About Ken Salvail
Ken Salvail’s journey began in the summer of 1979 when he started as a student landscaper. The following year, his interest in horticulture grew as he started growing tropical plants, kick-starting his lifelong passion for the field. With over 40 years of experience in a wide range of horticulture topics, Ken’s expertise is invaluable, and his website, GrowerCoach.com, is the go-to site for garden information.
Ken Salvail continues to operate his KHS Landscape Professionals company, which specializes in providing premium services for the regular maintenance of private gardens. Even after all these years, Ken remains passionate about gardening and plans on returning to the speakers’ circuit as Covid has slowed. He reaches out to community garden groups and schools to develop closer relationships with other passionate gardeners and to cultivate new ones.
Ken loves to share his knowledge and experiences through various mediums, such as weekly blogging, articles, literature, podcasts, videos, pictures, and social media. He brings a wealth of information on trees, shrubs, perennials, weeds, insects, vegetable crops, landscape and design, composting, irrigation, and more through his website, public speaking events, and videos. Ken has grown over 5000 different species of herbaceous perennials in his own perennial production nursery, as well as numerous crops of nursery stock such as trees, shrubs, and aquatic plants. He has completed thousands of landscape designs and installations.
Ken was a production manager at a cucumber and tomato production greenhouse operation where he built the facilities and grew the crops. He also assisted Don Burnett, at Burnett’s Nurseries, with the production of over 14,000 Poinsettias, annual crops, and other interesting greenhouse crops each year. Ken was hired as the Perennial Production Manager, assisting Bylands Nurseries with the development of their perennial production facility.
Ken’s vast knowledge base of propagation is highlighted by his experience in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in the BCIT Horticultural Program. He has completed several Guelph horticulture programs over the years, but his favorite learning experience was the Practical Horticulture Program at BCIT.
Tune in to “The Garden Show” every Saturday at 8:00 a.m. with Ken Salvail and Don Burnett, broadcasted everywhere over the internet. Ken also hosted an online podcast show every Sunday morning on the Okanagan radio called “The Grower Coach Garden Show,” where he talks about gardening, interviews interesting guests from the world of plants, and does garden walkabouts in many of the nicest gardens everywhere.
Ken also supports and teaches the Master Gardeners Program here in the Okanagan Valley and teaches irrigation-related programs for the City of Kelowna, BC. Join Ken each month for a “Get Into The Garden” newsletter experience! With his wealth of knowledge and experience, Ken Salvail is an expert in his field and an excellent resource for all your horticulture needs.
