Edible Landscaping
Post by Pam Glogowski
Our annual Spring Symposium, Edible Landscaping, will be held here at Rotary Botanical Gardens on Saturday, March 18, 2017 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. We invite you to join us as we learn to incorporate edible plants into our home landscapes. Speakers include author and landscape designer Rosalind Creasy, Chicago Botanic Garden horticulturalist Lisa Hilgenberg, and RBG horticulture director Mark Dwyer. Morning refreshments, a boxed lunch, and afternoon snacks are included in the price of registration ($65 for RBG friends’ members and active Master Gardeners, $75 public). Three of Rosalind Creasy’s books, Edible Landscaping, Edible Herb Garden, and the cookbook Recipes from the Garden, will be available for purchase and signing at the symposium. For registration information click here.
Rosalind Creasy
Rosalind sees edible landscaping as an important facet of sustainability. She is an award-winning professional photographer, a landscape designer, and the pioneering author of the Complete Book of Edible Landscaping that was published in the 80s. She will give a mouth-watering presentation on Edible Landscaping in the Upper Midwest at the symposium that will include her A to Z list of recommended beautiful edible plants for home gardens, an overview of the wide variety of edible landscapes, and the principles of landscape design particular to edibles.
Lisa Hilgenberg
Horticulturalist at the Chicago Botanic Garden’s 4-acre Fruit & Vegetable Garden, Lisa Hilgenberg designs three seasons’ worth of vegetable display beds and manages two orchards of apples and stone fruits. She will present the talk “The Art of the Kitchen Garden” at the March 18 symposium. You will learn that kitchen gardens have a rich history. Travel from the intricate gardens and potagers of France to the walled gardens of British royalty to the terraced vegetable beds of Monticello for a historical yet practical look at American kitchen gardens. Gorgeous photography, thoughtful perspective, design and planning tips, and favorite spring vegetable varieties will illustrate how kitchen gardens are havens for our scattered lives, providing nourishment and respite for family and friends.
Mark Dwyer
Mark has been Director of Horticulture here at Rotary Botanical Gardens in Janesville, WI for 18 years, and directs the continued maintenance and improvement of this 20 acre botanical resource. He is a talented and popular garden speaker known for his knowledge of (and enthusiasm for) plants of all types. His symposium talk, Edibles for Small Spaces & Containers, will illustrate that space shouldn’t be a limitation for growing nutritious and beautiful edibles. Even smaller properties, apartment balconies, the back porch and small nooks and crannies in the garden can host a wide range of edibles, many of which are developed for smaller spaces, containers and lend themselves to minimizing space requirements but maximizing impact.
Silent Auction
Like many of our events here at Rotary Botanical Gardens, we will hold an exciting silent auction at the spring symposium. Auction items will include a potting bench, two obelisks, decorative containers, and a generous selection of special plants from Klehm’s Song Sparrow Farm and Nursery.
We hope you will join us on March 18! It’s exciting when a group of gardeners get together to learn, to share ideas, and to glory in their excitement for spring. If you have questions about the event contact us at (608)314-8412.
Mark Your Calendar for the next installment of our Evening Garden Seminar Series!
Mike Maddox, State Director of the Wisconsin Master Gardener program and an ISA Certified Arborist, will present the program “Pruning Shrubs and Trees” on Tuesday, March 28, 2017 at 6:30 p.m. Cost is $5 for non-members, $3 for RBG Friends members, no registration required for the seminar at Rotary Botanical Gardens, 1455 Palmer Drive, Janesville, WI 53545.
Pam Glogowski is the Education Coordinator at Rotary Botanical Gardens. Along with talented and hard-working RBG education volunteers, she develops and implements educational programming for adults, children, and families in Janesville and beyond. Pam is a “plant nut” and long-time gardening enthusiast, Master Gardener volunteer, and educator. She has lived in Michigan, South Carolina and Wisconsin and enjoys sharing her gardening experiences with others.