Our most popular workshop - Design Your Own Shoreland Garden
Your shoreland can be natural but also beautiful, while maintaining access to the lake and great lake views. Attract butterflies and pollinators. Help your lake’s fish habitats and water quality. Deter nuisance geese. Increase privacy…All while supporting our healthy ecosystems for future generations!
Attend a workshop and take home new skills, resources, as well as a custom garden design for your shore using native plants - tailored to your aesthetic and your needs.
Join seasoned experts with over 20 years’ experience in naturalizing, restoring, and designing shoreland gardens across Ontario. Learn about plants, design aspects, lighting effects. Choose colours, heights, areas and more. Landowners can also take part in case studies here, to learn from other examples. Workshop topics include:
- permits
- native plants
- increasing biodiversity and functions (pollinators, birds, fish habitat improvement etc.)
- invasive species
- nuisance goose control
- limiting nutrient runoff
- erosion considerations
- plant species preferences
- design aesthetics
- step-by-step design
These workshops may be in person within a venue and classroom setting, or provided on Zoom. Have pictures of your shore ready with a focus on the riparian edge/shoreline.
*Please note that erosion control may be discussed at sessions, but erosion control designs will not be developed in these workshops. Instead they will require onsite site visits
Onsite Group Workshops
These workshops are on-site for your lake group in a venue of your choosing. Minimum attendance is 20 people at $40/each. Shoreland Garden workshops can be packaged and creative events. Ideas include having a give-away prize of a Natural Edge site visit and free plant giveaways for participants. Call us for more details and to discuss workshop, registration, and payment options.
Need Help to Plant Your Shore?
We charge $5/plant to make your shore gorgeous.
A mileage fee may be applied to cover costs to reach you.
Resources for Natural Shore Gardens
Design Your Own Shoreland Garden Instruction Video
Design Your Own Shoreland Garden Guidebook and Plant Lists
Consider a Natural Edge Site Visit
Worry-free from start to finish. We can do a custom design and provide you with a full plan and report. Visit our Natural Edge program page
Our Shoreland Workshops Make News!
Read about them in the Muskoka and Haliburton Life Magazine! Haliburton and Muskoka Life Magazine. Shoreland Garden Editorial
Even local groups come to us for advice!
Abbey Gardens restoration ecology staff have attended our workshop in Haliburton and took away lessons in deterring geese, soil science and design expertise for public and private sites. Our staff/contractors have designed keystone shoreland gardens and goose deterrent projects for: Halls/Hawk Lake park in Algonquin Highlands; Rivera Park in Lindsay; Big Bald Lake Association; for Mr. Paul McIinnis' property, president of the Coalition of Haliburton Property Owners Associations (pictures below) frequently showcased publicly as a demonstration site; at Head Lake in Dysart et al and for Haliburton Lake Association's Public Beach; and many private contractors too...
Landowners learn and have fun too!
"I was expecting a dry presentation, cold hard facts, but you added such colour, your enthusiasm was evident, your energy palpable. I thoroughly enjoyed myself! And I learned stuff!!!!" Sharon Petrini, Haliburton County
"Thank you Leora for Saturday's workshop. My husband and I both found it informative. We came away with some great ideas on how we can both beautify and naturalize our shoreland property."
"If you have not heard enough praise for the Friday Workshop I will add it was amazing, & I think I learned a lot. It seems my long held convictions of 58 years are being challenged everywhere. The more I learn the more I know I do not know very much!" Terry Goodwin, Haliburton
We look forward to working with you to preserve the health and well-being of your lake and the Land Between bioregion.