Trees can define a garden, but their siting and placement can confound gardeners, particularly when smaller specimens are being planted. This October 16 Berkshire Botanical Garden class, taught by Lee Buttala in person at the garden in West Stockbridge, examines the root structures, growth habits, and the mature size of a range of species and varieties, large and small, for use in the residential landscape. Attendees will walk away with a new approach to selecting woody plants that will provide their gardens with desired structure and form throughout the years, while taking into consideration underplanting and the tree’s harmonious coexistence with other garden features and elements in the ever-evolving landscape. This class hopes to prevent gardeners from needing to remove maturing trees because they were planted in the wrong place, by demonstrating how better siting or selection (or regular pruning or training) can allow these coveted plants to mature in the garden.
In his life as a gardener, nonprofit leader and writer, Lee Buttala has explored the world of gardening from many angles. He is the former Executive Director of Seed Savers Exchange, a seed bank dedicated to the sharing and saving of seeds that define America’s food and garden heritage, and the only non-governmental organization storing seed at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. He previously served as Director of Marketing Communications for BBG and Preservation Manager for the Garden Conservancy, and currently serves as chair of the Historic Landscapes Committee of the APGA. Lee won an Emmy award for his role as a garden television producer for Martha Stewart Living and was the creator of PBS’s Cultivating Life. He is the editor of the award-winning book, The Seed Garden: The Art and Practice of Saving Seed, writes a weekly garden column for the Berkshire Edge and serves on the board of Hollister House Garden in Washington, CT. Lee studied garden design at the Chelsea Physic Garden, the New York Botanical Garden and the Kyoto School of Art and Design. He lives in Brooklyn and Ashley Falls, MA.
$20 for BBG members, $25 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/right-tree-right-place
