Laurelle loved playing in the dirt and remembers watching her Grandfather in his veggie garden. She completed a landscaping certificate from Kwantlen and has been a landscape designer for close to 30 years. Laurelle owned and operated her own design and install company. About five years ago, she got into grafting and selling heritage apple trees and buying and reselling berry bushes (blueberries, lingonberries, Goji berries, tayberries, raspberries, huckleberries, sea buckthorn, grapes, sour bush cherries (U Sask), and cranberries) at Seedy Saturday, the VanDusen Plant Sale, etc. She works part-time in Art's Nursery in Port Kells https://www.artsnursery.com/default.aspx  and also writes garden articles, runs garden workshops, still dabbles in landscape design and delights in exciting people about gardening especially edible gardening.

She spoke on the topic of: "Creating Garden Magic in a Small Space"

By the year 2050 - 7 out of 10 people will be living in cities - a garden is a precious thing.  To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.
Laurelle addressed some of the challenges of growing a garden in small spaces:

Consideration to define your space:
What do you want to do in your garden?

• Seating area
• Creating privacy
• Growing food
• Water garden
• Encourage insects and birds
• Fragrance

How do you fit it all in?

• Try growing things together - companion planting
• Succession planting for interest throughout the seasons

Lighting

• Work with what you have
• If there is too much light - create a canopy, add taller plants and privacy screens to shade or block the light.
• If there is too little light - add mirrors, use white or golden plants, add water with lights.

Making your garden healthy:

• Start with the soil - choose the best soil you can afford.
• Compost if you can.
• Mix bloom times - annuals can help with this.
• Use native plants to invite the insects and birds.

Gardening with containers:

• Choose the colours and patterns - earthy colours blend in, black pots show up your plants well.
• Size of containers - the bigger the better - wider is good.
• Beware of the small space container trap when you end up with a multitude of small containers.