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English Garden Tour; Midwest Garden Symposium

Mar 1, 2010; 11:30 AM ET

This English Garden Tour Closes for Bookings Mar 25th!

England's Finest Gardens & Chelsea Flower Show 2010

As well as the many other things I do, I am also a tour operator. I have been hosting a very special tour to England since 1998 and I would like to share a bit of it with you. Gardens perfect in May to complement the glorious spring colour and exceptional exhibits that are the Chelsea Flower Show. For those into Floral Design, you will delight at all the floral designs and the new Wedding Category. The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is the ultimate event in the gardening year. It sets the latest gardening trends, features the newest and most desirable gardening products and creates an explosion of colours and scents so leave your gardening gloves at home and travel with us to one of the loveliest places on earth to be inspired and celebrate gardening.

Visits include RHS Wisley - Britain's best loved garden with its brand new state of the art Glasshouse, Kew Gardens - one of the world's leading botanic gardens where you will see some very notable plants, exquisite Glass Houses and landscaped grounds. Chelsea Physic Garden - second oldest botanic garden in England and The Garden Museum - one of London's best small garden museums and its exquisite Tradescant 17th century style knot garden. Then out to the country to visit Denmans - a contemporary classic with Afternoon Tea and Borde Hill - a paradise for plants in the heart of Sussex. We visit the late Christopher Lloyds Great Dixter House & Gardens - a garden that has survived his passing and still epitomizes the English country garden and finally Sissinghurst, created by Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicolson - one of the world's most celebrated gardens in England.

Add to this one hotel only, full English breakfast daily, afternoon tea at Denmans, welcome and farewell dinners, Chelsea Flower Show ticket for full day, Chelsea program, coach and driver on day trips, plus time for you to explore on your own with our Hop on Hop off pass and tips for driver and guide, plus some special treats just for our guests and you have one very good reason to make this the year to come along with us. If this interests you, contact me at donna@icangarden.com and I will send you the full day by day and pricing. This tour runs May 25th - June 2nd, 2010.

Midwest Gardening Symposium: Green Gardening from the Ground Up

Green is the new lifestyle trend. Whether you are a conscientious homeowner looking for safer and healthier options for your yard, or you are interested in growing tastier and locally grown produce or you are an established gardener looking for ways to make your plants thrive without chemicals, this event celebrates greener gardening with practical advice for everyone. This symposium, co-sponsored by Olbrich Botanical Gardens and Allen Centennial Gardens, will illustrate the importance of reclaiming the health of your soil, tackle current plant health issues, determine the value of native versus non-native plants and create low-maintenance home landscapes.

Learn from Midwest-focused, hands-on gardening experts how we are degrading our soils and what to do about it; how to garden with the right plant in the right place for cultural health controls over chemical; how to analyze your site to determine proper applications of native versus ornamental plants; and then discover the newest plant selections of shrubs, the latest excitement in low-maintenance plants. Our expert panel includes authors, radio and television hosts, newspaper columnists, award winners, innovators and, most importantly, gardeners who know environmentally correct methods of correcting your problems and issues.

Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web

Expecting a "dry" scientific lecture on soils that rolls your eyeballs back in their sockets? Then you haven't learned about soils from a gardener. Jeff Lowenfel's dynamic, energetic and humorous talk is based on a book he co-authored by the same name. Barbara Perry Lawton heralded it in the St. Louis Post Dispatch this way, "This intense little book may well change the way you garden, teaching you to manage your garden soil in new yet old ways that result in less expense and healthier plants". Whether you are experienced in ornamental gardener plants, are a produce gardener or novice homeowner interested in a healthy, safe lawn, you will learn how to create rich, nurturing, LIVING soil without resorting to harmful synthetic chemicals. Jeff is a member of the Garden Writers' Hall of fame and has been writing a weekly column for the Anchorage Daily News since 1977. A native New Yorker, he now works as an attorney in Alaska and is one of the nation's leading proponents of gardening using the concepts of the soil food web.

The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly

After you listen to Jeff talk about healthy soils, you will be anxious to run home and make necessary changes to your gardens and lawns. But healthy landscapes, plants and gardens go beyond soils. Are you tired of every pest and disease solution being chemically dependent and still not seeing a healthy ecosystem in your yard, safe and delicious produce or thriving garden plants? You've likely heard the right plant in the right place but do you know all of the implications of what that means to cultural control as opposed to chemical? How does one apply the same theories discussed in healthy soils to plants, edible or ornamental? How can plant selection and design change your landscape to be healthier and more sustainable? Can good plants go bad? No one may be more qualified to address this issue than Melinda Myers. With more than 30 years of horticulture experience, she's authored over 20 books, is the host of the nationally syndicated Melinda's Garden Moments, which air on 50 network TV stations throughout the country and is contributing editor and columnist for Birds & Blooms magazine. She also hosted the Plant Doctor show on 620 WTMJ for over 20 years and is the host of Great Lakes Gardener on PBS.

