Canada Blooms - Speaker Information 2012

2012 Speaker Bios

Meet Canada Blooms 2012 Speakers:

Canada Blooms' incredible line-up of speakers includes the industry's best-known horticultural specialists. Learn from their wealth of knowledge and experience through educational seminars and interactive demonstrations on every garden-related topic you can imagine!

Ken Beattie	Ken Beattie's career path has taken him to the four corners of the earth fuelling his passion for people and all things green and growing. As well as developing award-winning television programs specific to the changing needs of Canadians, Ken has reached out to the world's communities becoming involved in many ground-breaking initiatives. Focused on improving the way people manage the earth's resources, Ken proves that the smallest changes can make a world of difference..
Ken Brown	Ken Brown is a horticultural consultant, writer and photographer. He received his bachelor's degree in horticulture from the University of Guelph and has a horticulture teaching degree from the University of Toronto. He owned and operated "The Plant Manager" an interior landscaping company for 20 years, where he built and maintained a wide variety of public and private interior gardens. Ken is a certified horticultural judge and a frequent speaker at meetings and seminars. Ken has been published in several magazines and papers and you can visit his website: www.gardening-enjoyed.com for great gardening tips.
Veronica Callinan	Veronica has gardened in East York for almost 25 years. Her large urban garden is a Certified Backyard Habitat, recognized by the Canadian Wildlife Federation. She's the Chair of the Ontario Rock Garden and Hardy Plant Society, the Past-President of the East York Garden Club and the Chair of EYGC's public garden Committee, which oversees planting and maintenance of a large public garden at the Stan Wadlow Park. She's also involved with the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, which planted thousands of trees and shrubs in the fall of 2011.
Dugald Cameron	Dugald Cameron is co-founder, owner and president of Gardenimport, a mail order nursery founded in 1983 when he couldn't find the variety or quality of bulbs seeds and plants he wanted for his garden. His search for the very best has led to close connections to many of the world's leading hybridizers. Since that time he has introduced countless new bulbs, seeds and plants to Canadian gardeners from coast to coast. Dugald has also been a volunteer at the Toronto Botanical Garden for many years, speaks to many Horticultural Societies on many subjects and is the past President of the Greater Toronto Bulb Society. Visit his website at www.gardenimport.com
Margie Campbell	Margie Campbell comes from a long line of gardening enthusiasts, but confesses that her own "gardening gene" didn't kick in until she moved to her current home with its non-existent garden, 20 years ago. Presented with a blank canvas, she has transformed what was once a boring expanse of green lawn into her own little paradise in the suburbs. Margie is a member of the Etobicoke Master Gardeners group where she is actively involved in the group's joint activities with the Humber Arboretum. Margie loves talking about gardening and sharing her experiences of creating a garden under her neighbour's Black Walnut tree.
Grant Clawson	Grant is the founder of Outdoor Home Staging; a unique take on the Landscape Maintenance business model. He partners with realtors, home owners selling their homes and also those looking for ways to increase curb appeal by changing or upgrading their landscapes. Grant has been gardening since he was 10 years old. He sponsors and judges water wise landscape recognition programs, is a member of the Brantford Master Gardeners, has written for The Muskoka Times and spends many hours volunteering. Grant has just Launched “The Buddy Program”, offering essential low cost services so Senior Citizens or those unable to care for properties can stay in their homes. Snow Buddys provide snow shoveling and Lawn Buddys helps with gardens and lawn mowing. He resides in Southern Ontario. Please visit – Outdoor Home Staging, or “The Buddy Program” at www.outdoorhomestaging.com .
Nancy Cole	Nancy Cole has been gardening since she can remember and has been a member of the Rideau 1000 Islands Master Gardeners group for the past 16 years. Although she is retired she still teaches horticulture one night a week at St. Lawrence College in Kingston. She is also president of the Collins Bay Horticultural Society. When she is not gardening or talking gardening Nancy can probably be found up a ladder, renovating her 100 year old farm house.
Beth Cook	After decades in the IT industry Beth has returned to her first loves, art and gardening. She holds two Fine Arts degrees and received the Horticulturist Certificate from the University of Guelph. Beth enjoys solving the gardening problems presented by contemporary urban environments through her landscape design firm, Sweet Results.
