Landscaping tips for small gardens

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Space should not worry you if you want to have a garden in your home. Even with little spaces, you can create a beautiful garden.

People with small plots are not necessarily down and out, without the possibilities of pleasant gardens. With a little tinkering here and a thoughtful planting there, a small garden too, can shine.
Charles Akanga, an information technologist by profession and a resident of Najjanankumbi shares some useful hints:

Aim for a welcoming entrance.
Your entrance can make or break you. You want your visitors to feel welcome right from the gate.”
Akanga planted two Cuban Royal Palm trees (Roystonea Regia) by two gate posts at his home. “I may not have a driveway to line them up along, but what I have done is welcoming enough.”

Harmonise your plants.
Contrary to what we grew up thinking, you can plant vegetables in the flower garden. Akanga has planted spices in his garden. “I have edged my rose beds with Lemon Mint and Peppermint. I’m especially excited about the Rosemary, because it gives off a lovely scent whenever I pass by.”

Be dramatic with the plants
“I also have some tomatoes among my Agapanthus (Lily of the Nile) flowers. Whenever the tomatoes are getting ready, their redness contrasts well with the white Agapanthus flowers,” he shares.

Utilise texture.
Consider the texture of your plants and flowers, their colour, as well as the background they are to drape. “To the side there, I planted the Flame Vine (Pyrostegia Venusta) Its orange flowers contrast well with its green leaves. Since it is a climbing plant, I wanted it to drape the grey wall and brighten it up, which it has done beautifully,” Akanga says.

Plant trees and shrubs in pots
Another myth we have been fed is that containers are for annual plants only. Akanga has planted a Cassia shrub (Cassia Biflora) in a concrete container, to act as a focal point at the front of his house. Around this, he has positioned various small containers of Sygnonium (Sygnonium Podophyllum) and Petunias (Petunia Hybrida). The Cassia branches, with their yellow flowers, cascading over the variegated Sygnonium and the pinkish-white Petunias are a sight to behold.

Create special places to enjoy your garden.
Who says gardens are just for planting, weeding and pruning? “After you have worked your garden to perfection, you want to be able to enjoy it. It’s important to create room for the enjoyment of your garden. An elaborately designed garden bench is my next big acquisition. I want to be able to sit there on a Sunday afternoon and contemplate, read or just enjoy the garden,” Akanga says.
So the problem is not space. Employ your imagination and creativity; and birth the garden of your dreams.

editorial@ug.nationmedia.com

Filed Under: gardens and landscaping

The Dirt: Masonry projects; spring gardens

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Stone designs

Local interior designers will talk about the latest outside and inside masonry projects at “An Evening of Fresh Fabulous Design Trends,” from 5:30 to 7:30 today at Hedberg Landscape and Masonry Supplies, 975 Nathan Lane N., Plymouth. The free event sponsered by Midwest Home magazine includes appetizers and wine. Register by calling 763-392-5920 or go to www.hedbergaggregates.com/DoItYourself/SeminarsAndEvents.

Indoor and outdoor ideas

Winter is a good time to plan your spring garden. Local experts will give tips and techniques during a variety of gardening and landscaping seminars at the Home and Patio Show, Thursday through Sunday at St. Paul RiverCentre. Topics include plants that thrive in shady spaces, straw-bale gardening, deer-resistant plants, growing organic food, creative containers, best picks for northern gardens and emerald ash borer management. Other activities are offered by the Minnesota State Horticultural Society, Ramsey County Master Gardeners and Home Depot. For a schedule of daily events, visit www.homeandpatioshow.com or call 763-755-8111. Show hours are 2 to 9 p.m. Thurs. and Fri., 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sat., and 10 a.m to 6 p.m. Sun., 175 W. Kellogg Blvd. Admission is $9 for adults, $2.50 for ages 6-12, free for 5 and under. A coupon for $2 off adult admission is available at www.homeandpatioshow.com.

LYNN UNDERWOOD

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Filed Under: gardens and landscaping

Horticulturist to teach course on growing your own food

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Horticulturist Senga Lindsay is teaching a class on edible landscape design. Photo courtesy Mike Wakefield

Local, fresh and sustainable are a few buzzwords that we, as Vancouverites, hear daily. But environmentally friendly food options can be tough on a student’s wallet. What if you could have organic produce and stretch your dollar further?

