GOWGHS Speaker List for 2011

January 19: Profiles of three water gardens

The January program will feature our third annual profile of three ponds. The 2011 edition of this popular visual presentation will include a six year old, ever-changing pond with a 15-foot vertically-stepped waterfall; a property with a contractor-installed, Asian-inspired 40-foot stream; and a 2009 owner-installed water garden. The respective presenters are owner June Hansen, contractor Greg Veldhuizen, and owner Alain Bernard. Come and learn more about water features you may have visited, and/or discover ones you've never seen. 


February 16: Redesigning a landscape after the introduction of a water garden

Please Note: For this meeting only, the time has been changed to 7:30

Our water gardens tend to be the dominant features in our properties, with which we align the rest of the landscape. The latter process can be inspired or rudimentary or somewhere in between, as we seek out the practical and aesthetic adjustments which will integrate the look and functionality of our outdoor space. Aesthetically, a pond can dramatically change the design theme of our yard. Practically, it can alter how we use our property, where we walk and sit, our sight lines, and thus the optimal placement of hardscaping and plantings. Landscape Architect John Szczepaniak will use the property of one our members as a model to demonstrate a professionally inspired approach to redesigning a landscape after the introduction of a water garden.
 
Speaker: Landscape Architect John Szczepaniak (http://www.jszla.com) is a member of the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects and the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects. An avid traveler, he draws inspiration from such sources as the historic homes  and gardens of Europe, and the landscapes of South America. His love of the Ontario landscape and an appreciation of  fine art inform all his designs. Mr. Szczepaniak will be donating his speaker's honouraria to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) - Canada (http://www.msf.ca/). GOWGHS members who may wish to make a contribution to their work would be welcome to do so. 
 
March 16: Fish reproduction in water gardens - Pond fish guru Richard Inchley of Richard Inchley Ponds and Aquaria will cover the fish chapter of the 'birds and bees' talk, from which water gardeners should come away with a better understanding of measures to increase or decrease reproduction in their pond, as desired. Among other things, Richard will discuss which fish do and don't reproduce well in pond environments, and the role of habitat features.

Speaker: Richard Inchley, Richard Inchley Ponds and Aquaria
 

April 20: Turtles of Eastern Ontario - Speaker David Seburn

David Seburn is an independent researcher specializing in the conservation of amphibians and reptiles (particularly turtles).  He is a member of the Ontario multi-species turtles at risk recovery team and is the author of the draft recovery strategy for the species at risk turtles of Ontario.  He will discuss the eight species of turtles found in eastern Ontario, the threats they face and how you can make your water garden "turtle-friendly."

May 18: Everything about water lilies
 
This is a very special opportunity to learn everything you ever wanted to know about water lilies - varieties, selecting, planting, maintaining, splitting, etc., plus actually having an opportunity to obtain your choice of 72 varieties of hardly (Zone 4) and 14 types of tropical water lilies (plus 9 types of lotus, 8 of which are Zone 5). Moore Water Gardens (www.moorewatergardens.com) in Port Stanley, Ontario has specialized in water lilies and aquatic plants since it was founded in the late 1920s. Plants are grown on site, and new varieties are introduced annually. Water lilies orders can be placed at the talk, and picked up from Richard Inchley Ponds and Aquaria (http://www.pondsandaquaria.ca/index.html) in Kinburn on Saturdays (1000 - 1600 hrs.) up to June 18 (after allowing time for delivery from Port Stanley). Or online orders (http://www.moorewatergardens.com/catalog.html) can be placed anytime and sent directly to you. 
 
Speaker: Larry See has been associated with Moore Water Gardens for many years. His wife (nee Moore) and son Farley are second and third generation respectively of the founder. Larry looks forward to many questions about growing water lilies in the Ottawa/Gatineau area.
 
June 15: Night ponds: design considerations in lighting your aquatic landscape

Discover how to enhance the night-time use of your aquatic landscape through optimal lighting, whether you have yet to add underwater and/or outdoor illumination, or wish to expand or upgrade your system. After a brief primer/refresher on the basic parts and functionality of a low voltage lighting system, and the difference between LED and incandescent fixtures, view slides of local landscape lighting installations which illustrate the design process, various techniques and effects, and lighting tricks to making your water garden and surroundings an enchanting place to be after dark.

Speaker: Cory MacCallum, Design Consultant, Ottawa Landscape Lighting (a Division of GreenScape.ca), has been in the landscape lighting industry for six years.  Cory and his team are two-time winners of Landscape Ontario's Award of Excellence for their landscape lighting projects. In 2010 he completed a course at the Landscape Lighting Institute in Troy, New York, taught by internationally acclaimed lighting designer, Jannet Lennox Moyer. Cory sits on Landscape Ontario's Lighting Industry Sector Group, and is a member of the American Outdoor Lighting Professionals (AOLP). He is currently enrolled in AOLP's Certified Outdoor Lighting Designer(COLD) course. 

July & August: Our ever popular Member Pond Socials

PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF VENUE FOR OUR SEPTEMBER GENERAL MEETING

September 21: Alnwick Garden, Alnwick, Northumberland, England
 
6:00 p.m. dinner at the Pho Kam Long Restaurant, 3635 Rivergate Way, Ottawa with our presentation beginning at 7:30 p.m. Please Note: Do not go to the Greenboro Commmunity Centre. Please RSVP by September 15 to gowghs@bell.net as there is limited seating.
 
The ongoing re-creation of Alnwick Garden (near Alnwick Castle) by Jacques and Peter Wirtz, renown international garden designers from Belgium, started ten years ago. Contemporary design permeates beautifully landscaped gardens, magnificent architecture and unique features, all brought to life with water. In addition to a pond, some of the other water features include the garden's centrepiece, the Grand Cascade, an iconic structure and the largest water feature of its kind in the country, and in the Serpent Garden, water sculptures by William Pye. 
 
Speaker: Mary Pratte is an Algonquin College horticultural graduate, peony authority and former President of the Canadian Peony Society, among her many horticultural affiliations and activities. Mary has visited Alnwick Garden three times, most recently in the summer of 2011.  
 
October 19: A short Annual General Meeting and Elections followed by

Member knowledge exchange

Do you have a perplexing water gardening question Google didn't answer satisfactorily, about which you would like to tap into the collective expertise and experience of fellow GOWGHS members? 

Did you learn something the hard way, which you could save other members from doing? 

Do you have an entertaining water gardening story that those who share your interest would understand and appreciate much more than your work colleagues who think you're talking about yogurt when you start going on about beneficial bacteria? 

The October program will feature our first ever member knowledge exchange, which may become an annual event if it proves worthwhile. Please identify your topics and the category (questions, lessons learned, stories) to program@ottawawatergardens.com by October 12. (Just to reassure us this first time around that we really have a program, and don't have to plant topics, or bring on the tap dancers.)