.

Guest Speaker: Yvonne Tremblay

Topic: ”Tips and Tricks for Cooking with and Preserving Herbs"

Yvonne is passionate about culinary herbs! She will share about how to grow herbs for a good yield, then demonstrate various methods for preserving herbs by drying or freezing, and making herb vinegars, herb oils and herb butters. As she goes along she will give lots of tips on using fresh herbs in cooking. Food samples will be provided.

BIO

Yvonne is a recipe developer, cooking demonstrator and a part-time college nutrition professor; living in Mississauga. She has worked with major food companies and food marketing boards such as eggs, mushrooms, turkey and apples and is a Foodland Ontario television spokesperson and regular contributor to Foodland Ontario recipes.

Author of 5 cookbooks, including her new book: Culinary Herbs – Grow. Preserve. Cook!

She is also a 6-time Grand Champion Jam and Jelly Maker at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto, and author of 250 Home Preserving Favorites. She is known to put herbs in her jams and jellies too! (Some of these recipes are in her new cookbook, such as her Rosemary Apple Cider Jelly.)

After the talk, Yvonne will be selling and signing copies her book Culinary Herbs $30 cash, cheque or money transfer acceptable.

Meeting Activities: Speaker, Flower Show

Clickherefor Flower Show Details. Flower Show entries need to be in place by 6:30pm.

Guest Speaker: Marie Decker

Presentation Topic: Growing and Caring for Vegetables

Marie’s presentation covers soil prep, location (need for sun), crop rotation, plant companions, seed selection, understory planting, succession planting and planting vertically along with care and some look at harvest.

Note: Marie will be bringing some of her favourite seeds to give away.

Bio: Marie is a seasoned horticulturalist and passionate speaker on numerous topics and will be sharing her expertise on growing and caring for vegetables. 
She brings a wealth of experience and is affiliated with many organisations including the Royal Botanical Gardens, Burlington/Hamilton, the Canadian Rose Society, the Cloverleaf Garden Club of Mississauga and is past President of the Oakville Horticultural Society. 

She has given generously of her time in flower show judging, and is an accredited Judge in Horticulture, Design and a Rose Judge with the Canadian Rose Society.  In fact, her judging experience spans Canada Blooms, The Garden Clubs of Ontario, OHA District shows and the CNE. 

Despite this, she has found the time to design and build a Prayer Garden at St. Simon's Anglican Church (2009) and has assisted in planting at several locations including The Cancer Hospice, Ian Anderson House in Oakville and the Bio-Diversity Garden in Oakville.

Her numerous volunteer activities have enjoyed her expertise and participation in the Invasive Plant Programs in Oakville and Halton, the RBG pollinator program as well as designing numerous workshops for different Horticultural Societies, in addition to offering Design Workshops and Horticulture Workshops.

Meeting Activities: Guest Speaker, Baking Competition click here for details. Baking Competition entries need to be in place by 6:45pm.

Guest Speaker: Clement Kent

Topic: Tapestry Lawns

About: From 2010 to 2014, Prof. Lionel Smith studied how to create a flowering lawn free of grasses for his Ph.D. He named them "tapestry lawns" and received the RHS Chelsea Silver Flora Medal in 2013. In 2019 he published "Tapestry Lawns. Freed from Grass and Full of Flowers." His work has been featured from scholarly journals to Martha Stewart. Clement has been corresponding with Prof. Smith and will show how Prof. Smith's tapestries enormously enrich the ecosystems of pollinators in a lawn. His lawns are adapted to England, but Clement will look at options for Ontario gardeners. Work is going on here to create tapestry lawn mixes adapted to the city or the cottage - Clement will feature a few of the people involved in this and their progress so far.