Mark Cullen	Mark Cullen is Canada's best known gardener. Each week he reaches over 1 million Canadians through various media outlets. You can also hear Mark's message on CTV/Canada Am and on Newstalk 1010 CFRB. Mark's book 'The Canadian Garden Primer, An Organic Approach' features information both the vegetable garden and the ornamental garden. Visit Mark's website www.markcullen.com for great garden advice.
Cristina da Silva	Drawing from her 29 years of diverse horticultural experiences as well as two Horticultural degrees from the University of Guelph, Cristina uses social media to share gardening and landscaping ideas. Cristina has written for Gardens and Outdoor Living (An Australian national magazine), Landscape Trades, Pools, Spas and Patios and Canadian Gardening (website) as well as writing the Toronto Star’s “Condo Gardener” column for a couple of years. Cristina's garden is the epicentre of her blogs, twitter and Facebook posts: it is where she experiments with different plants, materials, plant products and garden styles. Follow Cristina at www.therealgardener.com
Elaine Davidson	Elaine has been gardening for over 60 years. Her first plants were Nasturtiums that she grew for the flowers and were used by her Mother in salads to add flavour. Since that time she has kept a keen interest in using the herbs and flowers grown in her garden for cooking, taking many courses along the way to help improve her herbal knowledge. Elaine's garden, while small, is a mixture of flowers, vegetables and herbs all grown alongside one another. Elaine is a member of 5 regular garden clubs including Durham Master Gardeners and over 7 specialty Garden clubs serving on the Boards of several of them.
Charlie Dobbin	Every Saturday morning, Charlie Dobbin hosts the GARDEN SHOW on The New AM 740. Charlie is an internationally known horticulturist and landscape designer. During her three-decade career, she has become well known for her professional gardening seminars and demonstrations, as well as for her prolific articles in newspapers and magazines on the subject. On HGTV, Charlie cohosted the very successful show ONE GARDEN, TWO LOOKS, and is a popular guest on a multitude of other television shows where she dispenses practical and entertaining gardening tips In 2002, Charlie started her own design and horticultural consulting company, Garden Solutions by Charlie Dobbin. She is also the Horticultural Director for Canada Blooms, Toronto’s celebrated Flower and Garden Festival.
Edythe Falconer	Edythe was exported from a small Saskatchewan mixed farming operation. She has 34 years in elementary education, and her interests include reading, writing, quilting, sustainable gardening, gardening presentations, participating in horticultural events, senior fitness programs, book club, roses, volunteer at the experimental farm, and crossword puzzles.
Frank Ferragine	Frank Ferragine aka “Frankie Flowers” is Canada’s most popular garden and weather personality. Two time recipient of Landscape Ontario’s Garden Communicator of the year and voted as Toronto’s favorite weather personality for 6 years consecutively Frank is known for combination of practical advice with a spice of humour and a passion for plants!! Frank can be seen daily on CityTV and read within the pages of Canadian Living, Canadian Gardening and the Toronto Sun and heard on 680news. After Frank’s bestselling book “Get Growing” this spring he releases “Pot it up” a book on container gardening endless options for great combinations!!
Denis Flanagan	After graduating from Horticulture in Surrey, England Denis was involved in many projects including work for the Royal Family and achieved a Gold medal at The Chelsea Flower Show. Following a successful transplant to 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 Gardening shows on HGTV and continues to promote the joys and benefits of horticulture through the ‘Green for Life“ program at Landscape Ontario .com
Lorraine Flanigan	In addition to her volunteer work as a Master Gardener, Lorraine works closely with the Toronto Botanical Garden and is editor of Trellis. She is a member of the Garden Writers Association and a freelance writer and editor whose work has appeared in Canadian Gardening, Canadian Living and Garden Making magazines. She also writes the City Gardening column in the Town Crier newspaper and publishes a blog-a-zine at citygardeningonline.com. Most recently, she has written for Loblaw Companies’ President’s Choice Garden Facebook Page. A self-described “plant nerd”, Lorraine misses few opportunities to travel both far and wide to visit gardens and discover new plants to try out in her small city garden “laboratory”. In April 2011, she visited Thailand, courtesy of the Tourism Association of Thailand.
Theresa Forte	Theresa M. Forte is a garden consultant, writer and photographer based in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Now in its 13th year, her weekly column ‘Your Garden’ appears in the St. Catharines Standard and Niagara Falls Review. Her work has appeared in national garden and trade publications and websites. Her light-hearted garden lectures and workshops entertain and enlighten audiences across southern Ontario. She has been invited to present at Garden Writer’s Association Symposia in Portland, Oregon and Dallas, Texas. Theresa was presented with the GWA 2010 Silver Medal of Achievement.
