Calendar of Events
All programs are presented at Olbrich Botanical Gardens, 3330 Atwood Avenue, Madison, WI; 6:30 p.m. social time, 7:00-8:30 p.m. program, unless otherwise noted.Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Lovely Long-Lasting Lilies and Awesome Alliums with Brent Heath
Olbrich Gardens, 6:30 p.m. social time, 7:00 p.m. program.
Most Midwest gardeners are familiar with bulbs that represent the harbingers of spring. Bulb exuberance does not need to end with the last gasp of tulips and daffodils, there are bulbs that brighten the garden right through the season to snow fall. Two of the most spectacular extend bulb season into summer. As spring turns to summer, a real garden treat awaits you as alliums and lilies unfold their myriad of colorful and often fragrant blossoms. Several local public gardens have learned that alliums are a valuable "transition" plant, providing color after spring bulbs have faded during the "down time" when perennials are still emerging and annuals are just going in the ground. And ornamental alliums are more than just the early purple "puffballs on a stick;" there are other colors and forms that bloom all season until snow fall. The second group, lilies, includes an enormous array of sizes and colors, from lovely delicate species to new cultivars with flowers so impactful they look like they are on steroids.
We will look on overall samples of each genus and discuss best cultural practices to keep them blooming repeatedly for years. We will also include the most effective design uses for the garden and landscape. Brent and Becky Heath, owners of the nationally popular Brent and Becky’s Bulbs, in Gloucester, VA, have co-authored Daffodils for North American Gardens and Tulips for North American Gardens. Each book is an award winner which has over 300 color photographs, are marvelous sources of inspiration for the novice and are valuable references for the professional.
Brent was also a consultant of Time Life's book, Complete Gardener: Bulbs, Ortho's All About Bulbs, Organic Garden's Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening, The American Horticultural Society's Flower Finder and numerous other books with chapters on bulbs. Brent and Becky have both been featured guests on National Television programs; Brent on "The Victory Garden" and "Karen's Garden" and Becky on "Martha Stewart." Brent is a third generation bulb grower who grew up on his parent's daffodil farm. Becky spent a lot of time on her uncle's farm as a child and helped her Dad with their vegetable garden.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
WHPS PLANT SALE
9:00 - noon (setup May 17)West Madison Agricultural Research Station, 8502 Mineral Point Road. Make this sale your number one stop for new plants this spring!
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Song Sparrow Buying Opportunity
9:00 - 11:30Song Sparrow Farm opens their nursery to WHPS members for a rare opportunity to buy in person.
Sunday, June 2 Sold Out!
Bus Trip to Lake Geneva/Burlington
Our first trip of the season is a one-day bus trip to the Lake Geneva/Burlington area. We will have three opportunities to purchase plants as we visit the Burlington Garden Center, Northwind Perennial Farm and Al’s Auto Body and Arboretum for their annual Hosta Fest. We will also tour three beautiful private gardens (two on Lake Geneva and one in Burlington), and two public gardens (the Legacy Garden and the Vintage Garden) in Burlington. Check out the complete 2013 trips brochure.
Tuesday, June 18
WHPS Garden Tours in Nakoma
Look for full information and directions in the June Newsletter.
Tuesday, June 25 - Sunday, June 30 Sold Out!
Brandywine River Garden Tour
Join us for an intensive four days packed with some of the finest public and private gardens you will ever have the privilege to visit. The Brandywine River area is the largest concentration of public gardens in the world outside London. It is steeped in history with estate gardens, particularly those owned by the duPonts. The moderate climate allows private gardeners to use a plethora of plants we don’t see in the Midwest. The end of June will be an ideal time to see gardens at their best. Check out the complete 2013 trips brochure.
Thursday, July 11
WHPS Garden Tours off Mineral Point Road
Look for full information and directions in the June Newsletter.
Thursday, July 25
WHPS Garden Tours in Oregon
Look for full information and directions in the June Newsletter.
Friday, August 2 Sold Out!
Bus Tour of Kohler/Sheboygan Area Gardens
Join us for this one-day bus trip and garden tour of the Kohler/Sheboygan, WI area. Highlights include a visit to The American Club gardens in Kohler, the Christopher Farm and Gardens, a private 450-acre farm located along the shoreline of Lake Michigan, and a 2-acre private garden on the site of the Oak Lawn Cheese Factory property, a converted 150-yearold cheese factory located in Eldorado, WI. Check out the complete 2013 trips brochure.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Summer Potluck Dinner and walk through Olbrich Gardens
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Chic Plants for Modern Gardens: A Commentary on New Plants with Kelly Norris
Olbrich Gardens, 6:30 p.m. social time, 7:00 p.m. program.
