Mélanie created the Ottawa Wildflower Seed Library to foster Indigenous reconciliation, address climate change and empower women through the collecting, sharing and growing of native plants.

Her vision is to create a grassroots movement that is reused around the world so that humans responsibly fulfill their stewardship role in nature through education and sharing seeds for free. Mélanie is the 2023 recipient of the Ecology Ottawa Active & Accessible City Award, given to a member of your community that works to improve urban quality of life and inspires you and your community to advocate for an accessible, sustainable, livable, Ottawa. 

Mélanie has a Master’s in Political Science from Université Laval, a Master’s of Business Administration from University of Ottawa and a Bachelor’s Degree, Joint Honours, in International Relations and International Development Studies from the University of New Brunswick.

She worked for the federal government for Natural Resources Canada and Library and Archives Canada in policy, programming and communications on various issues. She also has experience working with Indigenous communities. 

Her current job is Manager, Strategic and Operational Planning at Engineers Canada where she is responsible for consultations, risk management, planning and reporting. She was previously Manager, Qualifications, in the same organization, where she developed national guidelines to foster harmonization across provincial and territorial engineering regulators. She lives with her husband in Orléans

In this talk, Chris focused on the design and drama of miniature crevice gardens. He discussed soil mediums, rock types and plants which he found to be successful in these mini mountains.
Chris was born and raised in London. He spent several years travelling in southeast Asia and Europe. For a while he lived in Australia and Ecuador, and 14 years ago he moved to Victoria, British Columbia to study horticulture. After graduating he was part of the gardening team at Royal Roads University. He has also worked and learned how to create crevice gardens from Paul Spriggs.

The southern Alberta Rockies is home to the greatest variety of alpine plants Canada has to offer.  This talk will feature the profuse diversity of alpines growing in Jasper, Banff and Waterton Lakes National Parks along with the Colombian Icefields.

​

​Todd lives in St. John’s, Newfoundland, where he works as the chief horticulturist at the Memorial University of Newfoundland Botanical Garden. He is the current president of NARGS, the first Canadian to hold the position. He is a regular contributor to The Rock Garden Quarterly and has spoken to gardening groups across North America as well as in the U.K. and New Zealand. He has authored six photographic field guides on the native and naturalized flora of Atlantic Canada. He has also authored three gardening books, Favourite Perennials for Atlantic Canada, Shrubs and Vines for Atlantic Canada and most recently Gardening for Acidic Soils, a book co-written with Jamie Ellison of Nova Scotia

​

​

This talk is by two members Tony and Annie.  Tony will present the construction of his first rock garden at his home.

Annie will present on the topic of alpine plants in South Africa

Our gardens and properties as a whole are vital areas for creating and maintaining biodiversity, no matter the size or location. Hugh explains how native plants in our gardens are vital for hosting insect species, serve as an enormous educational opportunity, and can beautify even the most challenging site conditions.

​

Hugh is the owner of Naturaide, a company that promotes good environmental stewardship through services like native plant garden installation and seasonal soil sampling. Hugh has always been an avid naturalist and is a graduate of the Fish & Wildlife Technician program at Sir Sandford Fleming College and has worked on several wildlife research projects with various universities in Canada and the US. Hugh resides in Winchester.

This talk will look take you on a tour of the plants in four separate mount passes in the Dolomites ​

​