Senga Lindsay, author of the book Edible Landscaping: Urban Food Gardens That Look Great, will be using her extensive knowledge of plant systems to teach students how to do just that.

The horticulturist-turned-landscape architect will be teaching a UBC continuing studies class on “edible landscape design” this March. The three-day workshop will lead students through basic design and construction lectures on how to properly create a garden space.

“There are a lot of reasons why people should grow their own food,” said Lindsay. “It’s social, it’s healthy and it’s less taxing on the system.”

Having your own garden could also be the golden ticket to shedding that freshman 15. According to Lindsay, it helped her lose weight in a natural way.

“Growing your own food allows you to become very food aware,” she said. “You start growing all this stuff, it’s great, you’re eating it and all of a sudden, junk and the bags of chips just don’t seem quite right.”

Lindsay’s debut book shows the average person that creating a beautiful and wholesome garden with their favourite plants is possible and easy — and maintaining a garden and healthy diet does not require hundreds of dollars and several hectares of land.

“There is a lot of wasted space in an average city lot that is just lawn,” she said. “While you’re maintaining your lawn with pesticides and fertilizers and all that other stuff, you could be growing food for you and your family organically.”

And according to Lindsay, it doesn’t have to be hard.

“People think it’s gotta to be rows and rows of vegetables and tons of weeding. But it can just be pieces in the garden,” she said.

The edible landscape design course, which runs from March 8–10, will teach students how to integrate gardening into a sustainable garden space that is unique to their living situation.

Though it may sound complicated, there’s no experience necessary for the course. “Any beginner can easily grasp it. Once you understand how you work through it, it’s pretty easy,” said Lindsay.

“My thing is, if you’re going to have a garden anyway, or a yard or a balcony, just replace it with edibles. You get something out of it, and you get beauty out of it at the same time.”

To learn more or register for the edible landscape design course, visit http://www.cstudies.ubc.ca.

Filed Under: gardens and landscaping

NJ Flower and Garden Show Brings Mardi Gras Atmosphere to Snowy Winter

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BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Despite cold and snowy weather, Mardi Gras is the theme of the 2013 New Jersey Flower and Garden Show at the Convention Center in Edison.

The show will feature display gardens, seminars, photography displays, and special events. It runs from Thursday, February 14, Valentine’s Day, through Sunday, February 17.

According to the Daily Record, display gardens to be featured will include “Bourbon Street Retreat” by Grounds Keeper Inc. from Matawan, “Venetian Masquerade” by Crossroads Nursery from South Brunswick; and “Beads, Bands Good Times” by Belgard Hardscapes, whose regional headquarters are located in Manasquan.

And Branchburg’s High Tech Landscapes will present a display garden featuring colors inspired by Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, Brazil and Italy.

The Daily Record reports that horticulture, gardening, and landscaping seminars demonstrations will be held at the Flower and Garden Show. And there will be a spring fashion show along with an event for food and wine exhibitors called “Gourmet Grape: A Food Wine Extravaganza.”

The event also features a Standard Flower Show by the Garden Club of New Jersey, and a “Growing Up Green” program for the kids. According to macevents.com, any of more than 25,000 patrons expected to attend can talk to a professional at the show for help with backyard design issues.

Hours for the show will be 1 p.m. until 8 p.m. on Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 10 a.m. through 6 p.m. on Sunday.

Show tickets can be ordered here.

Filed Under: gardens and landscaping

Planning your spring garden in the winter

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Posted: Monday, February 11, 2013 9:15 am
|

Updated: 1:02 pm, Fri Feb 8, 2013.

Planning your spring garden in the winter

By Frank Doonan, special to the News of Orange

aconews.com

Even though it is the middle of winter and thoughts of gardening are not on most gardener’s minds, it is an important time for planning and preparing your garden and landscaping.

First and a very important problem for planning gardens and landscaping is to know the location of your utilities. Utility location services are free by calling 811. This is particularly true if your vegetable garden is in the front or side yards. This would be also true for planting bushes, trees and flower beds. TV and Internet cables may be very shallow, often within 6 inches of the surface. Water, underground electric lines, natural gas and sewer lines may be damaged when planting bushes and trees. Be sure to make a map of your lot showing where the utilities are for future reference.

