Three of our members will be opening their gardens and welcoming visits from other society members during the afternoon of Sunday, July 19th. 

This is a members-only event. Members, please click here for event details.

Tonight's speaker will share practical tips and tricks to help keep our gardens looking their best all season long. We will explore how to handle common challenges like pests and disease, how to properly prune flowers and vegetables, how to choose the right fertilizer, and even how to manually pollinate our plants when the bees need a little backup.  

Debbie Coleman is a Master Gardener and Richmond Hill Garden & Horticultural Society Director who believes that the more time we spend up close with our plants the more likely we are to notice problems before they get out of hand.

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Tonight's guest speaker is a resident of Richmond Hill and will be participating in-person.  

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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

Several of our members will be opening their gardens and welcoming visits from other society members during the afternoon of Sunday, August 16th. 

This is a members-only event. Members, please check back for event details.

Tonight, gardening guru Sean James will address the many misconceptions about what gardeners should do and not do in the Fall, covering the latest learnings about biodiversity and general horticulture. As well, he will share labour-saving winter-prep techniques.

Master Gardener Sean James, owner of Sean James Consulting & Design (www.seanjames-consulting.ca) is a graduate of Niagara Parks School of Horticulture with more than forty years of experience in the horticultural industry, including as an author and teacher. Named by Landscape Ontario in 2020 and 2021 as “Garden Communicator of the Year,” Sean’s passion for eco-friendly gardening techniques is evident in his landscape designs as well as in speaking engagements and projects such as Landscape Ontario’s Grow-Me-Instead and Tree Planting guides, and his chairing of the Environmental Stewardship Committee.

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Tonight's guest speaker is planning to participate in-person.  



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 sign-in upon arrival.  
• To help us get to know each other, members and visitors are encouraged to wear a name tag. If you don't have a name tag, a temporary one will be provided.  
• 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.

Come join us as we have a guided tour featuring the formal gardens, inspired by the English Arts & Crafts movement, of the Parkwood Estate.  Most likely you will recognize this property from some of the many movies and TV shows that have been filmed here. 

Lunch will be at Bistro 67 where the emphasis is on fresh, local grown food. Literally, most of your meal will be grown in the gardens adjoining the restaurant.

We will also visit gardens in the area and end our day with shopping at Vandermeer Nursery.

Click here for our printable one-page flyer.

Master Gardener Joyce Hostyn asks, “Why put up a fence when you can create multi-season beauty and provide wildlife habitat by designing a hedgerow?” She will then share examples of how hedges can be leveraged to create garden rooms, provide privacy and screening, grow edible fruits, nuts and berries while also offering shelter to birds and other wildlife.

Joyce Hostyn is co-founder of Little Forests Kingston (www.littleforests.org), a member of the 1000 Islands Master Gardeners, a permaculture designer, and an Adjunct Professor at Queen’s University’s Master of Earth and Energy Resources Leadership program. She dreams of living in a city alive with the sounds of birds singing, bees buzzing, leaves whispering and children laughing. She believes each of us is a node in a mycelial network of transformation, re-wilding one garden, one neighborhood, one little forest at a time. She tells people that any day she gets her hands dirty, either in the land or in the kitchen, is a magical day.

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Tonight's guest speaker is planning to attend the meeting via Zoom. A live video broadcast of her remote participation will be projected onto a large screen in the auditorium.  

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Final Flower Show of 2026

In-person meeting attendees are invited to enjoy the Autumn and Harvest Flower Show following tonight's guest speaker presentation.
Please consider exhibiting specimens from your own garden (More info.). Entries need to arrive by 6:15 pm and new participants should contact our Flower Show Director for support and an exhibitor number.

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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

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.



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.  



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 sign-in upon arrival.  
• To help us get to know each other, members and visitors are encouraged to wear a name tag. If you don't have a name tag, a temporary one will be provided.  
• 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.