After reflecting recently on what garden design really is, I thought an investigation into the development and history of gardening would be interesting.

The first official gardens were recorded on stone tablets dating back to 4000BC.

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   wonder of the world: The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

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   ziggurat formation: The Hanging Gardens were well designed

These formal “paradise” gardens were a walled oasis in the desert of Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq).

They featured an early form of irrigation to support plant growth in such arid conditions.

What began as irrigation for agricultural crops, led to increased wealth and cultural development.

The Sumerians (of Mesopotamia) were able to travel and find new, exotic and increasingly productive plant species which they cultivated in the first recognisable gardens for their aesthetic appeal.

Historically known as the fertile crescent, Mesopotamia has also been called the cradle of civilisation.

It is known as a place where the best of civilised humanity began – the invention of the wheel, writing, the building of cities, architecture for artistic merit and of course, gardens.

In fact, it is thought by some scholars that the Garden of Eden was located in Mesopotamia.

This is certainly reflected in the paradise garden aesthetic which was created as a refuge from the desert, bringing life to a place where before there was none.

Elsewhere, in North Africa, the ancient Egyptians also began to develop irrigation methods, harnessing the readily available water from the Nile during seasonal floods. They too built walled gardens filled with lush planting.

These large-scale gardens helped protect the people and plants within them from wild animals, invaders and devastating desert storms.

As a result of the irrigation method of water channels, these gardens took on a regular and angular design.

Geometric shapes were repeated and inter-planted with rows of date palm trees, fruit trees and vines.

Ornamental flowers were also used as offerings for the gods and during funeral rites.

Gardens were fundamental to Egyptian life.

The ancient Persians took irrigation to a whole new level with a sophisticated network of underground aqueducts called Qanats.

They carried fresh water all the way from the snow-capped mountains to where it was most needed.

The Persian conqueror Cyrus the Great built impressive gardens at Pasargadae (Iran), which had a fourfold theme featuring rills that divided the space into quarters.

Each section would have included water pools and fountains.

They were surrounded by pavilions for sitting in peaceful contemplation and perhaps, for admiring the power and wealth of Cyrus the Great.

Around a thousand years later, the significance of this garden could still be seen as it influenced the Chahar Bagh garden style used in the Islamic faith, as a means of getting closer to God.

Undoubtedly, the most famous garden in history and one of the ancient wonders of the world was the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Babylon was the capital city of Mesopotamia, ruled by King Nebuchadnezzar.

In tribute to his wife, he built a monumental garden to reflect the mountainous region she came from.

The gardens followed a ziggurat formation which basically means it was a structure of stepped terraces reaching high above ground level.

Huge pillars that held up the terraces were hollowed and adapted to accommodate the growth of large trees.

Their roots would reach deep down within the pillars, on each level of the garden and high into the air. It was this which created the “hanging” effect.

All this vegetation was kept green by a screw system of irrigation which drew water up to the topmost terraces.

Aside from a grand romantic gesture to his wife, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon created a link between heaven and earth.

Whatever developments there have been in garden design since this time, one thing still holds true – in all our gardens, we strive to create our own idea of paradise.

FREE Rain Garden Class

“Sustainable Low Impact Development Design; Global to Local, Macro to Micro”

St. Marys School Building, 611  20^th Ave. South (look for signs to classroom)

November 17^th,  2 pm to 4 pm

RSVP.  Cranelandscapearchitects@earthlink.net

 

In this class you will learn about Low Impact Development Design elements integrated in wholisitic place making featuring built examples of innovative cutting edge greenroofs and stormwater conveyance system designs and techniques in the western Harbor (Vasta hamen) and the Green Roof Institute, Malmo, Sweden, High Point Development and SEA Streets Seattle, Washington.

You will learn about various technical design details and best management practices to design and implement successful various Low Impact Development Design stormwater conveyance systems.

You will learn Rain Garden design and construction details from viewing photographs of a “hands on” design/build rain garden charrette and installation.

 

Water is not just a resource but a force whose energy and spirit waits to be rediscovered as a ribbon unifying and linking. Its spirit emulates this and become the dominant Genus Loci serving as a nexus embracing all site elements, natural and manmade. Re-uniting rainwater; with groundwater; with river water, oceans and lakes in hierarchical ribbons, form a water conveyance system tapestry, adding cultural capital, providing a bonding life experience of community placemaking to sites natural and manmade elements.

