November General Meeting: Guest Speakers Claudette Sims and Isabella Marchese, "Managing Garden Pests in an Eco Friendly Way"

As the gardening season winds down, Ontario gardeners often reflect on the animal and insect challenges they faced throughout the year—and wonder what to do differently next time. Tonight's guest speakers will explore cultural practices and solutions to address these challenges while fostering a harmonious relationship with nature.

Claudette Sims joined the Master Gardeners of Ontario in 2004 and served as President for six years. She was a regular panelist and lead on the weekly CBC radio online garden chat for many years and also subbed in for Ed Lawrence on the radio, which she says was a thrilling but scary experience. Claudette is currently Administrator for the very successful Master Gardeners of Ontario Facebook Group which is nearing 58,000 members, featuring a great team of Master Gardeners who provide gardening advice for the public.  Along with Cathy Kavassalis, Claudette is working to further the work of the Canadian Coalition for Invasive Plant Regulation (CCIPR) to stop the sale of high-risk invasive plants that harm biodiversity. Claudette's most recent passion continues to be adding larval host plants for butterflies and specific native plants for specialist bees.

Isabella Marchese is a Master Gardener in Training with the Halton Master Gardeners group and is committed to understanding the needs of plants, supporting pollinators and using organic processes. She is also a member of the Halton Naturalist Club and works in public gardens that host native plants., and volunteers at the Royal Botanical Gardens weeding native plant gardens.

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Tonight's guest speakers are planning to attend the meeting via Zoom. A live video broadcast of their 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
• To help us reduce waste and save money, please bring a mug or cup if you would like hot coffee or tea
• Click here for more information about our General Meetings, including directions to the McConaghy Centre