Ontario Today Celebrates Ed Lawrence's 30th Anniversary On Air

Tune in to Ontario Today at noon (91.5 FM) to celebrate Ed Lawrence's 30th anniversary of answering gardening questions on the show.

CBC's noon gardening call-in with Ed Lawrence got off the ground in the fall of 1981. Since then, Ed's trusted advice, encyclopedic knowledge, and friendly manner has earned him a fiercely loyal audience. He is Ontario's most popular gardener.

Ed Lawrence is the elder statesman of environmentally-responsible gardening in Canada. He is the author of the best-selling book "Gardening Grief and Glory" and former Chief Horticultural Specialist to six Governors General.

Ed's career at Rideau Hall spanned a period from Jules Leger in the 1970s to Adrienne Clarkson in 2005. As head gardener, his responsibilities included oversight of the 85 acre historic grounds and greenhouses of Rideau Hall, the homes of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition and the four other official residences under the authority of the National Capital Commission. Among his many accomplishments during that period was his success in reducing and eventually eliminating the use of cosmetic pesticides on these official premises and the entrenchment of more environmentally-responsible horticultural practices at Rideau Hall.

Since 1981, Ed has been heard every Monday on CBC Radio's noon-show gardening phone-in, making it one of the longest-running and most successful segments in Canadian broadcast history. Ed has received Landscape Ontario's Garden Communicators' Award for his broadcast work and the Ontario Horticultural Association's prestigious Award of Merit. He is Toronto-born, Humber College educated and resides today in the Almonte region, near Ottawa.