Belinda Gallagher	Belinda is the sole owner (and sole employee) of Hooked on Horticulture Consulting, a business that includes the activities of speaking, writing, teaching and advising about the serious business of plants. Formerly, she was the Head of Horticulture at Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) in Burlington/Hamilton, one of the largest botanical gardens in North America. In that role she was responsible for the management of 250 acres of cultivated gardens, horticultural displays and events, along with horticultural outreach and horticultural education. Her interest in the world of plants spans three decades of growing rare, unusual, native and the more common perennial plants, as well as vines, grasses, shrubs, trees and fungus. Prior to her time at RBG, she owned and operated triffids plants, a small nursery selling predominantly seed-raised unusual, rare and rarely grown species both native and exotic. The triffids plants 'sales' drew customers from Niagara Falls to Ottawa and became one of the events of the growing season for plant collectors. Currently she is developing and instructing courses for the University of Guelph’s on-line certificate program in Sustainable Urban Horticulture. With over thirty years as a public speaker, she attempts to make her presentations, in whatever form, both educational AND entertaining. She never forgets that humour is the only thing that sets us above the intelligence level of a hosta.
Helen Gordon	My life in the garden began very early in life when my parents gave me a child’s garden tool set for my second birthday. I suspect that it was so that I would leave their rake and hoe alone for them to use. Early habits last a long time and I have always had a garden wherever I lived. I have lived and gardened in three different zones in Ontario, in Calgary, Alberta, and in London, England. After a busy professional life, I joined the Master Gardeners in 1996. I have learned much, both from study and from the public with their varied questions. I have always wanted colour in my gardens throughout the year, and find that bulbs are an easy and satisfying way to do just that.
Albert Graves	Albert was born in Holland but is a native of Canada. These past fifteen years he is the highly popular professor of floral art at Humber College and has taught some of the most talented young designers in the industry today. Continually searching for the new and novel he has the unique talent of keeping things within a strict design ethos, but always eye-catching. Whether its decorations for the Dutch Queen’s birthday, flowers for visiting dignitaries, glamorous celebrities or an appearance on various television shows, you can be sure that Albert’s designs always bear his unique signature.
Kerry Hackett	Kerry achieved the UK equivalent to a BSc in Herbal Medicine after five years of intensive education in Herbal Studies, Medical Science, Nutrition and supervised clinical training. She also holds a diploma in Veterinary Homeopathy and has worked with both domestic and wild animals. In addition, Kerry is a member of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists (UK), the American Herbalists Guild, the Ontario Herbalists Association (Past-President) and the Veterinary Botanical Medicine Association. She is also a certified Master Gardener and is presently studying towards a Masters of Science in Herbal Medicine.
Marjorie Harris	Marjorie Harris is one of Canada's best known and most widely read garden writers. Her column in the Globe and Mail has been published non stop since 1990 and she has written 15 gardening books including the monumental BOTANICA NORTH AMERICA. Her latest book THRIFTY GARDENING FROM THE GROUND UP will be launched at Canada Blooms this year. She has been designing private gardens for the past five years. To get more information: www.marjorieharris.com Marjorie new book, THRIFTY GARDENING FROM THE GROUND UP will be published in MARCH 2012 by House of Anansi. .
Ingrid Hoff	Ingrid went from Horticultural Editor at Gardens West to Horticultural Manager at the University of British Columbia's Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research. Now as Garden's West Associate Horticulturalist, Ingrid brings a BSc in Plant Sciences, loads of enthusiasm, a great personality and a good deal of in-depth experience to share with their lucky readers. Presented by:
Maureen Hulbert	As a Toronto Master Gardener, Maureen enjoys speaking to community groups to share her love of the always-fascinating world of plants. Her particular interests include trees and pruning, woody plants, native plants, and plant identification. When not sharing and learning with the Master Gardeners, she designs and installs unique plant-focused gardens for residential customers in Toronto with Down to Earth Gardens & Design, the company she started in 2004. Maureen is a graduate of Humber College’s Landscape Program and is also a graduate of the University of Waterloo and University of Toronto.