BIO

 Professor Kent is a gardener, re-greener, scientist and plant lover. He will grow almost anything for fun, his core interest is using gardens, parks, and other public spaces to re-green the ecology of where we live.
Clement is the author of How to Make a Pollinator Garden (2011), and practice what he preaches. He has helped create many pollinator gardens in front yards, city parks, and roadsides. He has been on the Advisory Board of the City of Toronto's Pollinator Protection Program, and continues to host workshops with groups wanting to create green oases in their neighbourhoods.
He travels extensively to gardens and symposiums in his primary role as a communicator, documenter and sharer of ideas for this movement.

Clement studies insects scientifically their behaviour, their genetics, and the "big-data" area called genomics. Among the insects, bees are a special focus. He is a member of the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists ("honeybee professionals") and received the Canadian Pollinator Advocate award in 2011 from the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign.

Clement is an adjunct professor at York University and Vice-President of the Horticultural Societies of Parkdale & Toronto. Clement helped found the Parkdale society in 1987 and Project Swallowtail in 2019.

Meeting Activities: Speaker, Seed Exchange

Guest Speaker: Darryl Cheng

Topic: Light, Most Important, Least Understood

Outdoor gardeners generally have a good sense of their sunlight exposure and indoor grow ops have well documented instructions to follow - but houseplant owners are left with vague, hand-wavy directions like "bright indirect light" - which leads to dramatically different interpretations and results. In this talk, Darryl will reveal the secrets to understanding light with a particular focus on how it applies to houseplants - comparing natural light and grow lights. You will finally be able to make sense of light!

Darryl will be bringing light meters and his books to sell at this meeting.

Bio:

Darryl Cheng is the author of 'The New Plant Parent' and 'The New Plant Collector' and creator of House Plant Journal. Darryl’s passion for plants and engineering approach to plant care have turned him into one of the most trusted houseplant resources on the internet! What was initially a hobby Tumblr page has turned into an Instagram account with over half a million followers, a go-to website for anything houseplant related, his very own houseplant care book, and plant time-lapse videos that have gone viral around the world.

Annual General Meeting and Flower Show Awards

If you are an EHS member, please join us in person or by Zoom for our annual January meeting.

Activities for this meeting include:  

• Nominations/Election of officers

• Installation of new board members

• Questions/Answers period

• Flower Show Awards

This meeting will be held in person and by Zoom.

Zoom link details will be sent to members the Monday before the meeting.

We are very happy to wrap up our Centennial year with a bit of Canadian gardening history. At this meeting, we will be presenting the award winning documentary “We Lend a Hand”.

The author, Bonnie Sitter, of the book: Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz: Memories of Ontario Famerettes, on which the documentary is based, will be joining us in person, to answer questions after the presentation.

Her book will be available for sale at the meeting or if you are zooming in for this presentation you can purchase the book, on the Shop section of our website (please pick up your purchase at one of the EHS meetings). T-shirts and note card sets will be sold only at the meeting.

We would love it if the members attending would dress in true Farmerette style. (Visit https://welendahand.ca/ for ideas). To that end, instead of fascinators this year, bandanas or sunhats are fitting to the theme. (so, yes, your EHS bucket hat would work).

Meeting starts at 6:30pm for in-person attendees and 7:30 for members Zooming in. The event will also include:

Potluck Social Party: All members are asked to bring a sweet or savoury dish for the potluck.
Please ensure all treats you bring, can be eaten without utensils as the auditorium will be set up theatre style. To make it even more fun and in the spirit of the theme, treats could be sourced either from your mothers’ or grandmothers’ recipes or google Canadian Wartime Recipes for inspiration. What better way to absorb some Canadian history than with friends and food.

Large Door Prize for in-person attendance.

Food Bank Drive - Non perishable food donations are appreciated for our Food Bank Drive.

Meetings details: Guest Speaker, Master Gardeners (available for questions)

Speaker: Paul Zammit

Topic: The Power of the Garden, a Personal Reflection and Journey

Speaker Bio:

With over 35 years of experience, Paul Zammit has become a respected figure in the world of gardening. Zammit is a faculty member at Niagara College and the former Director of Horticulture at the Toronto Botanical Garden, renowned for his passion for inspiring others in the field.

