By Lynn Lane

Members of the Ottawa Chapter will have two great opportunities to hear dynamic leaders in their field. On February 18th, Leonard Lee of Lee Valley Tools fame will attend Ottawa’s GreenTrade Expo, while a few days later acclaimed landscape architect Julie Moir Messervy will speak to the Ottawa Chapter.

‘Growing Your Business’ is the keynote topic of the Chapter’s Profit Builder’s Lunch on Wednesday, February 18, 2009. Lee will talk about how to use the same practical steps that took Lee Valley Tools from a home-based business to a retail and mail-order giant. For business owners and managers, this is an amazing opportunity to hear from a successful, experienced and respected industry leader. Attendees will be inspired by the story and walk away with practical tools to grow your own business.

The event be held at the Ottawa Civic Centre, beginning at 12 noon with lunch. Lee will speak from 12:30-1:30, including a question period. Price (lunch included) is $75 for LO members and $145 for potential members. Register on-line at www.horttrades.com/ottawaseminars. For more information call the Ottawa office at 613-796-5156.

Acclaimed landscape architect Julie Moir Messervy is coming to Ottawa to present both an evening lecture on February 25, 2009, and a morning industry workshop on February 26.
 

Workshop

The workshop, entitled “Creating Home Outside: Techniques and Tips for Designers, Builders, and Homeowners” is a three-hour, hands-on course limited to 100 people. Inspired by her book due for release early in 2009, Home Outside, the workshop is geared toward designers, landscape contractors and home gardeners eager to create gardens with beauty and meaning. Elaborating on the six critical steps to make “home outside,” Messervy will focus on design details, construction techniques and invaluable tips. This workshop runs from 9 a.m. to noon, followed by lunch. Tickets are $150, and include lunch. Purchase tickets online at www.horttrades.com/ottawaseminars.
 

Lecture

In the lecture entitled, “Home Outside:  Making the Most of the Land Around Your House,” Messervy will talk about composing gardens of beauty and meaning to create a “home outside” the home. She will guide designers, builders and home gardeners through a landscape artist’s thought processes, sharing her six critical steps to creating a home outside. Her ideas have encouraged a new generation of professionals and homeowners to create inspired gardens that reflect an inward vision deeply rooted in outdoor archetypes, childhood imagination and aesthetic impulses.

This lecture will be held at Centrepointe Theatre on Wednesday, February 25, 2009, at 7 p.m. Discounted tickets ($30) are available to all LO members until December 31 at www.centrepointetheatre.com, by using the discount code word: PEONY. Price for non-members and members after January 1 is $35.

Julie Moir Messervy is perhaps best known for her collaboration with cellist Yo-Yo Ma in the design of the Toronto Music Garden. She has written or co-authored several books, including Outside the Not So Big House with renowned architect Sarah Susanka, Contemplative Gardens, The Inward Garden, and The Magic Land. Her design work and books have been featured in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Washington Post, House & Garden, Country Living Gardener, Elle Decor, Vogue, Garden Design, Fine Gardening, and Landscape Architecture. Visit www.juliemoirmesservy.com.

This is a joint venture of the Ottawa Chapter of Landscape Ontario and the Ottawa Botanical Garden Society (OBGS). For more information about this lecture or workshop, contact the OBGS at (613) 747-0600. Proceeds will be donated to the Ottawa Botanical Garden Society.