The Middle Ground: Making Beautiful and Ecologically Successful Gardens for Everyone
By choosing familiar planting and maintenance practices and proven design concepts while also focusing on modern ecological needs, we can achieve gardens and landscapes that are both impactful and environmentally impactful. This talk explores the idea that high ideals and hard reality can meet in the center to create more diverse plantings where they are needed most.
Planting for Pollinators: We all know that pollinators are under pressure. Fortunately, our urban and suburban gardens and landscapes are easily (and beautifully) tailored to provide much of the plant diversity upon which pollinators depend. This talk sets the context and then provides the tools for any home or landowner to do real conservation literally in their own backyards.
Favorite Plants from Favorite Gardens: A tour of many great public and private gardens and the breathtaking, grand, unique, rare, or just plain cool plants found within. Rambling talk with a bit of everything--big trees, annuals, this, that, and other things. You'll enjoy the photography and be inspired to grow a more diverse and beautiful garden.
How to Become A Better Gardener Faster: The title says it all. What more could you want from a garden talk? Takes you past the pitfalls and onto the promised-land. Oh, and it will make you laugh!
Badass Trees for Piss Poor Places: Originally titled “Good Trees for Bad Places,” it was determined by a committee of sobriety-challenged but internationally renowned horticulturists that the name needed an upgrade. The trees in this talk are survivors. They laugh at incorrect planting technique, scoff at mulch volcanoes, mock bad pruning cuts, and smirk at poor maintenance practices. They ask for poor soil. They taunt droughts. They are sometimes even found growing out of old toilets in piles of rubble from burned out crack houses. Sure, some of the usual suspects, but also a bunch you probably don't know or didn't realize. Enjoy this romp through trees so ornery they'll resist the worst that is hurled at them and be there to shade your children’s children’s children. (And, sure, the title can be reverted back to the original for fairer audiences.)
If Some is Good, More is Better, Plant Diversity Forever!: Diversity of plant material not only enriches our gardens, it creates great habitat for wildlife. It actually makes gardening easier and more beautiful. An inspirational palette of plant material will be presented.
Life is Short, Extend that Season!: Spring is fabulous all on its own! Gardeners can do little to improve upon it! But some of the other months could use our help. Plants that provide summer, late fall, winter, and very early spring beauty are so much more valuable to the gardener and to wildlife. This talk lists plants which provide exceptional beauty into the struggling months. Rise up! It is time we break free from Spring's tyrannical hold over us!
Plants Too Good to Be Rare: Chronicles a number of species that make beautiful and functional garden plants but are little known and too seldom used.
Ancient Plants for Modern Gardens: Plants that have been on the planet for millions of years have survived a lot of abuse--continental drift, climate change, new disease, old diseases, pests and Biblical plagues. Even dinosaurs! This alone suggests they might actually survive your yard or landscape, But they are also worthy of consideration because they are beautiful, interesting, and fantastic topics of conversation at outdoor dinner parties.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury... The Closing Argument for Annuals: A perfectly respectable diatribe supporting this sometimes unfairly maligned group of beautiful plants that are so easy, bring so much joy and beauty, and can be planted both in gardens and in containers. Some are even awesome for pollinators. Which are the best? Bring me in. Feed me. Pay me. And you'll find out.
Making Landscapes that Matter: This talk is unlike any talk I have ever heard (and I’ve heard thousands). It winds and wallows in and around all kinds of things, including art, evolution, genetics, history, food, wine, and more before tying all of it together with ideas that will help us create meaningful landscapes that appeal to our human nature and support our health and well-being.
Plant talks on almost any subject, such as these below, can be made to order.
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