March 15, 2012
By Colleen Cirillo

The Ontario Invasive Plant Council (OIPC) is a non-profit organization founded in 2007 to develop a coordinated provincial response to the growing threat of invasive plants.
 
Since 2009, the Horticulture Outreach Collaborative (HOC), an OIPC committee with Landscape Ontario representation, has focused its attention on garden plants that can be invasive in some situations. This committee has accomplished plenty in its short life, including a nursery research project and the development and distribution of outreach material.

Last year, horticulturists and ecologists on the committee worked together to create a resource for hobby and professional gardeners under the name, Grow Me Instead. Over 15,000 copies of this colourful guide have been distributed at consumer and trade shows, partners’ offices and garden centres. An electronic version is available on the OIPC website www.ontarioinvasiveplants.ca.   

This year HOC is asking additional garden centres to prominently feature the guide and to promote the sale of the alternative plants included within the publication.

Participating centres will receive the following products free of charge: posters, header cards and brochures, with stands included. In addition, HOC members would be pleased to speak to staff at a scheduled early-morning meeting or whenever it is convenient, as well as customers at participating centres. HOC will acknowledge these centres on the OIPC website and in related presentations for gardening clubs and Master Gardener groups across the province.  

Contact the Horticulture Outreach Collaborative chair Colleen Cirillo at ccirillo@trca.on.ca if interested in participating. The Council hopes that this is the start of a long and fruitful partnership between Ontario’s horticultural and conservation communities.

 

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