April General Meeting: Guest Speaker Gary Lewis, "Garden Inspirations from Around the World"

Plantsman, nursery owner, and author Gary Lewis travels the world in search of beauty and inspiration in gardens and nature both on personal trips and while leading garden and botanical tours. In this talk you’ll travel across Canada, the US, and Mexico and then to Europe, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia discovering many unforgettable features of some of the world’s most beautiful gardens and wild landscapes. This talk will be packed with design ideas for hardscape and softscape, cool plants, dynamic plant combinations, garden art, and more. Whether you’re a home gardener or a landscape professional, this talk will inspire you with new ideas to take your space(s) to the next level – all while taking a whirlwind trip around the world!

Gary Lewis has had a lifelong passion for plants. While completing a Masters of Science degree in Botany, Gary became the owner of Phoenix Perennials on his 28th birthday. Since then, he has greatly expanded the business into a dynamic, award-winning, destination nursery for Western Canada. In 2013 Phoenix Perennials launched Canadian mail order to bring their unique plant selection to a broader audience and now ships more than 2,500 plants a year to avid gardeners from coast to coast to coast. Commendations include earning the title, “Communicator of the Year” in 2013 by the BC Landscape and Nursery Association.
Gary is a regular speaker at garden clubs and has appeared many times on radio and television. In addition to writing articles for gardening magazines such as Fine Gardening, he authored the award winning, “The Complete Book of Ground Covers,” published in 2022.  

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The guest speaker for our sixteenth annual Barker Lecture is planning to attend the meeting via Zoom. A live video broadcast of his remote participation will be projected onto a large screen in the auditorium.

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Members: Instructions for participation in this virtual and in-person event will be emailed to members twice - once on the Friday prior to the meeting, and again on Monday. Instructions are also available by logging into our site and checking the "members-only" version of this event. 

Visitors: Guests are welcome to participate in this virtual and in-person event at a nominal fee of $5.00. Instructions for participation will be emailed to non-society members who complete the registration process prior to the event start time.

About In-Person Attendance at the McConaghy Centre: 

• Doors to the auditorium open at 7:00 pm 
• The meeting begins promptly at 7:30 pm
• Please bring a mug or cup if you would like hot coffee or tea