My name is Simon Payn and I help people transform their boring lawns into gardens that are beautiful for wildlife as well as for humans.

Sometimes it takes five decades of life to figure out your calling. Now I've discovered it. Fascinated by nature and gardens as a child, finally I've found a way to combine both, and to do our part to fix the biodiversity crisis the world is facing. Now my hands are in the soil and my head is in native plants.

I've taken several courses with the University of Guelph, including one on naturalizing urban landscapes. And I've created a demonstration native plant garden in downtown Haliburton.

Gardens that please nature as well as humans are the future. Not only do they save hours of mowing and maintenance, but they create an ecosystem rich in invertebrates, birds and mammals. These types of gardens help us do our bit to fix our broken relationship with nature, and I want to bring them to the Haliburton Highlands.