April Speaker Series with Melanie Mercier

Events

Apr. 9

Written By Rossland Museum

**Rethinking the Ornamental Garden:**

**How to create pollinator pathways and resilient flora retreats in your own backyard**

Join us at 6 pm on Wednesday, April 24th for a conversation with landscape horticulturist Melanie Mercier about how we can rethink traditional ornamental gardens.

April Speaker Series with Melanie Mercier

Variable

Click to RSVP

Melanie will discuss efforts to counter the alarming trend of beneficial pollinator populations and native plant decline. We'll learn some easy steps to consciously optimize our gardening habits into ecologically-minded practices that serve to attract and support pollinators, conserve water, and reduce maintenance. We'll explore the pollinator species native to the Rossland area and learn how to attract them with beautiful plants that can bridge the gap between the wild and urban landscapes. Melanie aims to plant seeds of change to cultivate a future where humans thrive in harmony with nature. One home garden at a time, we can grow together towards a more sustainable today.

Entry is by donation. Treats/snacks provided.

Can’t make it to the museum tonight? Here’s our live stream of the event so you can watch from home:

Melanie Mercier: In Her Own Words

Passionate about the outdoors, snowboarding, mountain biking, nerding out on science, upcycling, driftwood hunting and exploring her artistic sense via woodburning art, Melanie started out her life in British Columbia as an Exploration Geologist living in Vancouver after finishing her studies back east in 2011. The excitement of flying in helicopters, exploring remote areas and working in active mines quickly faded while leaving her empty of joy and fulfillment after realizing how impactful mining practices are on the landscapes. She thought that there had to be something she could do that would help offset these impacts while beautifying and helping our planet to thrive. That's why she went back to school in 2014 at the UBC Botanical Garden to become a Landscape Horticulturist. Following her graduation, she worked for the City of Vancouver doing gardening in Stanley Park and also founded her own horticulture business named Araucaria Gardening Services shortly after. Mainly offering maintenance services at the time, she noticed that traditional ornamental gardens and lawns relied heavily on constant maintenance schedules like weeding, irrigation and also lacked sustenance somehow to support visiting beneficial insects (i.e. the insects that work so tirelessly to pollinate our food crops, the native plants that underpin the health of our ecosystems and ultimately help preserve the intricate tapestry of life that supports us). These observations made her wonder about the purpose of ornamental gardens and lawns? Are they just installed to please the human eye? What about the plants? Would they survive if they were left unattended, withstand drought and water restrictions? Are there plants better suited for the ever so changing climate, rising temperatures, increasing sun exposure and forest fires? What if ornamental gardens had the capability to become self-sufficient, require less maintenance, use less water, preserve moisture, keep the ambient air cooler and support our precious local biodiversity. Asking these questions and feeling overwhelmed with the constant hustling and bustling of the city life, Melanie left Vancouver in 2019 to permanently establish her roots in her dream town of Rossland. Then like a butterfly, her original business underwent a metamorphosis to strictly follow ecologically-minded horticulture practices. Her work with Araucaria since specializes in pollinator habitat restoration, rewilding and consulting, particularly incorporating native plants into established ornamental gardens and turning lawns into biodiversity sanctuaries she refers to as "air bee n bees" or "resilient flora retreats."