Garden Chats
FRIDAY, APRIL 30
11am Nancy Goslee Power, Landscape Designer, Author
The Power of Gardens / Ayres Hall / Book signing to follow
Nancy Goslee Power is a celebrated garden designer whose firm has built countless gardens, both public and private, around the world. The recipient of countless awards, Nancy’s designs reflect the attention she pays to each place’s particularity and to the desires and living patterns of those who will use and enjoy her gardens. From her lifetime of experiences, she has put together a series of design principals that reflect a process and an approach with which she imagines and creates outdoor spaces. Each of her projects reminds us of the power that gardens have to refresh the body, center the mind and liberate the spirit.
12 Noon: Gary Jones, Plantsman, Armstrong Garden Centers
Green Architecture – Volume and Shape in the Mediterranean Garden / Ayres Hall
Enjoy a visual tour of gardens that relies on shrub forms to create exciting and dramatic outdoor spaces. Low-water Mediterranean plants are ideally suited to bring to life artful and dynamic garden architecture. Gary Jones is a popular lecturer whose nursery, Hortus, was famous for extraordinary plants and plant combinations, innovative classes and inspired staff. Gary is Vice President of Marketing at Armstrong Garden Centers, Inc., an employee-owned company founded in 1889.
1pm: Steve Gerischer, Landscape Designer, Educator
Strategies for Sustainability - Easy Ways to Keep Your Garden "green" / Ayres Hall
Keeping a 'green' garden need not be a strenuous affair. A change in the way we perceive things is easy-and becomes a way of life with no added burden beyond the fun challenge of finding new uses for old things and better, more ecologically responsible ways to cultivate our yard. 'Sustainability' is a confusing concept for some-but a popular catch phrase for everything under the sun these days. Learn some simple, fun ways to effortlessly reduce the amount of precious resources you use every day. Let nature do your work for you. Steve’s company, Larkspur Garden Design, delights clients with imaginative ideas and problem-solving expertise. He is also President of the Southern California Horticultural Society. sglarkspur@aol.com
2pm: Gisele Schoniger, Organic Gardening Educator, Kellogg Garden Products
Build Healthy Soils Organically / Ayres Tent
Sustainable is attainable and so are safe gardening practices! Learn to feed organically and minimize pest and disease issues. Understanding the biology of soil will help you to build a healthy garden naturally. Learn about the soil food web and mycorrhizal fungi and how to care for a living breathing soil. In her 30 years in the garden industry, Giselle has accumulated a wide range of experience and knowledge. She has owned an interiorscape company, worked for the State Department of Agriculture, practiced as a horticultural therapist, and helped establish top-selling organic gardening products with Kellogg Garden Products, a family business selling horticultural products throughout the West.
3pm: Bob Perry, Author, Landscape Architect & Educator
Creating Attractive and Sustainable Residential Gardens /Ayres Hall / Book signing before & after talk
Bob will present planting ideas and guidelines that are suited for attractive and sustainable residential gardens for San Gabriel Valley communities. Examples of garden designs will be shown to illustrate the use of various planting palettes that have distinctive aesthetic character and compatible water and maintenance needs. These gardens will feature the use of Mediterranean, California native and arid climate plant species. Bob is a recognized expert in areas of landscape plants and water conserving garden design. He has recently written and published, Landscape Plants for California Gardens, a comprehensive color illustrated garden reference.
GARDEN CHATS-- SATURDAY, MAY 1
11am: Steve Goto, Tomato Guru
Grow the Perfect Tomato! / Ayres Tent
Steve will talk about everything you need to know to grow organic tomatoes, including heirlooms! His Top 2010 Tomato Picks (based on the favorite tomatoes at his tastings from the year before) have become legendary so after his talk, be sure to visit the Tomatomania booth and Arboretum Plants Tent where there will be lots of plants for sale. Steve recently spoke to almost 200 people at The Arboretum’s Great Tomato Sale in March, when over 60 flats of seedlings were sold in less than 2 hours!
12 Noon: Nicholas Staddon, New Plant Introductions, Monrovia Growers
Essential Plants with Excellent Credentials / Ayres Tent
> Whether your garden is formal, informal, a deck, balcony, and a few containers or as Nicholas often describes his own...an organized jumble...Nicholas will provide us with a core group of "Garden Essential" plants for Southern California. This talk includes new water wise plants from New Zealand and Australia, as well as plants that will create a foundation to attract wildlife into the garden, and of course fruiting plants that are tried and true in the area. And, knowing Nicholas, he always has some special plant or two tucked under the table as a surprise. Many of the plants presented will also be on sale at the Monrovia display.
