It’s the holy grail of gardening: a plant that perfectly matches your tastes and the conditions in your garden. The hitch? You’re not likely to find it at your local garden center. You’re going to have to create it yourself. But don’t worry—it isn’t hard. After all, gardeners have been doing it for centuries, simply by saving seeds of the varieties that tasted or performed best. This Berkshire Botanical Garden talk on Saturday, September 24, co-sponsored with the Berkshire Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society, will get you started with the basics of how to produce a new variety of hosta, a tomato perfect for your palette (or climate), a pepper with just the right amount of heat, or a more fragrant rose!

Part of a new generation of gardeners, Joseph Tchonievich earned his B.S. in horticulture from Ohio State University, went on to work for Shibamichi Honten Nursery in Saitama, Japan, and wrote a book, Plant Breeding for the Home Gardener, spent two years working at the famed rare plants nursery, Arrowhead Alpines, and was named by Organic Gardening magazine as one of “six young horticulturists who are helping to shape how America gardens.” BBG members $20, nonmembers $25. Register online at http://www.berkshirebotanical.org.