In this commentary-style lecture, plantsman Kelly Norris will share his views on the current state of ornamental horticulture, provide an overview of new varieties in some of the hottest perennial categories, while encouraging the audience’s feedback and sass—that’s right, some new plants just aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. Join Kelly for a rousing discussion on what makes a great garden plant and why we all need to demand more from the people that make them.
Kelly D. Norris is a 25-year-old horticulturist, plant breeder, and plantsman from Iowa. He is the awardwinning author of three books including the Iowa Gardener’s Travel Guide, the first travel guide to Iowa’s public gardens and nurseries, and A Guide to Bearded Irises: Cultivating the Rainbow for Beginners and Enthusiasts just released from Timber Press. As a speaker he has garnered national acclaim for his high-energy, zealous presentations, leading many to call him one of the rising stars of American horticulture. He currently serves as Horticulture Manager for the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden, and formerly managed Rainbow Iris farm, a seven-acre nursery owned by his family, edits Irises: The Bulletin of the American Iris Society, and serves in several leadership capacities throughout the horticulture industry.
Kelly is the youngest person to receive the Iowa State Horticultural Society’s Presidential Citation, Award of Merit and Honor Award in the organization’s 150 year history, awards that exemplify service and contributions to horticulture in Iowa. In 2011, he was also honored by the Perennial Plant Association with the Young Professional Award, recognizing early contributions to the advancement of herbaceous perennials in American horticulture. Kelly’s unique 10 years of experience in the industry began at age 14 when he talked his parents into buying a nursery. In that time he’s become one of the few go-to experts on marketing horticulture to emerging demographics.
Sunday, September 22, 2013WHPS Plant Exchange
Allen Centennial Gardens, 10:30 am - 1:00 pmBring plant(s); get plants!
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Ferns for Gardeners with Sue Olsen
Joint Meeting with Hosta Society. SPECIAL TIME: 6:00 p.m. Social; 6:30 p.m. meeting.
One of the most comprehensive and useful resources for garden ferns is the Encyclopedia of Garden Ferns by Sue Olsen. With their beauty and versatility, often combined with a toughness that belies their appearance, ferns are among the most useful and rewarding plants that any gardener can grow. Ranging from diminutive rock-garden gems to the stately tree ferns of the southern hemisphere, ferns offer a staggering variety of habit and shape, with foliage comprising endless variations of green as well as bronze, pink, silver and blue-grey. It all adds up to a dazzling array of choices, with new introductions pouring in from Asia and Central and South America to augment the already plentiful choices to be found among the more familiar species.
Sue Spooner Olsen has been studying, photographing, and writing about ferns for more than four decades. She developed a love of ferns in the late 1960s and has been studying, propagating and writing about them since. Her nursery, Foliage Garden, has introduced numerous ferns to horticulture and is the oldest mail-order nursery in the United States for spore-grown temperate ferns. A founding member and first president of the Hardy Fern Foundation, Sue is editor of the Hardy Fern Foundation Quarterly. She is a graduate of Cornell University and lives in Bellevue, Washington.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Why Grow That, When You can Grow This? with Andrew Keys
Olbrich Gardens, 6:30 p.m. social time, 7:00 p.m. program.
The recently released Why Grow That When You Can Grow This?: 255 Extraordinary Alternatives to Everyday Problem Plants is garnering much praise and for good reason. It's a tired turn of phrase, but the grass is always greener on the other side. And for gardeners, it's not just the grass — it's the flowers, the shrubs, and the trees. No longer! Pining to grow lilac but lack the full sun? Try the fragrant pink and white flowers of Korean spice viburnum. Love the drama of canna but need something hardier? Try the bold foliage of variegated fleece flower. Boston-based author, garden designer and lecturer Andrew Keys offers hundreds of all-star alternatives that replace — and often outshine — popular problem plants. He makes it easier than ever to skip over the fussy plant prima donnas and move toward the equally gorgeous understudies.
Each profile in his book shows the problem plant and offers three alternatives that include three or more of the original plant's characteristics — hardiness, shape, color, texture, light, and size. Join us as he presents some of that information in an entertaining lecture.
Andrew Keys is a writer, designer, consultant, and lifelong gardener. The host and producer of Fine Gardening's Garden Confidential podcast, his writing has appeared in Fine Gardening and other magazines, as well as on his blog, Garden Smackdown. Descended from Mississippi cotton farmers, he first fell in love with plants in the woods of his childhood home. Today, his gardening philosophy centers around our role as stewards of the earth, and he's accredited as an organic land care professional by the Northeast Organic Farming Association. Andrew is a member of the Garden Designers Roundtable and Garden Writers Association, and has lectured for the New England Wild Flower Society.
