Horticulture Magazine’s free online Smart Gardening Workshops give you access to great garden speakers from the comfort of your own home. They have no new workshops scheduled at this time, but you can access recordings of past workshops at http://www.hortmag.com/smart-gardening-workshops. Here is a sampling:
Dr. A’s Greatest Perennials & Annuals
Dr. Allan Armitage talks about new and great performers for your garden. Annuals aren’t just petunias anymore—they are extraordinary, diverse and colorful. Perennials continue to excite all gardeners, and Dr. A. highlights some of the most exciting, from hellebores to heucheras, American natives and more.
Grow Organic: Making The Transition
Growing a beautiful and productive garden without chemicals isn’t difficult, but it does require a shift in attitude and a dose of patience. In this workshop, Jessica Walliser (pictured below) shares a new understanding of the ease and convenience of organic practices. From soil management and cultural practices to pest control and dealing with “the junkie issue” (plants that have developed a fertilizer dependency), this talk is meant to present attendees with a deeper understanding of organic practices and offer plenty of tips for ensuring a successful garden.
Widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost horticulturists, Armitage is a professor at the University of Georgia, Athens, where he teaches, conducts research on new garden plants, and runs the University of Georgia Horticulture Gardens. He is generally credited with creating the concept of the independent trial garden, the first one of which opened in Athens in 1982. He is the author of ten books, including Armitage’s Native Plants for North American Gardens and Armitage’s Garden Annuals. He has been cited as one of the ten most influential people or organizations in the floriculture industry.
Armitage is not the only distinguished honoree. The Jackson Dawson Award will go to Pierre Bennerup, president of Sunny Border Nurseries, one of the leading producers of perennial plants for the northeast. Sunny Border, headquartered in Kensington, Connecticut, is known around the world for being on the cutting edge of new plant development. Pierre, the second generation Bennerup in the industry, is an integral part of the global horticulture community and has been instrumental in searching out new plants suitable for North American gardens.
Also to be honored is Holly Shimizu, Executive Director of the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C. Ms. Shimizu, who will receive the Thomas Roland Medal, has been responsible for the overall operation of the USBG for the past nine years and, under her leadership, the widely acclaimed new National Garden opened 2006. Ms. Shimizu is well known through her work as one of the hosts of The Victory Garden and as a frequent commentator on horticultural topics for National Public Radio.