 

This class will cover the “macro” definition of sustainable Low Impact Development design strategies. These strategies emphasize conservation and use of natural site features integrated with distributed, small scale stormwater controls that closely mimic natural pre-development hydrologic patterns in residential, commercial and industrial site development. This book shows the symbiotic relationship of these strategies nested in a series of hierarchical concepts of global sustainable low impact development design’s fostering a nexus between man and nature in an urban context. Knowledge and understanding of dynamic low impact development design and its placemaking opportunities globally, regionally, in your city, and in your neighborhood will be presented.

This class will cover the “micro” technological design/build aspects of rain garden design, a foundation of these Low Impact Development stormwater control “tools” as required by many government jurisdictions to protect ground and surface water impacted by development.

This class presents what you are ultimately trying to achieve. And through pictorial examples answers the questions by; defining terms, showing a Low Impact Development Palette of techniques and presents Low Impact Development as functional place making.

 

The western Harbor Area (Vastra hamen) sustainable city district is Malmo, Sweden’s “city for people and the environment”. Photographic examples of sustainable urban design whose place making constructs is created by sustainable Low Impact Development technology shows examples of a hierarchical scale of public and private spaces with Low Impact Development as their primary design construct. These photographic examples of low impact development city/waterfront interface show the flow of water from the headwaters of a bio-swale and its journey to the sea. This class includes a presentation of Augustenborg, Malmo Sweden’s Botanical Green Roof Garden of the Green Roof Institute. The class captures a global sense of sustainable design by presenting examples of living roofs featuring’ Roof gardens capturing lost urban habitat and lost green space while mitigating for carbon and building energy loss, Roof gardens integration of alternative energy systems, Roof Garden opportunities for urban agriculture, Roof garden place making, and Roof gardens plant palettes.

 

This class includes a presentation of Seattle, Washington’s Residential High Point Development low impact development’s stormwater drainage techniques. High Point is an extensive network of low impact development techniques woven together in public streetscapes and private open space, a model of greening mixed income medium density residential with low impact development stormwater infrastructure. Included is a presentation of Seattle, Washington’s ‘SEA Streets low impact development streetscape design; curb less street edge alternatives to traditional stormwater infrastructure, innovative storm water drainage improvements as public infrastructure, and Community interface.

 

The Design/Build Rain Garden Design and Construction presentation includes; a an extensive presentation of the technical details of designing and building a rain garden through a pictorial depiction of the authors low impact development design/design build class as taught through Sustainable Seattle, in Seattle Washington, US. This class documentation includes; detailed technical examples of a Low Impact Design Rain Garden design techniques that include; site assessment, soil analysis, site hydrology, site mapping analysis, site planning layout, site planting design, construction, and maintenance

 

The rain running off our roofs, roads and yards is the biggest source of pollution.  We all contribute to this pollution, and we can all help solve this problem by applying Low Impact Development techniques that slow the runoff down and treat the water.  This book introduces and inspires you to creative Low Impact Development and gives you an example of a hands-on experience building a basic rainwater treatment facility, the rain garden.

This class covers what sustainable Low Impact Development design is, what it means to you and its context in the neighborhood, city, regionally, nationally and globally, and its nexus with the in line rain garden design concept.

 

Class teacher Bio.

 

Paul Byron Crane ASLA, BLA, MA, Landscape Architect,

I have traveled internationally to explore and document (photography, sketches, stakeholder interviews.) built examples of sustainable design and have engaged local designers and government representatives in a discussion of their sustainable design development (Denmark, Sweden, England, and Japan).I am a member of the Cascadia and U.S. Green Building Councils that have provided a wealth of instruction for sustainable design. By meeting, discussing and touring sustainable developments with stakeholders associated with sustainable design, weaves my rich tapestry of knowledge concerning both regional, national and international emerging design opportunities, enabling me to obtain a robust, broad, contextual  understanding of the cultural, economic and political aspects of “Green Development”. Site’s visited include: the Western Harbor of Malmo Sweden, Green roof’s of Augustenborg, Malmo Sweden, Green Architecture of Copenhagen Denmark, Bed-ZED, Wallington,  South London, England, Meeting and tour with the Faculty of the University of Tokyo Center for Sustainable Urban Regeneration, Tokyo, Japan, Coal Harbor and new Convention Center expansion, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Monday
Enquiries are still coming in as a result of my RHS Chelsea Flower Show garden, particularly from London. The rectilinear design of the garden is in keeping with the typical London plot and the classical nature of the design blends in harmoniously with period houses.

