Our speaker was Kathy Leishman, garden designer and consultant with a wealth of knowledge and a passion for plants. Kathy’s Bowen Island garden, with its spectacular panoramic view of the ocean, was started in 1997.


The sunny seaside garden is a naturalistic planting of drought resistant Mediterranean shrubs, grasses and perennials like achilleas, eryngiums, thymes – with self-seeding encouraged and editing moderate.
Being on a community water system means that all water use is metered and this has a major impact on which plants to choose and how to place them.
The garden on the north side of the house is more of a ‘deer-proofed’ woodland garden with a driveway which winds up through an area shaded by large firs, and this is where rhododendrons are planted together with lots of hellebores, camellias and various ferns like Blechnum cordatum, small grasses like Millium effusum ‘Aureum’. This woodsy part has a relaxed feel, and the small bulbs and perennials mingle as a carpet of foliage.
Some of us have had the pleasure of visiting her stunning garden Kathy will show us today. For those who haven’t, you’re in for a real treat.