Connie Hunter	Connie Hunter has been gardening atop the Niagara Escarpment for almost 20 years. She is a member of the Toronto Master Gardeners, the Garden Club of Toronto and the Creemore Horticulture Society. She is a past co-chair of Canada Blooms and an accredited horticultural judge.
Niki Jabbour	Niki Jabbour, author of The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener, is a food gardener and garden writer who lives near Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her articles have appeared in Canadian Gardening, Garden Making, Gardens East, The Heirloom Gardener, and other publications. She is the host of The Weekend Gardener, a call-in radio show that airs throughout the Maritime provinces on News 95.7 FM and www.news957.com, and she blogs at yearroundveggiegardener.blogspot.com. Her garden boasts over 40 heirloom vegetables and herbs that keep her family eating fresh food year-round.
Peter Keeping	Peter first got interested in Clematis in 1982, after being given two as a birthday present. He was so enthusiastic about them, that he joined the International Clematis Society and the British Clematis Society. The following year, he was made a council member for the Int’l Clematis Soc. and asked to answer questions for Canadians growing Clematis. That year, he went to the U.K. where he met with Raymond Evison and members of the two societies. He then increased his number of Clematis to 150 by 1999. All of these, he moved to his new home which is on ½ acre in Bowmanville, where he now has over 300+. He imports rare Clematis from the EU, plus grows from seed and from cuttings. He also started working with two different tissue culture Clematis growers in Canada. He now has over 200 Clematis in tissue culture. Peter and Sheila open up their garden to the public, by appointment, and have had many bus tours and private tours.
Dr. Clement Kent	Clement Kent researches honey bee behaviour at York University. He's the author of "Planting a Pollinator Garden" and President of the Horticultural Societies of Parkdale and Toronto. He received the Canadian Pollinator Advocate award for 2011 from the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign and is head of the Pollinator Gardens project. Last year he designed a Canada Blooms Feature Garden.
Joan Kerr	Joan Kerr is a Social Entrepreneur and humanitarian who is fabulously sustainable, loves cultivating ideas and projects. Joan shares her tips and ways for living a beautiful, sustainable and enjoyable life in the tv documentary, Fabulous Joan. Joan is featured in the Cookbook: Lusciously Local, a recipient of the Jessica Markland, Partnership Award and the UN World Summit Civil Society Award for content and creativity. Life is fabulous! Visit: www.joankerr.com
Patty King	Patty is a member of the Halton Region Master Gardener group and has been happily active in the group for four years. She completed her certificate of Horticulture at the University of Guelph in 2009. When not gardening, she writes two blogs. ‘Gardening Pomona’ is where Patty keeps tracks of her own gardening adventures. In ‘Women and the Garden’ she writes about the role of women in garden history and introduces you to notable women who have influenced or have been influenced by the garden. Check out – www.gardeningpomona.blogspot.com and www.womenandthegarden.blogspot.com
Cathy Kozma	Cathy Kozma is a current member and Past Chair of the Toronto Beekeepers Co-operative. A lifelong downtown Torontonian, an avid gardener, and Toronto Master Gardener, Cathy noticed dwindling honeybee and native bee populations in her own Annex area garden and decided to do something about it! Also the founder of Garden for Good she started urban beekeeping as a hobby in 2004. Working in partnership with FoodShare the Toronto Beekeepers Co-op manages beehives throughout the City, including 24 beehives at Downsview Park, Canada's first National Urban Park, 6 on the 14th floor rooftop of the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, and new hives at the Toronto Botanical Garden. A Realtor by profession, Cathy will teach you the about basics of beekeeping, the importance of bees to our ecology and what all gardeners can do to help support bee populations.
J. Paul Lamarche	J. Paul Lamarche is an avid gardener, landscape designer, and Horticultural Consultant, who practices a kind of gardening, implemented by humans up to approx. the turn of the century, and has fun with it!! Through the use of Herbs and Perennials, as well as the attraction of predator insects he has been able to garden pest and disease free. He gardens without the use of any fertilizer, except his own compost. He has never needed to use either chemicals or organic products to control the pests in the garden. He also gardens with extreme minimal use of water! The key, is understanding that for every action there is an equal or even greater reaction and that nothing lasts long without a good foundation! J.Paul Lamarche is co-author of "Common $ense Ecolutuion" newly released in 2010. His last book, "A Notebook for Gentle Gardners" a Canadian bestseller, has been retired. He has spoken across North America on this topic as well as lecturing at most major schools of Horticulture & Horticultural Associations.