Today I met a lovely new couple intending to develop a townhouse just off the King’s Road. Their garden is smaller than the Chelsea plot, but applying the same rules of proportion as used for the Chelsea garden; it will be a simple exercise to make it work. However, there’s a catch: as with all five London projects that I’ve quoted for as a result of Chelsea, the owners intend to excavate beneath the garden for extra space; to all intents and purposes, turning the garden into a roof garden. This makes things a bit more challenging, involving other professionals such as structural engineers. Weight restrictions, depth of soil and drainage create parameters that narrow down the possibilities. Fun stuff that makes the job really interesting.

Tuesday
Today a letter came through to say that we had won the Design Excellence award from BALI (British Association of Landscape Industries). Or, at least, I thought I had won: the small print reveals that you are really one of three winners in a Bafta-esque kind of way and that you really ought to attend the ceremony for potential humiliation. My fellow finalists’ entries are amazing, so I won’t hold my breath.

The Society of Garden Designers awards are fast approaching – I was one of the judges for the student award category and I will be at the ceremony on November 9 to hand over the winning prize with fellow designer Andy Sturgeon. Eminent designer/writer/broadcaster James Alexander Sinclair will be hosting, guaranteeing equal measures of hilarity and ridicule. Probably the best awards news this week goes to Christopher Bradley-Hole for winning the Stirling Prize RIBA award for the Sainsbury Laboratory project in Cambridge, demonstrating the importance of symbiotic relations between architects and landscape architects.

Wednesday
Okay, so we’ve had enough rain thank-you very much – you can stop now. All of our projects in construction phase are now affected. Even our project on the east coast of Suffolk (driest county in the UK, I believe) that sits on 100 acres of pure sandpit-quality sand, is hindered by wet. My contractors on the Suffolk project have been trying to seed a meadow around the finished lake and have admitted defeat today. We were trying to finish before the owners arrive back from the US this week and now I have to tell them the bad news. Managing client expectations is an interesting role for the designer; I wonder if perhaps I should have studied psychology as I conjure up an image of Maslow’s ‘hierarchy of needs’ triangle diagram before I send the email.

Thursday
On-site meeting in Devon: we are working with a number of different contractors as well as the project architects, structural engineer and main house contractors. Juggling the various stages of the landscape works schedule is proving a little tricky and with a herd of deer due to arrive in the park this March, we need everything to slot into place. The deer fencing needs to go up, we have to finish the lake, plant the rhododendron walk and, as a matter of urgency encourage a seemingly reluctant reed-bedder to install a reed bed, as part of the sewage treatment in the parkland, despite his protestations about the rain. If managing client expectations is interesting, contractor expectations are perplexing and the main cause of grey hair.

Friday
On my way back up to Suffolk, I stopped off at Greyfield Woods, Clutton, for a quick stroll through the woodland, to rid my mind of yesterday’s frustrations. I came across a beautiful waterfall nestled amongst verdant bryophytic rocks – perfection.

Saturday and Sunday
A few years ago, I made a willow dome in the garden using withies left over from another sewage treatment reed bed project (created by the aforementioned contractor). Today, I had the overwhelming urge to cut it all down and burn it – can’t think why? Seriously, the dome had got out of hand due to neglect during pruning time. Also the sheep make a beeline to eat as much of it as possible whenever they break out (ie the battery on the electric fence goes flat).

I spent the weekend cutting it down and created a decent log pile as a result. This will be ready for the woodburner next winter – not the best firewood, but free nonetheless. What’s more, the stumps will likely regenerate to provide future fuel – very satisfying.

• Thomas Hoblyn is a landscape and garden designer. This is the latest in a series of posts on the ups and downs of a life spent creating beautiful gardens.

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Gardener: Make a dazzling winter garden
Graphic/Photo Slug:SH12J158GARDENER
JOE LAMP’L
Scripps Howard News Service
10-22-12

When it comes to garden design, the vibrant colors of spring and summer are the first things we consider. After all, that’s when we use our gardens the most. But with just a bit of planning and effort, the winter landscape can be unique and interesting, too. The key is diversity. A variety of textures, colors and forms will take a winter landscape from dull to dazzling.

Start by choosing plants that don’t all look the same after their leaves drop in fall. Contrast shapes (round vs. triangular, weeping vs. upright), textures (coarse vs. fine) and colors (intense vs. pale, dark vs. bright, warm vs. cool). Set up a strong contrast between elements, such as red berries against the white snow; or thin, feathery grasses in front of stiff, upright evergreens. Balance these strong elements with more subtle colors and textures.