Natural Beauty

"Native plants". Trendy and a new buzzword among home gardeners. So much so that "ornamental" or "exotic" has developed negative connotations. But what does native mean? What makes a plant native? Are native plants always the best choices in a home landscape? Could a native plant be appropriate in one spot where ornamental might excel in another and vice-versa? What might work in one setting may become a nightmare in another. Learn plant traits and how to combine the best of all choices for maximum effect and minimal worry. Christine Nye has been horticultural manager at Shedd Aquarium since 1998. She began working inside the aquarium on exhibit spaces with animals, so it was a natural transition to take organic practices to the care of the grounds. She brings experience from both ornamental horticulture and native plants and has most recently used that experience in the development of WaterShedd, which she designed in collaboration with Roy Diblik, co-owner of Northwest Perennial Farm. WaterShedd illustrates effective and pleasing ways to compose a xeriscape garden--an environment that requires no or minimal irrigation--using native and non-native plant species. She has been using compost teas at the gardens of the Shedd Aquarium for 16 years, making her a perfect fit for a green gardening from the ground up gathering!

Shrubs, the New Perennials

Low maintenance gardening has long been appealing to advanced and novice gardeners alike. Many trends touting low maintenance have fallen short in their claims and have left homeowners either discouraged or vowing not to garden again. The next decade may well be the decade of the shrub. Shrubs provide seasonal interest; exhibit flower bloom and foliage color, texture and form; fit small landscapes as well as the perennial garden; many are resistant to insect, disease and health issues; are durable and reliable; AND require far less maintenance than perennials, annuals, vegetables and turf. Ezra Haggard has been in the landscape business since 1980, with majority of projects have been designed, and constructed in the Midwest. Based in Lexington, KY, his passion for gardens and landscapes has sent him to commissions from Indiana to Florida. His knowledge of plants and garden construction lead him to publish three books, "Basic Projects & Plantings", "Perennials for the Lower Midwest", and "Trees, Shrubs, and Roses For The Midwest". He will guide you through the some of the exciting choices and new releases for gardeners based in the upper Midwest.

Saturday, March 13, 8:30 am - 4:00 pm at Olbrich Botanical Gardens

$99 horticulture students and Master Gardeners. Please provide a current student Master Gardener ID. Fee includes lunch.

New Garden Plants and Products Win 2010 MGA Green Thumb Awards

Five new plant varieties and five new gardening products have won 2010 MGA Green Thumb Awards presented by the Mailorder Gardening Association. Bringing home awards in the Plants, Bulbs and Seeds division were Agave neomexicana ‘Sunspot' from High Country Gardens, Advantage Cell Grown Transplant from Fall Creek Farm and Nursery, Double Phlox ‘Tiara' from Van Bourgondien, Spice Zee Nectaplum from Nature Hills Nursery and Botanic Garden Series Seed Packet Line from Botanical Interests. Honored in the Tools, Supplies and Accessories division were Eleanor's Garden Container Kit from Eleanor's Garden, Territorial's Tasty Tomato Collection from Territorial Seed Company, FreezePruf™ Frost Protector for Plants from The Liquid Fence Company, Iron X™ Selective Weed Killer for Lawns from Gardens Alive! and Critter Chaser XR™ Deer and Rabbit Repellent Strips from Gardens Alive!.

Winners of the 2010 MGA Green Thumb Awards were chosen by an independent panel of garden writers and editors. The winning products were selected based on their uniqueness, tech nological innovation, ability to solve a gardening problem or provide a gardening opportunity, and potential appeal to gardeners. The MGA Green Thumb Awards recognize outstanding new garden products available by mail or online. The awards are sponsored by the Mailorder Gardening Association, the world's largest nonprofi t association of companies that sell garden products directly to consumers. For more information visit the MGA website.

Idaho Horticulture Symposium

The annual Idaho Horticulture Symposium, hosted by the Idaho Horticultural Society, will be held on March 6, 2010, and open to landscape designers, home gardeners, writers, and more. During "Flash and Splash - Building: the Color Story," Heims will discuss variegated and color-leaved plants, how these unique varieties are discovered, and the use of these plants in garden design. During "How Dry I Am," Heims will address plants for "water-wise" landscaping, water shortages and distribution. For more information about Dan Heims and Terra Nova Nurseries, please visit www.terranovanurseries.com. For more information about the Idaho Horticultural Society and registration, please visit www.gardencentral.org.

Events to Take Part In This Week

-Wichita, Kansas

Exposure to daylight, even on a cloudy day, can help restore energy, alertness, and contentment. Join Lynne Spevack, LCSW, a licensed psychotherapist and veteran BBG tour guide, for this free, hour-long narrated wintertime walk designed to chase away the winter blues. Learn how to maintain a sunny outlook through dark, cold winter days, and discover the plants and animals that enliven the garden landscape even in the depths of winter. Tour is held rain, snow or shine; dress warmly and wear comfortable shoes. Meet in the Visitor Center. Free with Garden admission.

Great Blogs Worth Your Visit!

America in Bloom has been spreading the word, literally, of late, and we've been spreading the word in ways like we've never done before.

Tidbits of Info

Although home gardeners are stuck in the throes of winter, a new resource to understand their outdoor plants is waiting for them courtesy of University of Illinois Extension. "The Bug Review" (http://urbanext.illinois.edu/bugreview/) has been revised and updated. "The site allows users to search by insect or insect location to identify specimens," explained Jane Scherer, U of I Extension urban programs specialist and director of its websites. "Twenty-one common insects are included with detailed information about them including habit, damage and control."

Donna Dawson for Icangarden.com