The most difficult problem for gardening and landscaping in the upland areas of the Piedmont and mountain regions of North Carolina is poor shallow topsoils. The primary cause of these poor shallow soils is heavy cropping and poor land management of the region for the past 200 years.

Some of these upland soils in this area are relatively shallow and underlain by yellowish to reddish dense subsoils, which dry out in the summer and become very hard and droughty. Some describe these subsoils as clay, but in reality they have a wide range of textures from sandy, silty to some with clay subsoils. Many are eroded and have dense and often weakly structured to massive medium textured hard silty, clay loam to silty clay subsoils. Only some soils, particularly in parts of central and southern Orange County, have clay subsoils.

Some upland soils in Orange County have weathered bedrock within 12 to 24 inches of the surface, which are even more infertile and resistant to root penetration. Worms cannot easily utilize these soils for nutrients and protection from the cold in the winter.

When choosing a garden location around your house, carefully consider the problem of which areas have the best sunlight exposure. Many backyards are too shady for productive gardens. Careful planning can incorporate vegetable gardens in with the landscaping of front yards.

Because of the poor soil conditions, I recommend in-ground composting instead of using separate composting bins for your kitchen vegetable waste and some of the safe vegetable waste from your garden. In-ground composting involves digging small holes in your garden all year about 12 to 18 inches deep and mixing the compost materials in the hole with the top soil then fill the hole. Avoid waste from meat and vegetables like tomatoes and peppers because of plant disease problems.

Over time, this process increases the worm population in your garden and increases the depth worms can penetrate in the soil.

In this area, planting can easily begin in late February with peas, spinach, tuber plants like turnips, and other greens. Contact the Orange County Extension Service for more information on planting recommendations and varieties to plant in Orange County.

Frank Doonan grew up on a farm in Maryland and is a retired soil scientist and environmental geologist. He is currently employed as a part-time garden manager for the Fairview Community Garden.

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Monday, February 11, 2013 9:15 am.

Updated: 1:02 pm.

Filed Under: gardens and landscaping

Hot Property: Actress Debra Messing hoping for an off-Broadway hit

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Debra Messing, who stars on “Smash” as Broadway lyricist Julia Houston, has listed her showstopper in Bel-Air for $11.995 million.

The traditional-style house, designed by architect Paul R. Williams and built in 1937, features bay windows, updated interiors, a den, a bar, a gym, four fireplaces, six bedrooms and eight bathrooms in 6,400 square feet. The more than half-acre gated property, sheltered by tall hedges, includes a swimming pool, a cabana and a brick driveway.

Homes by Williams, who was popular among celebrities and designed homes for entertainers such as Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, still attract big names. Messing bought the property from actress Renee Zellweger in 2003 for $7 million, public records show.

Also
Photos: Hot Properties | Serena Williams, Don Knotts
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Hot Property Archives: 2012
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The 44-year-old actress co-starred on the sitcom “Will Grace” (1998-2006) and the mini-series “The Starter Wife” (2007). The NBC musical drama in which she now stars is in its second season.

Loren Judd of Coldwell Banker’s Beverly Hill’s North office is the listing agent, according to the Multiple Listing Service.

Champ is closing in on a deal

Tennis superstar Serena Williams’ Westwood condo is in escrow. The listing price is $1.85 million.

The Wilshire Corridor building, constructed in 2001, offers concierge service, a valet, a pool and spa and a gym. The open-plan unit features city views, two bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, a den/office, a fireplace, balconies and a direct-access elevator.

Williams, 31, has been ranked the No. 1 female player in the world five times by the Women’s Tennis Assn. Her tennis earnings have topped $40 million.

Christine Taylor and Rada Roberts of Gibson International are the listing agents.

Flux capacitor not included

Actor Christopher Lloyd, known to moviegoers as quirky scientist Dr. Emmett Brown in the “Back to the Future” sci-fi trilogy, has sold his house in Montecito for $5.1 million.

Lloyd built the Umbria-inspired home after the house he had on the 5-acre site was destroyed in a 2008 wildfire. The single-level house, which has ocean and mountain views, features a double-island kitchen, four bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms and 4,600 square feet of living space. There is a swimming pool, a spa, gardens, fountains, an expansive lawn and a bocce ball court.

