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Sat, Jan 30, 8:00am--3:30pm

Learn how to make your garden sustainable our annual Winter Seminar and Symposium. A panel of  experts will discuss plant selection, efficient water use, healthy soil cultivation, and much more. Glenn Keator, Ph.D, and Don Mahoney, Ph.D, will lead this one-day seminar event along with Karen Boness of Kenwood Permaculture and Ernesto Sandoval of UC Davis. We will focus on an overview of sustainability, looking especially at insects and other life in the garden, best ways to garden, best ways to retain and use water on site, cultivation of healthy soils, and plants that look good in our special climate.

It seems that every day we're reminded about how fragile our resources are as population pressures and lifestyles increasingly burden our planet. Gardens are no exception, and many former and still-current practices affect every aspect of gardening. This year's symposium will address many features of gardening that involve conscious decisions to minimize our impact on nature.

Schedule

8:00 Registration, Books and Plants for Sale, Coffee


9:00 Welcome and Introductions, Kitty Fisher, Education Coordinator


9:15 Embracing Sustainability, Glenn Keator, Ph.D

The economy, the environment, global warming and our dwindling resources are all major sources of concern. Glenn will address these issues and show us how to minimize our footprint by using sustainable gardening techniques for growing plants for pleasure, beauty and food. He'll address the myriad aspects relating to gardening such as hardscape materials, soils, maintenance methods, water usage, wildlife and habitat issues, and the plant material. He will also highlight beautiful plants from all over the world which require for minimal maintenance and little water.


10:15 Break, Books and Plants for Sale


10:45 Sustainable Soil & Water Use, Karen Boness, Kenwood Permaculture

Healthy soil means healthy plants, but it is hard to know how to develop, preserve and enhance healthy soil. Karen will cover these soil issues as well as responsible water use. She will show which amendments are sustainable, and which composting, sheet mulching and top-mulching techniques impact the soil. Further, she will teach many water harvesting techniques, grey water, and water catchment systems such as cisterns and tanks. Responsible irrigation options will also be discussed.


12:00 Lunch in the Gallery, Books and Plants for Sale


1:15 Succulents for the Self-Sustaining Garden, Ernesto Sandoval, UC Davis

Want to become an expert in Succulent Gardening? Well then, we have found you the right teacher! Ernesto will explain which succulents and succulent-like plants work well in Northern California, which in clay soils or many other particular soils. He will also show how much water, if any, these succulents require. Ernesto will call upon his extensive background, by using examples from the public and private gardens he has worked on, to provide answers and insight to any succulent questions in this interactive discussion/lecture.


2:15 Sustainable Gardening Can Mean Many Things to Different People, Don Mahoney, Ph.D.

This session will focus on how planting a garden, which includes edibles, appropriate ornamentals, and habitat plants, will slowly build an ecosystem. This ecosystem garden then becomes sustainable because it requires little or no pesticides, less water, and takes less maintenance as the garden ages.


3:15 Q & A
Join Glenn Keator. Don Mahoney, Ernesto Sandoval and Karen Boness for a questions and answers session for more on Embracing Sustainability.