Learn from the Masters

19 PRESENTATIONS INCLUDE

Unique Gardening Region

Do you know how hardiness zones effect you and your gardening, and whether they are even indicative enough to rely on? How about Steppe? Knowing what it is and why it matters can truly revolutionize your garden in the West. Learn how to connect with others and together mull over related considerations and overcome challenges as a Western gardening community.

1. USDA Hardiness Zones

by Cheryl Moore-Gough

• Learn what USDA Hardiness Zones mean
• Learn what USDA Hardiness Zones don’t mean
• Learn what else you need to know regarding your growing conditions to be successful

2. What Characterizes a Steppe Ecozone

by Panayoti Kelaidis

• Steppe climate: We have much to gain by looking at gardening from a global perspective
• Alpine gardens offer us an appropriate model of working with our environment
• How do we embrace a Western Aesthetic?

3. How Participating in a Discussion Forum Can Benefit Your Garden

by Chris Heiler

• Introduction to a simple and free platform for establishing helpful connections
• Get support and answers quickly from fellow gardeners working with similar conditions
• Learn with others; share ideas and useful resources

Design

Learn the tenets of design from three very different perspectives: a garden design school instructor, an award-winning container gardener, and a much loved pop culture design diva. Each of them deliver loads of information that you can – and will want to – apply to your garden right away.

4. Good Design Simplifies Garden Tasks and Enhances Enjoyment of Outdoor Space

by Robert Littlepage

• Know your site
• Good Design is Low Maintenance
• Think Local

5. I Just Can’t Contain Myself

by Sheila Schultz

• How to make container gardening in the West easy
• Creative ideas for interesting flare
• Using perennials in containers for less maintenance

6. Designing Contemporary Gardens with Heirloom Plants

by Mary Ann Newcomer

• Why heirloom plants are perfect for the intermountain West
• Who’s who in this gorgeous “scentimental” palette
• Design tips for using these oldies but goodies

Gardening in a Western Climate

Now that you understand why and how our region is different its time to learn how to work with it GRACEFULLY, respecting both the environment and your own time and resources. Why work harder than you have to for the same, or in truth, often more rewarding result? Soil, compost, and plants are discussed here, all in a way that works WITH the nature we have in our unique climate, rather than against it.

7.What it Means to Work With Nature in a High and Dry Climate

by Robert Nold

• The truth about amending with organic matter and the more important ingredient
• Why Western gardeners should ignore most everything they read
• The art of growing plants in heavy clay soil

8. Creating No Waste Gardens in the West

by Marcia Tatroe

• Mulch and permaculture
• Garden art
• Reducing, reusing, and recycling in the Western garden for smarter ecology and lower bills

9. Creating a Natural Garden

by Lauren Springer Ogden

• What is a natural garden and why have one?
• Aesthetics and design concepts of a natural garden
• Practical aspects of creating and stewarding a natural garden

Things Every Gardener in the West Should Know

Should Know Let’s start at the beginning with seeds. Mike delves into the wonders of the tiny miracles and how and why to take a chance and try sourcing our plants from them. Tom addresses many places where gardeners go wrong and how to avoid falling into the most common traps that lead too many trusting gardeners into frustration instead of fun.

10. The Art of Growing Plants and Where to Start

by Mike Bone

• Going from container soil to garden; why they are different and how to bridge the gap
• Great benefits of plants from seed
• Tips on successful in-situ seed growing

11. Myth-Busting: Creative Gardening Strategies for Tough Locations

by Tom Heald

• Plants for windbreaks and visual screens
• Soil strategies to improve successful plantings
• Common myths explored and debunked

For Beautiful Gardens All Season

Who doesn’t want beautiful, easy-to-grow, long-blooming, durable plants in their gardens? Pat takes you through the gamut of the best of the best for our specific region here in the West. Then Eva addresses many easy fixes to keep garden looking lovely throughout the season and beyond.

12. The Easiest to Grow, Longest Blooming Durable Plants for the Western Garden

by Pat Hayward

• How Plant Select is forging a truly American style of horticulture
• A bold, new plant palette revolutionizing the way we garden
• Plants that thrive in both our variable winters and our hot summers

13. Maintenance: What to do to Keep Your Western Garden Beautiful all Year

by Eva Montane

• Minimal maintenance is required
• When to prune and cut back
• How to know what to deadhead, when, and why

Try Something Different

There are sooooo many gorgeous, wonderful, hardy, non-invasive, amazing plants from similar climates around the world that we could be growing more of. Get a taste for them here as these extremely knowledgeable men introduce you to them through their words and images.

14. Rock Gardening With Native Plants From Around The World

by Bill Adams

• The huge diversity of plants: the more you look the more you will find
• Where in the world do you find plants that adapt to our gardens in the Interior West?
• PowerPoint Presentation – My favorite plants for rock gardens and native landscapes

15. Why and How to Expand Your Plant Palette

by Mike Kintgen

• There are so many great plant species and varieties
• There are many benefits to growing a greater diversity of plants
• How and where to find less common selections

Natives

Are natives always easy to grow? Depends is the easy answer. Find out here the ins and outs you deserve to know, along with arguably the best and easiest natives to grow in the West.

16. 5 Things Every Western Gardener Should Know Before Planting Native Plants

by Kathy Settevendemie

• Where did that plant come from and why does it matter?
• Native plants that make great alternatives to standard garden species
• Creating native plant communities in your garden

17. Penstemons, the Nearly Perfect Perennials for Any Garden

by Bob Pennington

• Penstemon is a huge genus of native American plants, with over 280 species
• There is a species for almost every garden niche: tall, short, arid, moist, hot cold, anything but deep shade
• Penstemons are inherit survivors, and require very little effort to grow

A Cutting Edge Approach to Old Favorites

Virtually everyone is romanced by the idea of growing both vegetables and roses. Find out how to grow both better here in the West.

18. Growing Vegetables in the Semi-arid West

by Jane Shellenberger

• What crops grow best in the West
• How to support pollinators & other beneficial insects while decreasing pests
• Building great soil by supporting the soil life

19. Roses can be as Easy to Grow as Weeds

by Joan Franson

• The toughest, easiest roses for the Interior West
• The creme de la creme and where to get them
• Why our region is ideal for growing roses