The Emmy winner, 74, played driver Jim Ignatowski in the sitcom “Taxi” (1978-83) and Uncle Fester in the “Addams Family” movies. He starred last year in the films “Excuse Me for Living” and “Dorothy and the Witches of Oz.”

Lisa Loiacono of Sotheby’s International Realty was the listing agent.

A bit of Mayberry in Glendale

The former home of Don Knotts in Glendale, for sale at $1.295 million, is in escrow.

The Colonial Revival house, built in 1934, has been restored and updated. Features include a foyer that steps down to the living room, wood-beam ceilings, a decorative fireplace, coffered ceilings in the dining room, a breakfast room, a den, three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a three-quarter bath, a powder room and 3,213 square feet of living space.

Knotts, who died in 2006 at 81, was known for his role as bumbling Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife in “The Andy Griffith Show” during the ’60s, about the same time he owned the house. He won five Emmys for his supporting role in the sitcom. Among his scores of film and TV credits, he joined the cast of “Three’s Company” in 1979 for a five-year stint as landlord Ralph Furley.

The sellers paid $600,000 for the property in 2003, public records show.

Filed Under: gardens and landscaping

Hawks Retail Center Becoming a Stein Gardens & Gifts

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After well over 100 years in business in Wauwatosa and 85 at the same location, Hawks Nursery, long a mainstay in local gardening and landscaping, is turning over its retail operation on Watertown Plank Road operations to Stein’s Gardens Gifts.

Stein will lease the store and outdoor retail garden center space from Hawks, and Hawks will continue to operate only its landscaping services, according to documents filed with the city.

Stein has applied for a conditional use permit to operate a Stein Gardens Gifts at Hawks’ address, 12217 Watertown Plank Road. The application comes before the Wauwatosa Plan Commission meeting at 7 p.m. Monday. The application names Joseph Kresl, owner of Hawks, as a co-applicant.

Hawks on Sunday published an advertisement in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for an “inventory clearance sale” with merchandise at discounts of up to 75 percent. The ad says that “all merchandise storewide” is subject to clearance and that final clearance ends Feb. 17.

The conditional use application and a letter from Jerome Schmitt of Stein do not specify the date that Stein would hope to begin retail operation.

Schmitt’s letter said that Stein is proposing no major changes to either the interior or exterior of the Hawks property other than some painting and changing of displays. It does propose replacing the “hoop house” greenhouses currently used in the retail garden center with more substantial structures.

The proposed hours of operation appear to be in line with Hawks’ current operations. There was no mention of lighting or signage changes.

Stein operates 15 large garden centers throughout Southeast Wisconsin. Schmitt’s letter notes that the Hawks location would be its smallest store and that Stein’s standard inventory would be “adjusted” to the size of the Hawks center and to the Wauwatosa market.

A long history in Wauwatosa

Founded in 1875 in Rochester, NY, Hawks began operations in Milwaukee and Wauwatosa in the 1890s, initially taking orders for nursery stock from its New York nurseries but soon beginning growing operations here.

Early on, Hawks used open land at several locations, including a 40-acre plot at the northeast corner of Swan Boulevard and North Avenue and a rented tract west of 68th Street between Wisconsin Avenue and Blue Mound Road – now part of Wellauer Heights – for growing nursery stock.

The company maintained sales offices in the Village before purschasing land even farther west and in 1928 settling at its current location on Watertown Plank.

Kresl bought Hawks in 1993 and immediately began work on building anew the garden center building and grounds as they appear today.

Kresl could not immediately be reached for comment, and store managers on duty Sunday said they could not comment.

Filed Under: gardens and landscaping

11 Landscaping Ideas For A Greener Home

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Photo via Landscape Design Advisor

It makes so much sense to try lessening your carbon footprint. It’s good for the planet and good for your pocket too. Also, in the end it’s just the right thing to do.

One of the best places to start is in your own home and one of the best areas to start is in your landscaping. Why? Because of how much resource wasting can take place there.

The following are 10 clever and common sense landscaping ideas for a greener home.