If hungry birds and animals don’t get them, many fruits ripen in late summer and fall. They hang on through the winter, making bright punctuation marks on the landscape. Deciduous hollies, chokeberry, coralberry, heavenly bamboo and hawthorn all feature colorful fruits.

After trees and shrubs drop their leaves, their inner beauty comes through in brightly colored stems that grow richer in hue as the temperature drops. Dogwoods, Japanese kerria and many willows offer bright green, yellow and red accents to the winter garden.

Witchhazel and Christmas rose really command attention because their flowers are so unexpected. Most evergreens feature some varieties that burst with color. Try a golden or bluish conifer or a variegated broadleaf like euonymus. There are endless sizes, shapes and textures to work in any landscape.

The scaffold, the trees’ and shrubs’ bare bones, really put on a show in the winter when the foliage is out of the way. The wings on the stems of a burning bush or the spidery traces of Boston ivy snaking along a wall are wonderful surprises. Harry Lauder’s walking stick and corkscrew willow have tremendously twisted branches.

Herbaceous perennials that die back in the winter also add structure. Golden brown and tan grasses look great popping out of the snow, adding a lazy movement that only shows up at this time of year. Purple coneflower, black-eyed Susan and other stiff-stemmed flowers stand up to winter winds and provide a little food for wild birds. Pigsqueak turns a vibrant, golden orange while keeping its ground hugging form. Yucca shoots blossoms to the sky like winter fireworks.

In winter, bark becomes a powerful landscape element. Stewartia and river birch have exfoliating bark that peels off in distinctive shapes. Silver green honey locust and smooth, bronze cherry are also effective players.

Select just a few places to highlight: the front door, views from a favorite room, and the most visible front corner of the lot are good places to feature. Draw a rough plan of the design, first concentrating on shapes, textures and colors. Then select favorite plants that work in your USDA zone and in the various exposures and microclimates in your unique location.

Remember colorful twigs will fade and scaffold shapes change as the plant matures. Keep everything trimmed in a pruning routine that will encourage a fresh crop of striking new growth year after year. And make a habit to tidy up the garden in the fall so it will start winter off looking fit.

(Joe Lamp’l, host of “Growing a Greener World” on PBS, is a Master Gardener and author. Visit www.joegardener.com. For more stories, visit www.shns.com.)

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Wire, straw, grapevine, evergreen and more are just the beginnings for making holiday wreaths for a welcoming and festive holiday season. Learn to make wreaths at “The Wonderful World of Wreaths” workshop sponsored by the Holland Garden Club.
Holland Garden Club members and floral designers Rose Albers and Nancy Bolt will be sharing ideas and techniques for making wreaths at the club’s Nov.1 workshop. The day begins with a 10 a.m. workshop, followed by a 11:30 a.m. meeting and a noon box lunch at First Reformed Church, 630 State St.
Albers, a floral designer and instructor, hosts floral design workshops for members and guests at her home. She is one of the chairman of the Ottawa County Flower Show and an award-winning floral designer.

Bolt is also an award-winning flower show entrant and floral designer. Both are past presidents of the Holland Garden Club.
Members and guests are invited to bring their own materials to the workshop. According to Bolt, they will help participants “turn out the most gorgeous wreaths you can imagine.” Suggested materials to bring for the wreath making workshop include any type of wreath, pine cones, fresh and dried materials, wrapped candies, ornaments and ribbon.

The workshop will provide the opportunity for members and guests to create  holiday wreaths for their homes and the club’s fundraiser “Festival of Wreaths” to be held on Nov. 29 at the Holland Area Arts Council. Taking place 6-8 p.m., the evening will include wine, live music, hors d’ oeuvres and a chance to bid on decorated wreaths. Tickets are $15 and available at the workshop and from garden club members. Chairmen for the fundraiser are Alyce Doss and Laura Tonar.

Marge DuBois, Joan Serr and Rose Bush will be hosting the wreath making workshop.
For program information, contact Alyce Doss, (616) 335-3394. For luncheon reservations by Oct. 25, contact Lois Kayes at (616) 335-8407.

Teaching a child to grow a plant involves much more than learning basic horticulture.

