Master Gardeners of St Clair County Present
Lecture Topics
Mark Weathington: Slave to the Goddess Flora; Plants and Plans from a Lazy Gardener. Gardening is easy – don’t let the experts tell you otherwise! Find out shortcuts and techniques to take some of the work out of gardening as well as some foolproof plants for even the brownest thumb.
Rick Darke: Looking at the Layered Landscape. The richness of life in any landscape is linked to the richness of its layers, and this is true for both people and wildlife. An illustrated discussion of the living layers in local and regional landscapes, both as they occur naturally and as they are often modified by human culture. This exploration will provide a basis for understanding the essential characteristics of healthy layers and how they can be conserved and enhanced in home gardens and shared landscapes.
Doug Tallamy: A Chickadee’s Guide to Gardening. In the past we have designed our landscapes strictly for our own pleasure, with no thought to how they might impact the natural world around us. Such landscapes do not contribute much to local ecosystem function and support little life. Using chickadees and other wildlife as guides, he will explain how plants that evolved in concert with local animals provide for their needs better than plants that evolved elsewhere. In the process he shows how creating living landscapes sharing by our spaces with other living things will not reduce our pleasurable garden experiences, but enhance them.
Rick Darke: Designing and Maintaining the Living Landscape. Rick will illustrate and discuss how an understanding of living layers and relational biodiversity can be put to practical use in the making and maintenance of residential gardens and community landscapes. Strategies for employing "organic architecture" in creating beautiful, conserving, highly functional layers will be presented in detail.
Larry Cornelis: "The History of Our Local Forests". Larry's presentation looks at both the ecological and cultural impacts on our regions forests over the last 15,000 years, which includes climate change at both ends of that time frame, native land care, a great rewilding and European exploitation. He will finish up with a focus on our indigenous "Carolinian" tree species.