We are mature, experienced gardeners.
We have very little staff turnover and many of our staff have worked with Kiva Gardens for 20 years or more. Our focus is on building long-term trusting relationships with our clients - many of our clients have been with us just as long. Our job is to make sure your garden works for your practical needs, is aesthetically pleasing and horticulturally balanced.
EVELYN Nepom
Kiva Gardens was started 1997 by Evelyn Nepom. Evelyn got her degree Environmental science and worked as a consultant on environmental policy for several government agencies. Tired of office work and longing to get her hands dirty, she then obtained a degree in Landscape architecture from Ryerson and apprenticed with a British perennial gardener for 3 years.
Evelyn started Kiva Gardens when true perennial gardens were just starting to emerge in Toronto. Seeing a niche that traditional mowers/blowers couldn’t fill, she was able to build a small business offering very personal service tending to perennial beds. Slowly she hired a few more gardeners, making sure they were knowledgeable in their field and loved their work. Several of Kiva’s staff and many of Kiva’s clients have been with the company for more than 20 years.
BOHDAN Halaby
Bohdan has been working with Kiva for 23 years. Bohdan is a self taught (and obsessed) gardener. He first plied his trade in his native Ukraine, where he tended to community gardens and helped out local farmers. The Soviet system severely limited the availability of machinery, fertilizers and soil amendments, so Bohdan developed a unique system of nurturing plants to adapt to natural local conditions, which he has passed on to us.
Bohdan has an innate love of digging, and can be found in the off-season in the Caribbean, digging and talking to local farmers about food production
In addition to gardening Bohdan is an avid bee keeper and has hives all around southern Ontario.
TARAS Kowalczuk
Terry has been working with Kiva gardens for over 20 years. His knowledge of gardening is mostly self taught – beginning when he was 8 years old when undertook to renovate his grandparent’s garden. Terry has an intuitive sense of what each species needs to flourish. Over the years he has developed into our botanical specialist. He is always seeking out new varieties of plants for us to try out in our gardens.
Terry’s academic training is in music and he was the Creative Director and Conductor of the Counterpoint Community Orchestra for 15 years. The orchestra is the largest community orchestra in North America.
When Terry is not gardening with Kiva , he is tending to his orchid greenhouse, from which he propagates and sells rare and unusual species. Please visit florapeculia.ca to see his latest acquisitions.
PEI Hong Yang
The story of Pei is remarkable. She was born in northern China and grew up working in the fields of her farming village. She excelled in school, so the government decided to train her for work in telecommunications for a state power company. She soon realized that this was not what she wanted to do, and longed to be working outdoors again. When her husband got the opportunity to be transferred to Canada, she jumped at the chance for a broader range of choices for herself and her daughter.
She enrolled in the Horticultural Apprenticeship Program for Women at Humber College and excelled. She wanted to work with perennials in a small company, and pursued Kiva Gardens for two years for a job. When an opening finally came up, she jumped into the job and we immediately knew that she was a perfect fit for the position. Pei is an incredibly hard worker, and has excellent academic and practical knowledge of plants. She also has a refined artistic sense and shows great promise as a garden designer. Her fascination with plants continues to inspire us, especially during the long humid summer days when work is challenging. We are glad she found us!
ERIC Couke
Eric is our newest gardener, having joined Kiva Gardens in 2013. Coming from a hard landscaping background, he had a bit of an adjustment going from mowers, blowers and other big power tools to our English gardening approach to landscaping with emphasis on horticulture and design. He was able to make the transition successfully and has quickly become a very sensitive, knowledgeable and hardworking gardener. It has been a pleasure having him in the gardens, as he is a kind and gentle presence with a wicked sense of humour.
In addition to working in gardens Eric is a musician and performance artist. He is well known for staging large scale live performances and outrageous publicity stunts. A true renaissance man, Eric has also been studying Mediation and Conflict Resolution at York University during the off season.
MARION Moore (inspiration and mentor)
Marion is not officially on staff at Kiva, but she has trained and worked with practically everyone who works with Kiva now. Marion was Evelyn's mentor. Marion originates from England, where she learned how to garden at her grandmother's knee. In Canada, she trained as a landscape architect. Marion then started her own business in Toronto specializing in perennial gardens at a time when most residential gardens consisted of shrubs and a few petunias. She was involved in creating some of the first landmark perennial gardens in Toronto, including the Oaklands garden on Avenue Rd, and the Levitt garden on Roxborough Dr. These gardens remain highly visible and admired today, and were a major influence in the now widespread use of perennials in Canadian gardens. Many of the perennial species Marion introduced to Toronto are commonly used by gardeners and landscape designers. Marion continues to work with Kiva, both as an advisor and occasionally as a designer.