In addition to garden design and maintenance, children will learn about plant biology, harvesting techniques and safe produce handling. They will develop an awareness of plant ecology, the effects of weather on plants, and how to work as part of a team with a common goal. And they’ll have a feeling of self- confidence and personal satisfaction when harvesting their first tomato or see a sunflower open from a seed that they planted.

The Master Gardeners of San Luis Obispo County wants to help foster these important life lessons by offering a workshop to assist school teachers, parents and others with con necting their school garden to classroom instruction.

The workshop is open to all teachers, school staff, parents and volunteers who work with children at a school-based garden. Each attendee will receive a curriculum binder with lesson plans that incorporate California’s instructional standards.

The garden-based learning workshop will be held at the school garden plot in the Gar den of the Seven Sisters in San Luis Obispo. The Garden of the Seven Sisters has 18 different themed gardens, including one designed specifically to demonstrate a school garden.

The workshop – from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday – will be at 2156 Sierra Way, San Luis Obispo. It includes garden snacks. The fee is $25 per person to help cover the cost of workshop materials. Register at http://ucanr.org/gardenbasedlearning  . For more in formation, contact Maria Murrietta at (805)781-5946 or http://ucanr.org/sites/mgslo.

GOT A GARDENING QUESTION?M/h3

Contact the University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners at 781-5939 on Mondays and Thursdays from 1 to 5 p.m. in San Luis Obispo; at 473-7190 from 10 a.m. to noon in Arroyo Grande; or at 434-4105 on Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to noon in Templeton. Visit the UCCE Master Gardeners Web site at http://groups.ucanr.org/slomg or e-mail mgsanluisobispo@ucdavis.edu.

When it comes to garden design, the vibrant colors of spring and summer are the first things we consider. After all, that’s when we use our gardens the most. But with just a bit of planning and effort, the winter landscape can be unique and interesting, too. The key is diversity. A variety of textures, colors and forms will take a winter landscape from dull to dazzling. — Start by choosing plants that don’t all look the same after their leaves drop in fall. Contrast shapes (round vs. triangular, weeping vs. upright), textures (coarse vs. fine) and colors (intense vs. pale, dark vs. bright, warm vs. cool). Set up a strong contrast between elements, such as red berries against the white snow; or thin, feathery grasses in front of stiff, upright evergreens. Balance these strong elements with more subtle colors and textures.

If hungry birds and animals don’t get them, many fruits ripen in late summer and fall. They hang on through the winter, making bright punctuation marks on the landscape. Deciduous hollies, chokeberry, coralberry, heavenly bamboo and hawthorn all feature colorful fruits.

After trees and shrubs drop their leaves, their inner beauty comes through in brightly colored stems that grow richer in hue as the temperature drops. Dogwoods, Japanese kerria and many willows offer bright green, yellow and red accents to the winter garden.

Witchhazel and Christmas rose really command attention because their flowers are so unexpected. Most evergreens feature some varieties that burst with color. Try a golden or bluish conifer or a variegated broadleaf like euonymus. There are endless sizes, shapes and textures to work in any landscape.

The scaffold, the trees’ and shrubs’ bare bones, really put on a show in the winter when the foliage is out of the way. The wings on the stems of a burning bush or the spidery traces of Boston ivy snaking along a wall are wonderful surprises. Harry Lauder’s walking stick and corkscrew willow have tremendously twisted branches.

Herbaceous perennials that die back in the winter also add structure. Golden brown and tan grasses look great popping out of the snow, adding a lazy movement that only shows up at this time of year. Purple coneflower, black-eyed Susan and other stiff-stemmed flowers stand up to winter winds and provide a little food for wild birds. Pigsqueak turns a vibrant, golden orange while keeping its ground hugging form. Yucca shoots blossoms to the sky like winter fireworks.

In winter, bark becomes a powerful landscape element. Stewartia and river birch have exfoliating bark that peels off in distinctive shapes. Silver green honey locust and smooth, bronze cherry are also effective players.

Select just a few places to highlight: the front door, views from a favorite room, and the most visible front corner of the lot are good places to feature. Draw a rough plan of the design, first concentrating on shapes, textures and colors. Then select favorite plants that work in your USDA zone and in the various exposures and microclimates in your unique location.

Remember colorful twigs will fade and scaffold shapes change as the plant matures. Keep everything trimmed in a pruning routine that will encourage a fresh crop of striking new growth year after year. And make a habit to tidy up the garden in the fall so it will start winter off looking fit.

(Joe Lamp’l, host of “Growing a Greener World” on PBS, is a Master Gardener and author. Visit http://www.joegardener.com. For more stories, visit http://www.shns.com.)