1pm: Darren Butler, Arborist and Sustainable Landscaping Specialist
Ten Trees in One: Grafting Citrus and Avocados / Ayres Tent
Grow multiple varieties of oranges, mandarins and tangerines, lemons, limes, grapefruits, and other citrus all on the same tree. May is the best month in Southern California for grafting many citrus and some avocados. This talk includes a demonstration of a simple grafting method with a high rate of success for beginners. Darren is an ecological landscape designer, consulting arborist, greywater & irrigation designer, and teacher. He has appeared on several episodes of "Weekend Gardening" for an international television audience, on NPR radio, in newspapers, and in other national and local media.
1pm: Lawrence Ziese, Senior Designer, Ashcrow Landscape Designer
Science of Sustainability / Designer Lawn - Lawrence Ziese design installation
What are the essential elements that make a successful garden? Learn how to use water both correctly and responsibly to lower your water bill as well as your impact on the planet. Learn what soil is actually made of and how its micro biotic life is crucial for a healthy organic garden. Learn how chemistry, biology, and physics go on every day in your garden and how interesting your garden really is! Lawrence is known at HGTV as "Mr. Science" for his expertise in garden based science. He has studied botany at UC Riverside and landscape architecture at Cal Poly Pomona.
2pm: Caitlin Bergman, Permaculturist at The Arboretum
Enter the Permasphere: Portal to Permaculture / Ayres Hall
Come drink from an oasis of possibilities that looks at nature through the lens of a global revolution in sustainability. With innovative landscape design and the nourishing of resilient ecosystems in our own backyards, difficulties become opportunities and scarcity blossoms into abundance. Create harmonious habitats that are productive gardens teaming with lush soil –“food forests” rich in fruit trees, fragrant herbs, shrubs, vegetables, vines, and flowers. Caitlin is a Certified Permaculture Designer, consultant and educator, and a horticulturist and permaculturist at The Arboretum.
3pm: Laura Morton, Garden Designer
California got the Gold, Silver & Bronze...and it's all Green! / Ayres Tent
What isn't to love about the native plant communities of Southern California or the many ways we can design our landscape for outdoor living all year long? They don't call it the Golden State for nothing. So Cal has a natural and distinctive color palate of golden oranges and yellows, luminous silver and shimmery greens and the deepest mahogany-bronze bark and seedpods, not to mention a complete range of blue tones. .Join award-winning professional landscape designer Laura Morton for an eye-opening discourse on designing outdoor spaces and landscapes with a distinctly West Coast aesthetic.
SUNDAY, MAY 2
11am: Jill Morganelli, Horticultural Curator, Sustainable Landscape Designer
Maintaining Your Drought Tolerant Garden / Ayres Tent
Are you interested in a drought tolerant garden but clueless about how to care for it? Jill Morganelli will share tried and true tools and techniques to maintain your new Southern California landscape. Learning about these beautiful plants and how to care for them will provide maximum color, vigor and success in your own backyard. Jill is the Horticultural Curator for The Arboretum, teaches Plant Identification and Organic Fruit & Vegetable Gardening, and is a sustainable landscape designer. panorganic@gmail.com
12 Noon: John Lyons, Landscape Designer
The Totally Organic Summer Vegetable Garden / Ayres Tent
From the soil up...learn how to design, install and maintain your garden without the use of chemicals or pesticides. Plant choices for Southern California plus feeding and organic pest control will also be discussed. John is a gardener who designs, installs and maintains edible landscapes, California Native gardens, orchards and wild hedgerows. He recently appeared on HGTV in a program called An Outdoor Room with Jamie Durie in an episode entitled The Edible Garden.
1pm: Lili Singer, Horticulturist, Garden Writer & Educator
Native Trees for Urban Gardens / Ayres Hall
Trees are the heart of the landscape, and there’s a native tree for every size garden. In addition to beauty, shade, and color, trees provide habitat for native wildlife. Learn which tree species are right for your landscape, how to plant and keep them healthy, and how to select companion plants. Lili is a horticultural consultant and garden writer, and special projects coordinator for the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers & Native Plants ( ). She also leads the Thursday Garden Talks at The Los Angeles Arboretum.