1. An Outdoor BBQ Area

An outdoor kitchen and barbecue area gets you, your family, and guests cooking and eating outside of your home. It’s a fun way to eat and entertain at the same time you also lessen your carbon footprint by not having to heat your home on warm evenings. A solar powered fan can be easily found online and works great for creating a cool breeze in your barbecue area to keep your guests cool too. It’s just one option from all that’s available now to help you create a great outdoor kitchen/dining area.

2. Low Water Plants

Incorporating plants that consume less water into your landscaping scheme benefits you in 2 ways. First of all, as far as a greener home is concerned, less water used in your landscaping means less water that has to be pumped from the ground or from rivers. Then because they are low-water plants, they also require less maintenance which is another plus in my book. It just takes a little research and a little shopping around because your local nursery may not have a large selection of them.

3. A Drip Irrigation System

There’s just so many good reasons to switch to a modern drip irrigation system in your landscaping, and the best of those reasons is to make your home a bit more green. Drip irrigation systems use less water because they eliminate runoff and place the water right at the plants base where it’s needed. A modern drip irrigation system also produces healthier plants because the water goes deeper. Since it’s dripped, it doesn’t force out oxygen or wash away precious nutrients.

4. Try Out Fake Plants

When most people are drawing up their landscaping plans, fake plants are generally the last thing that comes to mind. People often want live plants growing in their yard and flower gardens. What they may not know though is that today’s fake plants are more realistic looking than ever before so no one will tell the difference. They also bloom with flowers 365 days a year, and best of all they’re ‘no maintenance’ and require not a single drop of water.

5. Use Landscape Rocks

Incorporating rocks into your landscaping is just one more of the many great ideas for a greener home that are out there. Here again, they also come with the benefit that they require zero maintenance. What catches many homeowners off guard however, is how expensive larger landscape boulders in particular can be. So then why not take a drive out into the country where you live to scout around for landscaping rocks that cost you nothing to buy?

6. Large Trees and Bushes Cool Your Home

If your home is directly exposed to the daytime sun during hot summer months, then why not consider planting some large trees that can help to cool your home when they finally grow large enough. Now is the time to get started though, because they do take time to grow. Fast-growing varieties are of course the best choice, but also make sure that you choose trees that shed their leaves in the wintertime to let sunlight through to heat your home in the winter.

7. Don’t Overfertilize Your Plants

Most people, and you may be one of them simply don’t make the connection between using less fertilizer and ideas for a greener home. What they should know though, is that it takes energy to produce fertilizers and some of them are even made from petroleum products. Besides plants don’t like being over fertilized because too much of it will burn their roots, which in turn leads to stunted growth. Cut your fertilizer use to save your plans and to help save the environment.

8. Solar Powered Water Features

Outdoor and indoor water features have always been popular because they lend a natural element that can be both ‘seen and heard’. Two of the downsides though, are that they tend to be expensive to buy and install, and that larger moving water features in particular can run up a power bill. So now is the time to take a good look at what’s available in today’s off-the-shelf, ready to go solar power water features that are powered by the sun’s renewable energy.

9. Water in the Evening

If you’re relying on a sprinkler system to water then another one of many great landscaping ideas for a greener home is to wait until late afternoon or evening after dark to water. When you do it in midday a lot of it is evaporated off, and it takes energy to pump and move water through your communities system, so the less you use, the lower your carbon footprint will be. Your plants will also thank you because when you water in the evening it has a chance to sink deeper down into the roots.

10. Condition Your Soil

Then improving your soil by working quality soil conditioners like redwood mulch and peat moss in is another way to help cut your carbon footprint. Well conditioned soil holds water better which in turn helps to eliminate runoff. Plants also grow better and the bigger they grow the better they can shade your home to help cut energy costs. Then another big plus of conditioned soil is that your yard just look better as your plants produce more flowers.

11. Solar Powered Lighting

One of the more recent trends in landscaping design to catch wind is creative lighting. Perhaps you’ve already seen string lights wrapped around the trunks of trees, and for sure during the holiday season the colored lighting in landscaping schemes is always been very popular. So now is the time to check out solar powered lighting systems, and in particular LED lights. Solar powered LED lighting kits are low-voltage, so they eliminate the need to run standard household power, and because they’re LED there are no light bulbs to burnout.

