Webinar: Designing Beautiful, Biodiverse, Resilient Gravel Gardens with Ben O’Brien

Webinar: Designing Beautiful, Biodiverse, Resilient Gravel Gardens with Ben O’Brien

A Landscape Architecture Canada Foundation grant enabled Ben to begin exploring different approaches for creating resilient perennial plantings in urban public spaces. The Growing Grit project let him undertake real-world experiments using the novel European approaches to sustainable urban plantings. Techniques such as growing plants in deep mineral mulches or artificial substrates both reduce soil fertility, which accommodates much more diverse plant communities, and reduces the potential for weed invasion. Either way, the result is a designed planting that is simple to manage over the long term by busy homeowners as well as maintenance crews who lack advanced horticultural training. Perhaps this style of planting includes solutions for you!

Ben O’Brien is the owner of Wild by Design, a naturalistic garden design business in Prince Edward County that specializes in artfully crafted, richly planted, lovingly tended gardens. Since 2014 Ben’s passion for plants has informed every project, from small town gardens to large rural properties and urban public spaces. Ben’s trial garden research explores innovative ways to create beautiful, biodiverse, and resilient designed plant communities.

Members: Instructions for participation in this virtual event will be emailed to members. Instructions are also available by logging into our site and checking the “members-only” version of this event at https://richmondhillgardensociety.org/event-5556549

Visitors: Guests are welcome to participate in this virtual 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. Visit our website at https://richmondhillgardensociety.org/event-5556549