Hidden Habitat offers timely tips for gardeners

Lois Cooper | Gravenhurst Horticultural Society

GRAVENHURST — Laura Thomas, of Hidden Habitat, says spring has sprung with a flurry of garden shows and talks.

Join Laura Thomas of Hidden Habitat June 19 at the Seniors’ Centre in Gravenhurst.

And she is excited to have been asked to be a guest speaker for our local garden clubs.

She will be presenting at the Gravenhurst Horticultural Society on June 19, at 7 p.m. at the Gravenhurst Seniors Centre, 480 First St.

Hidden Habitat (www.hiddenhabitat.ca) creates beautiful and ecologically-healthy landscapes with a unique focus on design for the thoughtful integration of people and place, while protecting and promoting the biodiversity of your outdoor space.

It services the Muskoka, Midland, Orillia and Barrie area of central Ontario.

Thomas, a graduate of University of Waterloo’s Environment and Resource Studies program, has worked in the landscape industry for over ten years; blending her passion for conservation and landscape design.

She saw the need for better, sustainable land management practices especially within the realm of private land owners.

Merging the elements of good landscape design with the practices of restoration ecology seemed both obvious and necessary given the fragmentation and destruction of landscapes today.

However, while working in the landscape industry she found that often people felt they had to compromise beauty for conservation. Given her expertise in ecology, native plants and landscape design she knew that one could still have the simplicity and impact of a modern garden while providing food and shelter for local wildlife.

Her unique and thoughtful designs demonstrate that healthy landscapes can be beautiful landscapes.

The Horticultural Society is looking forward to a very interesting presentation and Thomas promises to bring some of the more exotic wild plants for purchase.

Come on out and learn; enjoy garden fellowship along with refreshments and door prizes.

See you at the Seniors Centre, Gravenhurst at 7 p.m. on June 19.

Members: $2; guests: $5.

NOTE: Author and master gardener Dan Cooper, who was to be the guest speaker the GHS May 15 meeting got his dates mixed up and didn’t make it. He promises to reschedule.