2pm: Lara Laskay, Vermiculturist, Urban Worms
Composting with Worms / Ayres Tent
Earthworms can break down your garbage, transforming it to “black gold”, an organic fertilizer for your garden or house plants. As they cultivate and feed, they swallow great quantities of soil and garbage, digest it, extract its food value, and expel castings. Vermicomposting is a fun & easy way to significantly reduce your family’s contribution to our landfills. Learn to start your own worm bin.
2pm: Lawrence Ziese, Senior Designer, Ashcrow Landscape Designer
Style of Sustainability / Designer Lawn - Lawrence Ziese garden installation
Learn how to style your garden like a pro and take in some amazing music and performances! Lawrence will discuss the basics of garden design, including form, movement, texture, and leading the eye. Learn how to work with your existing architecture to make your garden a truly outdoor room, Get tips on how to use color theory to create different feelings and moods. Lawrence will talk about his garden display, "Sunlight and Shadow" explaining the design's origins and historical connections, and then he will bring on his stage his design collaborators, the Flamenco performers of Mojacar Flamenco!
3pm: Reginald Durant, Director of Restoration at Back to Natives
Back to Native: Alternatives to Traditional Landscape Plants / Ayres Hall
Reggie Durant will provide information to start or improve existing native habitat garden. Learn about alternatives to traditional landscapes, which native plants attract butterflies & birds, height, spread & water requirements for commonly used natives. Some information on maintenance will be covered, including each plant's capacity for pruning, and tolerance for over or under watering. BTN promotes native plants, as well as habitat restoration and preservation by providing service learning and volunteer based habitat restoration programs.’
Demonstrations in the Garden for All Seasons
Friday, April 30
10 am Permaculture: The Hip New Way to Garden! – Caitlin Bergman
Discover a growing revolution in sustainable gardening where overlooked materials become free resources, yields increase, work is minimized, and the mutual support between people and the local environment is restored. From creating natural raised beds just outside your door to covering the back forty, sheet mulch and seed balls are all you need to bring to life extremely beautiful, low-maintenance, low-cost gardens. You’ll come away with two incredibly productive and versatile techniques to use everywhere imaginable.
Saturday, May 1
10am Garden Your Wall! – Stephanie Bartron
Sustainable Landscape Designer Stephanie Bartron, APLD, demonstrates various methods of vertical gardening. Use walls, both indoors and out, to create beautiful gardens, produce food, add protective shade and insulation, filter storm-water and purify your air. Various methods and materials will be explored, including traditional methods (vines, wire and trellis), DIY techniques using recycled and common materials, and innovative new products. Everybody has a wall, why not make it a garden?
11am Square Foot Gardening – Jo Ann Carey
Grow your own fresh, delicious, healthy vegetables right in your own backyard, on your patio or on your porch. Join Jo Ann Carey as she introduces this concept of growing more food in smaller spaces. She will touch upon getting your garden started, planting, watering, growing vertically, pest control and harvesting. Square foot gardening uses only 20% of the space, and saves both water and time. The full workshop will be offered monthly after Garden Show through September.
1pm Square Foot Gardening – Jo Ann Carey
Grow your own fresh, delicious, healthy vegetables right in your own backyard, on your patio or on your porch. Join Jo Ann Carey as she introduces this concept of growing more food in smaller spaces. She will touch upon getting your garden started, planting, watering, growing vertically, pest control and harvesting. Square foot gardening uses only 20% of the space, saving both water and time. The full workshop will be offered monthly after Garden Show through September.
Sunday, May 2
11am Square Foot Gardening – Jo Ann Carey
Grow your own fresh, delicious, healthy vegetables right in your own backyard, on your patio or on your porch. Join Jo Ann Carey as she introduces this concept of growing more food in smaller spaces. She will touch upon getting your garden started, planting, watering, growing vertically, pest control and harvesting. Square foot gardening uses only 20% of the space, saving both water and time. The full workshop will be offered monthly after Garden Show through September.
1pm Square Foot Gardening – Jo Ann Carey
Grow your own fresh, delicious, healthy vegetables right in your own backyard, on your patio or on your porch. Join Jo Ann Carey as she introduces this concept of growing more food in smaller spaces. She will touch upon getting your garden started, planting, watering, growing vertically, pest control and harvesting. Square foot gardening uses only 20% of the space, saving both water and time. The full workshop will be offered monthly after Garden Show through
Beer for Books
Cool off in the Beer Garden and support The LA Arboretum Library with every beer you drink.
