saturday may 6: open day, rock garden and pollinator garden talks, plant sale, bird walk

AS PART OF spring Garden Conservancy Open Day at my garden in Copake Falls, NY, Joseph Tychonievich will give a morning rock-garden lecture and an afternoon one on supporting pollinators in our gardens. The garden (directions are on the Conservancy site) is open 10 AM to 4 PM with a plant sale all day by Broken Arrow Nursery; no advance ticket required for garden access or plant sale, but tickets are required for the special events with Joseph.

A life-long gardener and lover of plants, Joseph has worked for prominent nurseries in the U.S. and Japan, has been a repeated guest on public radio’s food show “The Splendid Table,” and was named by “Organic Gardening Magazine” as one of “…six young horticulturists who are helping to shape how America gardens.” He is author of “Plant Breeding for the Home Gardener,” “The Complete Guide to Gardeners,” and “Rock Gardening: Reimagining a Classic Style,” and editor of the “North American Rock Garden Society Quarterly.”

Note: There is a special discounted combination ticket for both of Joseph’s talks, and time to come visit the garden between. Make a day of it!

• 11 AM Lecture: Rock Gardening, Reimagining a Classic Style: Inspired by the tiny plants and dramatic, rocky landscapes found on mountain tops, rock gardening uses a range of unusual, small plants in combination with beautiful stones to create miniaturized landscapes. This approach to gardening is water-wise, perfect for containers, small gardens, and for gardeners interested in exploring a whole new group of beautiful plants. Joseph will share beautiful images of rock garden to get you inspired, the basic principles of creating rock gardens, and an introduction to some of the most appealing and easy-to-grow rock-garden plants to get you started. (The 11 AM lecture will be held at Church of St. John in the Wilderness, 261 Route 44, Copake Falls, NY, a 2-minute drive from Margaret’s garden.)
• 1:30-2:30 Lecture: Plants, Pollinators, and How to Support Them: It’s every gardener’s most urgent question: how to be a better steward to the pollinators we rely on. Joseph explains the interesting ways plants have evolved to attract their preferred pollinators. Along with a tour of nature’s most creative (and admittedly sometimes disgusting!) methods of connecting pollinators and plants, Joseph discusses ways to foster biodiversity in your own garden and to create a haven for the many pollinators that our world depends on. Plus: he shows examples of managing garden pests by letting other insects do the dirty work. (The 1:30 PM lecture will be held at Church of St. John in the Wilderness, 261 Route 44, Copake Falls, NY.)

saturday june 3: workshops with broken arrow, plant sale

I WISH I could walk every visitor around personally at Garden Conservancy Open Days—and answer every question. But that’s impossible when hundreds of guests stream through for the self-guided walkabouts I’ve been hosting for 20-plus years (and will this year again on May 6 and August 19).

Many visitors have asked me to take it to the next level, pretty please. Now Adam Wheeler and Andy Brand of Broken Arrow Nursery—they always do plant sales at my big Open Days—and I are offering a sort of “Open Day-Plus” on June 3 and September 16, 2017: smaller, ticketed, workshop-style events and sales lasting a half-day each, with lots of individual attention. Adam will co-teach the June event with me; Andy and I will do September.

Space is very limited, at each of two sessions per day.

Ticket includes $25 Broken Arrow shopping credit.

The June program (from 9:30-noon, and repeated from 1:30-4 PM):

• Muffins (or Cookies) and Coffee: Fuel up, get acquainted, and tell us what you want to know more about, so we can fine-tune the program and cover it all.
• Tour/Meet My Garden: Tour with me, Margaret, focusing on how I made a garden for the birds (65-plus species visit yearly); my maybe-too-crazy obsession with gold foliage; choice spring ephemerals and other underplanting essentials; and most of all, my intimate relationship with the place that goes way beyond aesthetics.
• Workshop/The Best Plants You Never Heard Of: Broken Arrow Plant Development Manager and master propagator Adam Wheeler will “teach” the story of the unique plants in prime display at event time, and will also bring an irresistible show-and-tell of what he calls, “a blend of drool-worthy herbaceous and woody material with a focus on the unjustly rare.” Learn their features, use, and tips for successful culture. Why aren’t more people growing these incredible plants?, Adam asks…and watch out: Soon you will be!
• Plant-Talk Hangout: We’ll spend the last chunk of our time together just talking, guided by your questions.
• Shopping: Shop for plants from 11:45-1 and 3:30-4:45. Tip: Browse the Broken Arrow website (or call 203-288-1026 for advice on landscape-size plants in stock at the in-person retail nursery) to have larger specimens or multiples of something or just specific plants delivered on event day to take home.

$90 ticket price includes tour, workshop, Q&A session, plus refreshments…and a $25 credit at Broken Arrow plant sale.

NOTE: All registrants will be emailed directions to the starting location, next door to Margaret’s garden in Copake Falls NY.

Prefer a regular Open Day? See you May 6 or August 19. Broken Arrow sales then, too.