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The orderly nature of modern design appeals to our need for simplicity in a progressively complex world. The simple lines of both modern architecture and interiors offers respite from strip commercial, traffic and media where color and image change faster than ever.

There has been difficulty in understanding the relationship of plants to this style.

But one group of plants seems intrinsically suited to modern design. It is the cactus, but not all of them. Specific types of cacti are so remarkable in their symmetry that it is difficult to believe they are living things. Moreover, their uniformity of growth is so rigid that many individual plants can be used to create pattern and shape on a small scale.

Cacti best suited to modern design have round, symmetrical forms. These are often perfect globes that remain so throughout their lives. Only with time do they grow larger in size, but their surface details are static.

At Sunnylands, the former estate of the Annenberg family, an innovative modern garden was completed just over a year ago. Within its confines are examples of cactus in modern architecture on a grand scale, illustrating how to exploit uniformity of growth. However, the Achilles heel of such rigid uniform plantings is the reality that these are plants, and plants will die or sometimes be unpredictable. If one of 100 identical golden cacti is lost, only a replacement of the exact size and age can fill the void.

Cacti are perhaps even better suited to modern interiors. Whether an apartment in New York City or an expansive period restoration in Palm Springs, Calif., the role of cactus as interior decor remains paramount.  So long as there is adequate light, and with most modern homes there is, these plants can become highly decorative elements. Here, too, the uniformity of growth allows multiplicity in design, with a series of identical plants emphasizing line or highlighting space.

To use cactus for decorative elements, it is essential to understand their primary needs to maintain perfect health and appearance over time.

Above all, cacti hail from areas of express drainage, which may be a ledge on a cliff face or a dry wash of nothing but sand and gravel. Any container selected to hold a cactus plant must be extremely well drained. Ensure this by choosing a pot with a very large drain hole in the bottom or with many perforations that enhance drainage potential throughout the soil mass.

Cactuses are watered so infrequently that a saucer is unnecessary. The key: The entire soil mass must be saturated, which can be done only if the pot is moved to a sink or bathtub for watering. There, it can either be set in water to wick moisture upward through the drain holes, or watered from the top by filling and allowing it to drain through a number of times consecutively.

Once saturated and entirely drained, the pot may be replaced to its original position.  If you’re worried about damaging the underlying surface, you can set a simple glass disk or tile underneath without jeopardizing the simplicity of its appearance.

There are more species of cactus grown in volume today than ever before. Gold, purple, maroon and blue are all color options provided by this willing group. When set in the perfect pot, each becomes a living sculpture. Whether a single specimen or a number of identical candidates, they remain perfectly streamlined and tidy living things to bring nature into the all too spartan interiors of today’s modern homes and rooms.

Maureen Gilmer is an author, horticulturist and landscape designer. Learn more at www.MoPlants.com. Contact mogilmer@yahoo.com or P.O. Box 891, Morongo Valley, CA 92256.

Last year, the Redlands Horticultural and Improvement Society Floral Design Group was invited to present the first invitational floral design exhibit in the more than 50-year history of the Southland Orchid Show at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino.

That floral design exhibit was such a success, the Southland Orchid Show Association invited the Redlands group to return this year to help incorporate a National Garden Clubs standard show into the October event, “Orchid Mystique.”

Top floral designers from throughout Southern California entered their floral designs, all featuring orchids. National Garden Clubs judges from Southern and Northern California – including the California Garden Clubs’ Judge of the Year and Woman of the Year – judged the show.

The Redlands Horticultural and Improvement Society Floral Design Group has been invited to return next year.

In 1959, Southern California Orchid Societies joined together as the Southland Orchid Show Association to stage a large regional orchid show now held every October at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino.

The Redlands Horticultural and Improvement Society Floral Design Group, a part of Redlands Horticultural and Improvement Society, has had the honor of being invited to be a part of other flower shows, plant shows, orchid shows, African violet shows, national chrysanthemum shows, dahlia shows, iris shows, rose shows, statewide California Garden Clubs meetings and annual California Women for Agriculture conventions.

The Floral Design Group offers programs for those who enjoy and want to explore the art of floral design for personal use, community programs, floral exhibitions and flower shows. The group also presents design programs and participates in floral displays and exhibitions by invitation.

Information: 909-798-9384; email floral design@rhis.org

SOURCE: Joyce Dean, a member of the Redlands Horticultural and Improvement Society