Educational Programs
Pacific Horticulture sponsors and supports a variety of educational activities up and down the West Coast. These range from talks within other venues such as the major garden shows, co-sponsorship of professional seminars such as those with The Garden Conservancy, and leadership of major symposia with botanic gardens and horticultural groups.
September 26-27, 2009
Gardening Under Mediterranean Skies VII: Lessons in Sustainable Gardening
Hotel Mar Monte, Santa Barbara, CA
Sorry - this symposium is sold out. See information below for information about our repeat symposium to be held October 3-4.
October 3-4, 2009
Gardening Under Mediterranean Skies VII (repeat): Lessons in Sustainable Gardening
Hotel Mar Monte, Santa Barbara, CA
Due to the tremendous response to our Sept. 26-27 symposium, which sold out almost immediately, we are repeating it (with a few changes) one week later. For more information and a registration form, email medskies
sdhortsoc.org.
Recent Programs
July 18-19, 2008
An Age of Gardeners: Mrs. Bancroft & Her Horticultural Contemporaries
The San Francisco Bay Area's rich horticultural heritage is explored in honor of Ruth Bancroft's 100th birthday.
October 11th, 2008
Gardening Under Mediterranean Skies VI: California!
Pacific Horticulture is pleased to present the sixth in the series of symposia--taking place in Monterey, California-- that explores the opportunities and constraints of garden-making in California’s version of a mediterranean climate.
November 7th, 2008
Plant Driven Design
Attend this seminar to learn how to better feature plants in the garden, so that landscapes are worth of the name "garden." Featuring landscape architects, garden designers, and horticulturists, this one day seminar followed by an optional study tour, takes place in the San Francisco Bay Area.
February 7th, 2009
EcoLandscape 2009: Green Grains - Prosper with Ecological Solutions
Samuel C Pannell Meadowview Community Center, Sacramento, CA
Geared for landscape professionals as well as the home gardener, this inspiring day of talks and exhibits will be a hotbed of new and proven ideas to help us landscape in a more practical and ecological manner.
February 27-28, 2009
Gardens That Re-Make Themselves: A Discourse on Regeneration, Sustainability, and Preservation
Los Angeles Country Arboretum and Botanic Garden, Arcadia, CA
Seventh design seminar and study tour in the Garden Conservancy’s series, Gardens to Match Your Architecture. Cosponsored by the Garden Conservancy, The Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden, and Pacific Horticulture.
In the world of fashion, clarity of design and great fabric bring lasting style. Applying that same clarity to the process of garden design should also create a long-lived garden that subscribes to the principles of sustainable and ecological design and is beautiful. Good initial selections of plants, garden materials, and infrastructure systems should lessen the burden of maintenance. The presentations will run the gamut of new public and residential landscapes to mature residential gardens that have withstood the test of time and are deserving of continuing preservation.
March 21st, 2009
The New Gardening Aproach: Great Design for Sustainability, Habitat, and Biodiversity
Bastyr University Auditorium, Kenmore, WA
This one-day symposium features speakers from Germany, England, and California who are among the foremost proponents of a new approach to garden making: Robert Herman, John Greenlee, Kate Frey, and Dan Pearson. Co-sponsored by the Northwest Horticultural Society, Pendleton and Elisabeth Carey Miller Charitable Foundation, Elisabeth C Miller Botanical Garden, and Pacific Horticulture.
March 28-29, 2009
Growing Natives: Celebrating California's Beauty in Dry Times
Lafayette Community Center, Lafayette, CA
Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Berkeley, CA
Creating beautiful water-wise gardens with California native plants will be the theme of this two-day symposium, co-sponsored by the California Native Plant Society, Friends of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden, and Pacific Horticulture. The first day will feature presentations by Glenn Keator, Carol Bornstein, Phil Van Soelen, Roger Raiche, David Amme, and Mike Evans. Day two will include a lecture and workshops at the Botanic Garden, plus a nursery and private garden tour.
April 3-4, 2009
The Influence of China on West Coast Gardens: Connecting to a Strong Cultural Heritage
The Presidio, San Francisco
Eighth design seminar and study tour in the Garden Conservancy’s series, Gardens to Match Your Architecture. Co-sponsored by the Garden Conservancy and Pacific Horticulture.
A subtle richness of design that reflects China often pops up in gardens made on the West Coast. Spatial arrangement, architecture, fence and gate detail, rock alignment, ponds, paving patterns, choice of plantings and their sequence (a careful combination of understory and overstory), and the ideas behind a “contemplative garden” borrow from Chinese and other Asian aesthetics.