In addition to his work at Niagara College, one of Zammit’s notable contributions to horticulture is his role as the gardening host on popular radio programs “Ontario Today” and “Here and Now” on CBC Radio One. Through this platform, Zammit reaches a wide audience, sharing practical gardening tips, expert advice, and insights into the world of plants. His engaging presence and wealth of knowledge have made him a trusted voice in the gardening community.

Paul Zammit is actively involved in various horticultural organizations and initiatives including co-leading garden tours abroad with Marjorie and Jeff Mason. He is a sought-after speaker, consultant, and contributor to industry publications, sharing his insights and expertise with audiences worldwide.

Paul is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2019 and 2021 Garden Communicator of the Year award from Landscape Ontario. In 2023 he received the Educator award from the Perennial Plant Association.

Meeting Activities: Speaker, Flower Show, Master Gardeners (available for questions). Click here for Flower Show Details.

Special Prize raffle for all members who bring their own mug to the meeting!!!

Guest Speaker: Dugald Cameron

Topic: Climbers
About: Dugold will be speaking on climbing perennial plants, how to plant them and what conditions they need to thrive.
Clematis, as one of the most popular, will be a large part of the presentation.

Our Speaker’s Bio:
My gardening career began at an early age in my English Grandmother's garden where I'd occasionally help out with weeding & digging. I must have "caught the bug" then, because I've been interested in plants and gardens ever since. My wife Lynn Pashleigh, Father and I started Gardenimport, a mail order nursery in 1983 because we couldn't find the quality or selection of plants we wanted for our gardens. Offering a top quality selection of the latest seeds, flower bulbs and plants to Canadian gardeners from a catalogue and website. After 32 years of business Gardenimport was closed in 2014. 

Dugald was on the board of directors at The Toronto Botanical Garden for 13 years and continues to volunteer there, teaching and writing for the Trellis magazine. He speaks on many subjects to Horticultural Societies in Southern Ontario and has sat in for Ed Lawrence on CBC’s Ontario Today and recently filled in for Paul Zammit on Later the Same Day.
Dugald was the founding president of the Greater Toronto Bulb Society and is a member of numerous horticultural societies. His diverse gardening interests include spring & summer flowering bulbs, shrubs, perennials and clematis.

Meeting Activities: Speaker, Master Gardeners (available for questions), Flower Show. Click here for Flower Show details

Guest Speaker: Sean James

Topic: Fusion Gardening

About:
Encouraged by many municipalities and regions, Fusion Gardening® blends LID (rainwater handling) with xeriscaping (drought-tolerant gardening) and enfolds plantings to enhance biodiversity. One of the main foci of this style is to engage the public with beauty.

Since it’s so important that property owners take up this gauntlet, we’ll address the backbone of each of these disciplines, and discuss how to do each artfully. With climate change, storms are becoming stronger and less predictable. Droughts are getting longer. Many of us seek to use our gardens to do 'Good' for biodiversity.
Fusion Gardening™ does all these things by minimizing water use, keeping the water that falls on our property ON our property, and, through the favouring of native and wildlife-supporting plant choices, support the life that visits our yards.

Speaker’s Bio:
Sean owns ‘Sean James Consulting & Design’. Named by Landscape Ontario as 2020 and 2021’s Garden Communicator of the Year, gardening has been Sean James’ passion and profession for over 40 years. A graduate of Niagara Parks School of Horticulture, a Master Gardener, writer, and teacher, Sean focuses on eco-gardening techniques. He has spoken at events from the Maritimes to Seattle and landscaped from Switzerland  to California.

Sean had the honour of being part of creating the new Ontario Landscape Tree Planting Guide, the Grow-Me-Instead guide, the Ontario Horticultural Apprenticeship Curriculum, the national Red Seal Occupational Standard, and the Master Gardeners Reference Manual. He has chaired the Environmental Stewardship Committee for Landscape Ontario and the Environmental Committee for the Perennial Plant Association and been featured on radio and television, including filling in for Paul Zammit occasionally on CBC’s ‘The Gardening Show’.