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Joanne Schofield "Godolphin" Cornwall, UK While Calgarian, Joanne Schofield, might have married into a vast English estate, it was one in a state of serious disrepair. Godolphin is a 240-hectare family estate, located in the bucolic countryside of Cornwall, that has been undergoing a remarkable revival at the hands of the Schofield family. Teeming with roses and yew trees, the gardens are considered to be one of the most important historic gardens in Europe and date back as far as the 12th Century.

Paul Allison - "Hatley Park?", Victoria, BC For years Paul Allison, a horticultural therapist and gardener of the famous Hatley Park at the Royal Roads University in Victoria, was on an odyssey to find out more about Isaburo Kishida, the man responsible for designing one of the first Japanese Garden?s in Canada in the early 1900?s, but of whom little was known about.

Lois Hole - St. Albert, Alberta Coming from a modest, prairie background, Lois Hole made her mark on the Canadian gardening scene with the creation of what many consider a gardening empire: Hole's Greenhouses and Gardens. But her accomplishments did not stop here... she also authored many best-selling gardening books, was Lieutenant Governor of Alberta and was named to the Order of Canada. Above all though, Lois' passion was to combine her love of horticulture with public service. A passion which today is carried on memory by her sons Bill and Jim.

Geoff Cape, Evergreen, Toronto, Ontario Geoff Cape is not your ordinary gardener. Through his Toronto-based organization Evergreen, Geoff and his colleagues have been helping communities design green spaces for all to enjoy. By creating gardens in concrete schoolyards and in the heart of urban centres, Geoff and Evergreen are continually transforming places and people across Canada.

Susan McKenna Grant, La Petraia, Tuscany, Italy Seven years ago, former computer software designer Susan McKenna Grant left Toronto and bought an ancient abandoned farm called La Petraia, in the Chianti mountains of Tuscany. Slowly she is restoring this Tuscan hasienda to its origins as a working farm that is all-organic and self-sufficient.

Lucinda Vardey, Migliara, Tuscany, Italy Since the early 1990's, Lucinda Vardey, author of Traveling With the Saints in Italy, has opened up her home and gardens in Tuscany to those in need of spiritual and physical renewal. Known as Migliara, the 500 year old farmhouse surrounded by fields of wildflowers and a mountain stream, has always been a pilgrims rest from early Christian times. Many, including St. Francis of Assisi have walked this land and found peace and harmony in the flowers and the soil.

Diana Beresford-Kroeger, Merrickville, Ontario Diana Beresford-Kroeger is a gardener who likes to combine her medical training with her love of botany. Having studied classical botany, medical biochemistry, organic and radio nuclear chemistry, and experimental surgery, Diana believes that the cures for cancer and other ailments can be found in her garden located in Merrickville, Ontario. Among Diana?s prized plants are 150 year-old morello sour cherries, chocolate smelling peonies and rare breeds of trees and plants long thought lost to deforestation.

Birgit Piskor, Victoria, British Columbia Many have seen Birgit Piskor's garden located in the heritage district of Victoria, British Columbia. It continually receives attention from magazines to television to national gardening awards and is noted as a "must see" by Victorian Garden Tours. What few people don't know is how Birgit's garden, which is a masterpiece of Victorian and modern garden design, has changed her life forever.

Jane Walker and Barry Robbins, Panama In the height of the 1990's, Vancouver residents Jane Walker and Barry Robbins were fed up with their urban, high-stressed lives, and decided to leave it all behind to take a long car drive south. Their drive took them to Panama where they have now created a personal paradise they call their own. But this paradise is not for the faint-hearted and now they live with a different kind of stress - one that is centered on their gardens, farm and inn.

Gayla Trail, Toronto, Ontario When Toronto-based gardener and graphic designer, Gayla Trail started her website YouGrowGirl.com, she had no idea it would become the web destination for young, urban apartment dwellers desperate to create green spaces in their own homes. Having always been an "urbanite", Gayla has gardened in whatever space she finds available. From windowsills, to balconies, to vacant lots, Gayla can create a garden paradise anywhere.

The Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia In 1904, Jennie Butchart turned an unsightly quarry site on Vancouver Island, into what would become a 22 hectare garden paradise. Today, the Butchart Gardens welcomes over a million visitors a year who come to see the unique sunken garden, the exquisite rose garden, the meditative Japanese garden and the romantic Italian garden. Declared a National Historic Site of Canada, the gardens have remained in the family for over a century and are currently being cared for by Jennie's great grand-daughter Robin Clarke.

Donna Dawson, Panama and France Currently Donna Dawson's only garden is a virtual one in the form of an internet website she founded called ICanGarden.com, which has now "grown" to be one of Canada's largest internet gardening resources. And although she is temporarily a gardener without her own physical garden, Donna gets her fix leading tours around famous public and private gardens in Europe. For Donna, the joy of being in a garden is unrivaled, even if for the moment, the garden is not her own.

Kim Ondaatje, Verona, Ontario Painter, photographer, and documentary filmmaker, Kim Ondaatje claims that one of her greatest "works" is Blueroof Farm, a three dimensional "living art" piece comprised of gardens, ponds, waterfalls and trails. An art critic once tried to describe the exquisite beauty of Blueroof Farm by saying the owner had "created a painting out of every window." Located just north of Kingston, Ontario, the property has served as a family home with then husband Michael Ondaatje, an organic farm and also a haven for some of Canada's most famous artists.