March 8, 2022
Landscape Ontario’s London and Ottawa Chapters co-hosted the 2022 Plant Symposium on Feb. 15, 2022. The Zoom event was open to the public, and was free for students and educators. More than 600 people signed up to watch the program.

The day began with Paul Gellatly of The Botanical Collection. Boasting a personal collection of over 800 tropical plants, Gellatly shared his passion and insights in his presentation titled, Tropical Treasures: Rare and Unusual Houseplants - Trends Through Time. Attendees gushed about the presentation in their feedback, leaving remarks such as: “I found the whole presentation to be very fascinating and he made me feel like I wanted to go buy some new houseplants,” and: “His explanation of all those plants was so captivating.”

Tony Spencer of The New Perennialist inspired attendees to rekindle their relationship with the wild. His talk, Wildscaping: Explorations in Naturalistic Planting Design, demonstrated how the natural approach is both beautiful and practical. Spencer earned comments such as: “Excellent speaker. Wonderfully comprehensive overview, coupled with a tremendous amount of fine design detail.”

The symposium also included two discussion panels. The Growers Panel addressed the state of the industry from the perspective of nursery stock producers. The Native Plants Panel discussed the difficulty of meeting the increasing demand for native plants, and explored the value of nativars versus true native plants for pollinators.

Nick McCullough capped the day off with his presentation, Inside the Design, that impressed the need to plan projects from inception to maintenance and that collaboration with homeowners is crucial at every step. After viewing all the eye candy in this session, attendees felt inspired by McCullough’s aesthetic, saying “Super enthusiastic and energetic; presented really beautiful design work.”

Registered attendees, and those who purchased access, will be able to view the recordings 30 days after receiving a link from organizers.

Landscape Ontario is grateful for support from presenting sponsors: Ontario Association of Landscape Architects and NVK Nurseries; and session sponsors: Baseline Nurseries and Garden Centre, Grand River Natural Stone, Ritchie Feed and Seed, and SiteOne Landscape Supply.