Kathleen Lang	Kathleen graduated from Algonquin College Horticulture and Landscaping Program in 1993. She has been a Master Gardener with the Lanark County group for over 8 years. She has worked in the greenhouse industry, retail garden centers, landscape design and in grounds maintenance. Kathleen has been a volunteer here at Canada Blooms for about 10 years and has been a presenter for about six of them. She is always willing to answer anyone’s gardening questions, and shares pieces of her many garden plants and houseplants. When asked about her gardening style, she replied, “I’m a collector, I just have to have some of those, and a couple of these and oh, is that a new colour in …”.
Nancy Lee-Colibaba	Nancy Lee-Colibaba is a Horticultural Therapy Coordinator/Horticultural Technician and has been with the Brantford Master Gardeners for over 25 years. Along with providing training sessions in horticultural therapy and working directly with special needs populations, she coordinates the children's gardening programs and the public educational programs at the Royal Botanical Gardens.
Pamela Love	Pam Love is actively involved in the Durham community as the co-coordinator of the Durham Master Gardeners and member of the Oshawa Garden Club. She is also in the process of completing her Horticultural Certificate through the University of Guelph. Being passionate about gardening and helping others, after retirement from BMO, Pam started her own business “Loves to Garden”. Loves to Garden provides gardening services to people who do not have the time, ability or knowledge to do their own gardening in the Durham region. Visit: www.lovestogarden.ca
Marjorie Mason	Marjorie Mason is an enthusiastic gardener who enjoys sharing her ideas with others. She started gardening at a very early age on her parent's market garden farm near Peterborough. After a career as a public school teacher, she worked for 19 years at Pine Ridge Garden Gallery in Pickering where she amassed a collection of over 500 different varieties of Pelargoniums. Marjorie lectures across Canada and the U.S. on a wide variety of topics. In addition to authoring “Amazing Annuals” in 1999, she has written articles for Canadian Living, Canadian Gardening, Harrowsmith, Canadian Wildlife Federation, and Landscape Ontario magazines. In 1990, she was given the Garden Communicator of the Year Award by Landscape Ontario. Marjorie hosts “Let’s Get Growing” every Saturday morning from 9-10am on 1580 CKDO and 107.7 FM. Marjorie also leads tours in association with the Toronto Botanical Garden.
Jeff McMann	Jeff has worked for several large scale landscaping operations in the Toronto Area, both in the Maintenance and Construction sectors. He is a graduate of the Niagara Parks Commission School of Horticulture. He is also a certified ISA Arborist (International Society of Arboriculture) and is the Supervisor of Forestry for the Town of Markham. Jeff's work has appeared in such magazines as Turf and Recreation, the Toronto Star, the Ontario Teachers Magazine and Horticulture Review. He has also received a number of honours and awards, and has judged for Communities in Bloom, Landscape Ontario Awards of Excellence, America in Bloom and the CNLA National Awards. He has been a presenter at the Niagara Parks Alumni and Landscape Ontario Conferences as well as at the National Parks Symposium. Jeff is a member of Landscape Ontario’s Grounds Maintenance Commodity Group and also an instructor for the winter seminar series. He has volunteered his time to the developing of the Landscape Ontario Standard.
