Thursday Garden Talks with Lili Singer

Informative gatherings with horticultural specialists – for passionate home gardeners and landscape professionals
Thursdays, Sept. 25 – Nov. 13, 2008; 9:30 a.m. – 12 Noon
Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden (www.arboretum.org)
301 N. Baldwin Ave.

Cost: $100 for the series, $20 per class / Reservations or you may pay at the door
Information and registration: 626.821.4623 or jill.berry@arboretum.org
Field trips are self-driven and require pre-registration

Sept. 25: Converting Your Garden into a Native Paradise with Barbara Eisenstein
Learn how to start a native garden from scratch, working area by area by area, or by gradually adding native plants to an existing landscape. Discover effective strategies for gardening with natives, hear about unusual species and leave class excited and ready for fall plant sales and planting! Barbara is Horticulture Outreach Coordinator at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont.

Oct. 2: Where Architecture and Horticulture Intersect: Designing the Built and Planted Garden Environments with Debra Prinzing
This stunning illustrated lecture explains how to create the destination of your dreams, from a fanciful backyard shed to an evocative and abundantly planted landscape. Debra is the author of Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways and The Abundant Garden. She will share design tips for achieving a garden where architecture and horticulture happily coexist. The morning ends with a book-signing.

Oct. 9: Field Trip: A Landscaper’s Favorite Plants with Laramee Haynes - 10am-12:30pm
The best landscape professionals are also plant nuts, and this one likes “fun tough stuff.” Explore two private installations by our host for examples of unusual, long-lived plants. Then visit his Pasadena home display gardens and nursery. The morning ends with a plant sale. Laramee is the owner of Haynes Landscape Design (www.hayneslandscapedesign.com ), which integrates science, engineering and art to craft beautiful and useful gardens.  Reservations required.

Oct. 16: The Art of Composting, Vermiculture and Great Garden Soil with John Lyons
Productive gardens start with great soil. This jam-packed class covers various methods of composting, how to set up a year-round outdoor worm bin, what to do with your compost and worm castings, plus mulches, cover crops, soil microbiology and more! John is a designer of kitchen and native plant gardens and the owner of The Woven Garden (www.wovengarden.com ).

Oct. 23: Field Trip: A Visit to Pitzer Arboretum, Claremont, 10:00am-12:30pm
An exciting trip for arid-climate gardeners! Pitzer Arboretum, on the campus of Pitzer College in Claremont, includes 15 separate gardens showcasing California natives, other mediterranean-climate plants, and succulents from around the world – in groupings that range from wild to almost formal. Our private tour includes a talk by Joe Clements, the arboretum’s director (and former curator of the Huntington’s Desert Garden). Reservations required.

Oct. 30: Behind Closed Doors: Trends, New Plants and Sustainability with Nicholas Staddon
Monrovia Nursery’s erudite ambassador returns to the Thursday class! This session offers an overview of what gardeners want, the global move toward sustainability –and how wholesale growers are responding to both with environmentally sound growing practices and the introduction of beautiful, resilient landscape plants. Nicholas is Director of New Plant Introductions for Monrovia Nursery.

Nov. 6: Weaving with Willow: A Hands-On Workshop with Leigh Adams
Using pliable willow twigs, create plantable, moss-wrapped balls using a simple weave and plenty of laughs! No experience needed. Have fun and go home with a beautiful handmade sphere! Leigh Adams is an “elderly child!” and brilliant artist who revels in alternative gardening, many artistic media and colorful installation work.

Nov. 13: Spring-flowering Bulbs for Southern California Gardens with Lili Singer
Fall is bulb-planting time! This class presents spring-blooming bulbs, corms, tubers and rhizomes from California and South Africa – colorful survivors that thrive in this climate, and regrow and reflower each spring, without replanting. Along with selection and care, we’ll discuss companion plants, container culture, and bulbs for cutting and bulb sources.