SPEAKERS

SATURDAY
APRIL 25TH

10:30 -11:30am
Alexander Reford
The Reford Gardens

12:00 – 1:00pm
Carlotta James
The Monarch Ultra – a 7 Week Journey

1:30 – 2:30pm
Sean James
What to do with a Downpour

LUNCH WITH
Alexander Reford

SATURDAY APRIL 25TH
Have lunch with Alexander at Fulford’s Bistro
on Campus

12:00-1:30pm

Cancelled, please see main page for details.

SUNDAY
APRIL 26TH

10:30 – 11:30am
Emma Biggs
Trials and Tribulations of a Teenage Tomato Grower

12:00 – 1:00pm
Joe and Hazel Cook
The Bees of Blossom Hill

1:30 – 2:30pm
Thom Luloff
Critters in the Garden

Alexander Reford

Director of the famous Reford Gardens located in Grand-Métis, Quebec. Alexander is the great-grandson of its founder Elsia Reford. This is a provincial treasure in Quebec and is well worth the visit.

Alexander has been a longtime advocate for gardening and with a strong family history of gardening, Alexander has a wealth of knowledge. Join him and take a journey back in time with the history and culture of Reford Gardens.

You can also join Alexander for Lunch! See above.

Sean James

Named by GardenMaking magazine as, “one of 20 Making a Difference”. Gardening has been Sean James’ hobby and profession for over 35 years. He owns Sean James Consulting & Design, with projects including designing, consulting, teaching, speaking and writing. Join Sean in a topic close to his heart “What to do with a Downpour: Ornamental ways to Handle Rainwater”.

Thom Luloff

A Professor of Fish and Wildlife Sciences at Fleming College, having completed his degree in medical science from the University of Western Ontario.  In addition to teaching he works as a research collaborator at the Toronto Zoo with the species at risk program.  He is the Chair of Kawartha Wildlife Centre, bringing his expertise in animal ecology and biology to help guide the organization in making decisions that are ecologically sound and best serve Ontario’s native species.

Thom also serves as the Director of Education and Public Outreach for Kawartha Wildlife Centre and creates and coordinates the strategy to promote wildlife education in our local communities. Thom grew up on a farm outside of Pembroke Ontario and currently lives in Peterborough with this wife and three kids.  His favourite colour is green and he has a dislike of chocolate ice cream.

Emma Biggs

With an urban garden and 130+ tomato varieties, Emma knows how to fit lots of tomatoes in a small space. In this talk she looks at different ways to grow and train tomato plants, everything from staking to cages, to trellises and in straw bales. She shares some of her favorite varieties. She also talks about how she overcame the toxicity from her neighbour’s big black walnut tree and now grows tomatoes underneath it. Leave this talk with ideas for varieties to try, ways to grow, and techniques to train your tomatoes. Leave this talk inspired to figure out how to grow tomatoes in a way that suits your garden.

Carlotta James

Eco-landscaper, community outreach specialist, and long-distance runner. Carlotta graduated from the University of Toronto with an Honours B.A. in International Relations and Political Science, where she subsequently was awarded a scholarship under the Canada-China Scholars’ Exchange Program to study advanced Chinese at Yunnan University. In addition to her academic interests, Carlotta’s natural curiosity in the global community have led her to work & travel in China, South Africa, England, Australia, and Mexico for six years. Carlotta currently lives in Peterborough with her family, where her passion for environmental sustainability is evident through her community work with Peterborough Pollinators.  

Carlotta is co-founder of Three Sisters Natural Landscapes, an eco-landscaping social enterprise dedicated to creating pollinator-friendly gardens in Peterborough and the Kawarthas.

Carlotta is also co-founder of the Monarch Ultra, an international relay run, documentary and conservation project aimed at connecting communities across North America with common goals of Earth stewardship & biodiversity conservation. 

Joe and Hazel Cook

Joe and Hazel Cook with their daughter Amy are well known for their business, Blossom Hill Nursery established in 1994, specializing in hybridizing and propagating British Delphinium elatum. A second passion resulted in an extensive peony collection of over 650 varieties including species, tree, herbaceous and intersectional peonies. The Cooks hybridize and propagate the peonies, including grafting 100 varieties of tree peonies. 

This presentation will focus on all aspects of honey bees, their third passion since 2009. Be prepared for facts and fun including honey bee habits, products, hives and care as well as their interaction with other pollinators and animals found in the gardens. Joe and Hazel have many humorous stories to share from their adventures as they expanded from 3 to over 60 hives, including queen rearing by grafting. Recently they established a 12 acre native wildflower/ tallgrass prairie meadow.

Blossom Hill is located just north of Peterborough in Selwyn Township and has perennial display gardens as well as 6000 peonies and trial beds in the field for over 1000 delphiniums. Their delphiniums and peonies have won awards in both Canada and the United States.

Joe and Hazel are Overseas Vice-Presidents for The Delphinium Society, UK. Hazel is a director and the corresponding secretary of the American Peony Society.