Astrid Muschalla	Astrid has over 20 years of experience as an organic horticulturist, garden designer and operator of the Oasis Institute for Healthy Living Inc. She teaches The Organic Horticulture Specialist course in the Sustainable Landscape Design Program at Humber College, as well as several of the courses in the Gardening Expert Certificate Program. She gives frequent public talks on how to preserve biodiversity and conserve indigenous plants in the home landscape and public areas. Her gardens have been featured on Doors Open, various community garden tours, CTV's Garden of the Month. Astrid’s worked as a design judge for Communities in Bloom. She is a member of Landscape Ontario, Society of Organic Urban Land Care, and the Organic Landscape Association. Visit: www.oasisgardendesign.ca
Tara Nolan	Tara is the editor of CanadianGardening.com and a member of the Garden Writers Association. A “budding” gardener, she keeps her ear to the ground (or rather, to the web), for the latest gardening trends. Tara is a freelance writer, editor and digital consultant whose work has appeared in Canadian Gardening magazine, Style at Home, Canadian Home Workshop (where she is currently acting associate editor), CanadianLiving.com and ReadersDigest.ca. Twitter: @CDNGardening Blog: CanadianGardening.com/blog. Presented by:
Tony Post	Tony Post has spent the past 20 years working as plant buyer for several large Niagara area garden centres. He is currently a sales consultant at Valleybrook Gardens, Canada’s premier grower of perennials. Tony’s St.Catharines garden contains more than 300 varieties of perennials, grasses, unusual collectors plants and “hardy tropicals.” Visit: www.perennials.com
Liz Primeau	Liz Primeau has been gardening for nearly fifty years. In her twenties, as a mother of four small children, she would often escape to her tomato patch for horticultural therapy. Gardening became a satisfying hobby that grew and eventually became a career when she became the founding editor of Canadian Gardening magazine in 1990
Lorraine Roberts	Lorraine and her husband, Robert, are owners of Plant Paradise Country Gardens™, which is a unique organic, perennial nursery and destination garden centre on 24 acres in Caledon that features extensive perennial display gardens of continuous bloom that showcase the thousands of rare and unusual perennial varieties they grow and sell. Delphinium Day and June Blooms Garden Party are two special events held each year that feature a catered lunch, guest garden speaker and door prizes. Every year they welcome many bus tours. Plant Paradise Country Gardens has been awarded a Certified Backyard Habitat designation from The Canadian Wildlife Federation and has been featured in the Toronto Star, and magazines that include: Escarpment Views, Caledon Living and In the Hills. Lorraine Roberts has a wealth of knowledge in the field of horticulture and has written gardening articles for many different magazines. Lorraine is also the author of the book, A Recipe for Continuous Bloom. She speaks at many horticultural societies on a wide range of topics. Visit her website: http://www.plantparadise.ca
Edel Schmidt	Edel is the owner and operator of Edelweiss Landscaping providing professional plant maintenance and design consultation for homeowners and small commercial establishments; specializing in redesigning and rejuvenating neglected gardens. She started her present business in 2000 and completed a horticultural program at Sheridan College. Her professional knowledge of plants and their environments, ‘hands-on’ experience and dedication to individual garden owners, has ensured list of very satisfied clients. Edel is a member of the Oakville 'Master Gardeners' Group, and is currently president of Cloverleaf Garden Club in Mississauga. She speaks and conducts workshops at many horticultural events on subjects such as: pruning, maintenance, and container gardening. Edel also teaches at Sheridan College at the Continuous Education in Horticulture Studies.
Larry Sherk	Lawrence (Larry) Sherk was Chief Horticulturist for Sheridan Nurseries Limited, with the Head Office in Glen Williams near Georgetown, Ontario. Sheridan has nurseries located in Glen Williams and Norval; and nine garden centres in Metro Toronto, Unionville, Whitby, Mississauga, Kitchener and Georgetown. Larry retired December 31, 2001 after 32 years with Sheridan Nurseries Limited. Larry is a native of Port Colborne, Ontario. He is a graduate of the University of Guelph and Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, where he majored in Ornamental Horticulture. After University, Larry spent one year studying gardens and plants in Europe, and then joined the staff of the Plant Research Institute, Canada Agriculture in Ottawa. There he conducted research on the growing of Canada's native plants in the garden and helped develop Canada's plant hardiness map for woody ornamental plants. He is senior author of the book "Ornamental Shrubs for Canada", and also author of the publication "Growing Canada's Floral Emblems". In 1969 he joined the staff at Sheridan Nurseries and was responsible for public relations and the purchase of hardy plants for all Sheridan garden centres. Larry continues to lecture and write about various gardening topics. He is currently researching the history of Sheridan Nurseries in advance of the company’s 100th anniversary in 2013.
Claudette Sims	Claudette Sims has been a member of Halton Region Master Gardeners since 2004 and a gardener for over 30 years. She has lots of experience with invasive species given that she has grown many of them! She loves to attract wildlife to her garden and has increasing knowledge and admiration for our beautiful native plants.
Mairlyn Smith	Mairlyn Smith is the only professional home economist and food writer in Canada that is also an alumnus of the Second City Comedy Troupe making her a popular TV and media food personality. Her ability to mix learning with laughter is her forte. Mairlyn is the author of three best selling cookbooks, Ultimate Foods for Ultimate Health and don’t forget the chocolate! which she co-authored with dietician Liz Pearson, won Gold at the Cuisine Canada Cookbook Awards making it the first healthy book to ever win Gold at these prestigious Canadian Culinary Awards. Her latest book is "Healthy Starts Here!" Mairlyn is a popular speaker bringing laughter and knowledge on healthy eating right across Canada. You’ve seen her on CityLine and BT Toronto spreading the news on health. Mairlyn can be reached anytime with questions, concerns or comments at mairlyn@mairlynsmith.com.
