CBGS 2023 Annual General Meeting

Join us for the 2023 Annual General Meeting of the Canadensis Botanical Garden Society (CBGS) on Thursday, June 22, 2023. The assembly meeting will again be held using Zoom conferencing. The evening will mark another step in our progress to build an outstanding botanical garden in the nation’s capital.

The business meeting will be followed by a talk by Brian Holley, a renowned botanist and widely respected leader in the field of botanical garden management.

About Brian HolleyIn 1977 Brian joined Royal Botanical Garden as the foreman for their extensive natural areas. After several years of building bridges, boardwalks, and lookout towers he was promoted to Manager of the Teaching Garden. He became immersed in horticulture, and with the mentorship of head gardener, Erling Vestergaard, he quickly developed an extensive knowledge of gardening. When his friend, Bill Hartnoll decided to retire from his weekly radio show he asked Brian to take it over. Soon he was involved in a variety of garden related projects such as TV shows, The Hobby Garden and The Gardener’s Journal, writing the gardening column for the Hamilton Spectator, and lecturing extensively in Canada and the US.

In 1994, he was recruited as executive director of the Cleveland Botanical Garden. In Cleveland, he worked with an amazing team to develop the funding and build a $50 million project featuring recreations of a Costa Rican Cloud Forest and a Madagascan Spiny Desert. He was also very involved in developing the Ripe From Downtown urban farming program to teach youth at risk gardening skills. Next he was asked to transform 170 acres of badly degraded land into Naples Botanical Garden. It was completed in 2014 and was the public garden of the year in North America in 2017. In 2022, he moved to Ottawa and in January 2023 agreed to become Project Director for Canadensis.

Please join us at our AGM to hear the latest news on our project, a most interesting talk by Brian Holley, and to enjoy an opportunity to get updated on the progress of Canadensis.

Annual General Meeting & Presentation:

Date: Thursday, June 22, 2023Time: 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Location: Virtual Meeting – ONLINE via Zoom

Cost: Admission is FREE.

Registration is required to obtain the link to the meeting’s platform.