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Speaker Series
Each year, Cloverleaf Garden Club hosts talented gardening, horticulture and other experts, promising to engage us, teach us and amuse us. From gardening myths to tips and tricks, from flowers to veggies, we work hard to showcase a variety of topics that will help you with your gardening dreams.
Presentations are on the third Wednesday of the month from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm at 1389 Cawthra Rd., Mississauga.
2025 Speakers
Barbara Cooper and Bella Seiden
Flora of the Turkish Silk Road
Wednesday, February 19, 2025
7:30 pm
Turkey is a country of rich physical and ancient cultural diversity straddling Europe and Asia. Bella and Barbara’s trip to Turkey in the spring of 2019 was an adventure with many surprises and much beauty. As they travelled along parts of the ancient Silk Road they saw mountains, volcanoes, steppe, beautiful rich valleys, rivers and lakes. Each of these areas is home to incredible flora, much of it endemic and fascinating cultural sites. Their presentation will offer some of the highlights of this trip.
Barbara Cooper and Bella Seiden have been gardening together in Toronto for more than 25 years.They have a plant collector’s garden in an urban setting, where they have constructed a tufa garden, crevice and rock garden as well as perennial beds Over the years they have developed an interest in seeing plants in their natural habitat and have traveled several times to South America, South Africa, and Turkey. They are members of the Ontario Rock Garden and Hardy Plant Society where they are responsible for the Speaker’s Programme.
Ramona Christiansen
How Trees Communicate: The Fascinating World of Mycorrhizal Connections
Wednesday, April 16, 2025
7:30 pm
We tend to think of trees in a forest as silent sentinels that compete with one another for water light and nutrients. But what if these assumptions are all wrong? Science has discovered that trees are actually social creatures that communicate with one another. Trees are linked to neighbouring trees by an underground network of fungi that resembles the neural networks in the brain. And, instead of simply competing for resources, they share them in times of stress. This is the fascinating underground world of mycorrhizae; a network of fungi that are extraordinarily important to trees and our climate. All trees and all plants in all of our forests around the world are dependent on the symbiotic relationship between the mycorrhizal fungi and the trees and plants. Learn what you, the backyard gardener can do, to help your trees flourish while protecting these fungi.
Ramona has been a gardener for over 25 years and owns a ravine property in Mississauga. She loves having her hands in the dirt and treasures her gardening tools which include a wood chipper, various chainsaws and pruners. She built a small greenhouse with the help of her husband during Covid and it is now her special retreat where I she goes with a glass of wine and her music to get the creative thoughts flowing. She joined Mississauga Master Gardeners in the fall of 2021 and it has been great working with people passionate about gardening. She has three adult children and two beautiful grandchildren who call her Buttercup! Before children, Ramona graduated with a Math degree from the University of Waterloo and worked in the Computer Industry as a programmer analyst for Crown Life Insurance.
Lisa Massie
The Monarch: An Icon on the Edge
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
7:30 pm
Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) are perhaps the most well-known and beloved butterflies in North America. Seen in gardens, prairies, and natural areas from coast to coast, their arrival in Ontario each year is viewed by many as a welcome sign of the change in seasons from spring to summer. Renowned for their long-distance seasonal migration and spectacular winter gatherings in Mexico and California, the Monarch butterfly population has recently declined to dangerously low levels. This presentation will introduce attendees to the butterfly’s life-cycle and migration, discuss reasons for the recent decline in Monarch populations, and showcase the importance of providing nectar-rich flowers and native milkweed host plants in our gardens.
Lisa Massie has been a Xerces Ambassador since 2022, and has been gardening for 25 years. Although only a small townhouse backyard, her garden supports many pollinators. She has documented 27 butterfly and moth species, over 20 bee species (including six different bumblebee species!), and many more beneficial pollinators. She is growing seven different native milkweed species in her backyard and her garden is a Monarch Waystation, Certified Wildlife Habitat, and Bee-Friendly Garden.
Dugald Cameron
Summer Flowering Bulbs
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
7:30 pm
Flower, foliage and fragrance from easy-to-grow summer flowering bulbs. Dugald Cameron will show you how to grow them, what they like and how to overwinter indoors. Ideal for container gardening.
Together with his wife & father Dugald founded and ran the mail order nursery Garden Import from. 1983 to 2014. They specialized in the introduction of many new herbaceous perennials, bulbs, seeds, vines and shrubs to Canadian gardeners from coast to coast. During this time they established close connections with many of the world's leading hybridizers and nurserymen. Dugald has taught courses on a variety of subjects at the Toronto Botanical Garden where he was on the board of directors for 13 years and continues to volunteer there. He has taught at the OHA Judges courses, Master Gardener technical updates and spoken to many horticultural societies in southern Ontario for over 25 years. Dugald has also sat in for Ed Lawrence on CBC’s Ontario Today and was the founding president of the Greater Toronto Bulb Society.