Rob Sproule	Rob Sproule has been fascinated with plants since he was a child. As co-owner of Salisbury Greenhouse just outside of Edmonton, he feels privileged to be able to share his passion with gardeners. He especially loves talking to gardeners who are just starting out and are eager to get their fingers dirty. Rob has written 2 national books, most recently “Gardening with Colour: Creative Design Ideas for Canadian Gardens.” He writes dozens of gardening a year and speaks across Canada. In his spare time, Rob writes poetry and climbs mountains in his beloved Rockies. He has recently earned his Masters Degree in Literature. He lives in Sherwood Park with his beloved wife Meg.
Elizabeth Stewart	Elizabeth Stewart harvests three vegetable crops yearly from a tiny downtown back yard, the beautiful and bountiful urban mini-farm that was featured in Canadian Gardening magazine. There, heirloom vegetables, herbs and fruits are surrounded by an exuberant jungle of perennials, shrubs and vines. An active member of Toronto Master Gardeners, Elizabeth is also one of the instructors at the Toronto Botanical Garden’s (TBG) wildly popular Urban Edibles workshop series.
Yvonne Tremblay	Yvonne is the sole proprietor of QUISINE – Food, Marketing & Nutrition. She is recipe developer and tester for major food companies and food marketing groups (Egg Farmers of Ontario and Canada, Turkey Farmers of Ontario, Foodland Ontario and Mushrooms Canada); she reviews and edits recipe web sites; cooking demonstrator/presenter, local television spokesperson/food and nutrition expert; food stylist for recipe brochures, press releases, packaging and websites; food writer and former associate food editor for Homemaker’s magazine. In Yvonne’s book Thyme in the Kitchen – Cooking with Fresh Herbs, she teaches how to use fragrant fresh herbs to transform even the simplest dishes. She also uses herbs in some of the recipes in her latest book "250 Home Preserving Favorites". For information on Quisine or her cookbooks, please visit: www.yvonnetremblay.com
Rodger Tschanz	Rodger Tschanz (pronounced Shantz) has worked in the field of horticulture at the University of Guelph since graduating in 1989. For the last 10 years he has been supervising the Ornamental Trial Garden program at the university. Since its humble beginnings in Guelph, the trial program has expanded its trial grounds to include the Landscape Ontario Office in Milton, the Vineland Research Station and the Royal Botanical Gardens. Breeders from all over the world send new cultivars of annuals, perennials and vegetables to be evaluated in Guelph and elsewhere.
Tena van Andel	Tena van Andel is delighted to have been a Toronto Master Gardener since 2003 and also currently serves on the Board of the Master Gardeners of Ontario Inc. She enjoys talking to anyone about anything horticultural, although orchids, large trees and the exotic bring a special gleam to her eye.
Suzanne Zacharczyk	Suzanne Zacharczyk: Suzanne has been an active member of the Etobicoke Master Gardeners since September 2009. As full time Project Manager she continues part time studies in Horticulture and Landscape Design. Suzanne has been involved with multiple fund raising plants sales and events, and is the President and active member of the Applewood Garden Club where she lives in Mississauga." .
Paul Zammit	Paul Zammit, a graduate of the University of Guelph, is the current Director of Horticulture at the Toronto Botanical Garden. Formerly, he was employed at Plant World, a large retail garden centre where he was the perennial department manager for almost two decades. He is a regular speaker at garden clubs and horticultural trade shows both in Canada and the United States and has appeared both on television and in print. Paul and Uli’s home garden has been featured in Canadian Living, Gardening Life, Canadian Gardening and Gardening How-To. The garden was awarded first place in the environmental garden category in the 2001 City of Toronto Garden Contest followed by an award in 2003 for the Best Use of Plant Material in the City of Toronto West District Garden Contest. Paul’s container designs have also been showcased several times in assorted gardening magazines. In 2008, he won first place in the Scotts Miracle-Gro, Do Up the Doorstep competition, for his container entry at Canada Blooms. Paul has been awarded the Young Professionals award by the Perennial Plant Association.

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