Written by Rachel Sheldon. She is a very passionate writer and has a great concern on the environment. She also participates at protests that relates to the environment.

Tags: gardening, landscape design, landscaping

Filed Under: gardens and landscaping

Trowel & Glove: Marin gardening calendar for the week of Feb. 9, 2013 – Marin Independent

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Marin

Peter Churgel of Marin Master Gardeners speaks about “Aesthetic Pruning of Trees and Shrubs” at 9 a.m. Feb. 9 at the greenhouse at the Falkirk Cultural Center at 1408 Mission Ave. in San Rafael. A work party follows. $5. Call 473-4204 or go to marinmg.org.

West Marin Commons offers a weekly harvest exchange at 1:30 p.m. Saturdays at the Livery Stable gardens on the commons in Point Reyes Station. Go to www.westmarin commons.org.

Volunteers are sought to help in Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy nurseries from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays at Tennessee Valley, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesdays at Muir Woods or 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays or 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays in the Marin Headlands. Call 561-3077 or go to www.parksconservancy.org/volunteer. $5.

Rosarian Lenore Ruckman speaks about “Roses in South Africa” at a Marin Rose Society program at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 12 in the Livermore Room at the Marin Art Garden Center at 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. in Ross. $5. Call 457-6045.

Marsha Heckman, an exhibitor in “Bouquet to Art” at the de Young Museum, speaks and demonstrates flower arrangements at a meeting of the Peacock Garden Club at 10 a.m. Feb. 13 at Druids Hall at 4499 Nicasio Valley Road in Nicasio. Lunch follows. $23. Call at 492-8690

for reservations.

Susan L. Miller of Marin Master Gardeners speaks about “Insects in the Garden: How to Attract the Good Ones and Repel the Bad Ones” at a meeting of the Inverness Garden Club from 1 to 2 p.m. Feb. 13 at the Dance Palace at 503 B St. in Point Reyes Station. Free. Call 473-4204 or go to marinmg.org.

Growing Excellence in Marin (GEM), a program providing horticultural vocational training for Marin residents with disabilities, has a weekly plant sale from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays at 2500 Fifth Ave. in San Rafael. Items offered include garden plants, potted plants, cut flowers and microgreens. Call 226-8693 or email michael@connectics.org.

The SPAWN (Salmon Protection and Watershed Network) native plant nursery days are from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fridays and weekends. Call 663-8590, ext. 114, or email jonathan@tirn.net to register and for directions.

“Sowing the Seeds of Knowledge,” a free gardening class with Francine Allen, Wendy Johnson and Steve Quirt, is from 9 a.m. to noon Feb. 16 at the Dance Palace at 503 B St. in Point Reyes Station. Call 663-1075 to register.

Betsy McGee of Marin Master Gardeners speaks about “Getting Your Garden Ready for Spring” at 2 p.m. Feb. 16 at the Novato Library at 1720 Novato Blvd. Free. Call 473-4204 or go to marinmg.org.

Marin Open Garden Project (MOGP) volunteers are available to help Marin residents glean excess fruit from their trees for donations to local organizations serving people in need and to build raised beds to start vegetable gardens through the Micro-Gardens program. MGOP also offers a garden tool lending library. Go to www.opengardenproject.org or email contact@opengardenproject.org.

Marin Master Gardeners and the Marin Municipal Water District offer free residential Bay-Friendly Garden Walks to MMWD customers. The year-round service helps home-owners identify water-saving opportunities and soil conservation techniques for their landscaping. Call 473-4204 to request a visit to your garden.

San Francisco

The Conservatory of Flowers, at 100 John F. Kennedy Drive in Golden Gate Park, displays permanent galleries of tropical plant species as well as changing special exhibits from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. $2 to $7. Call 831-2090 or go to www.conservatoryofflowers.org.

The San Francisco Botanical Garden Society, at Ninth Avenue and Lincoln Way in Golden Gate Park, offers several ongoing events. $7; free to San Francisco residents, members and school groups. Call 661-1316 or go to www.sfbotanicalgarden.org. Free docent tours leave from the Strybing Bookstore near the main gate at 1:30 p.m. weekdays, 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. weekends; and from the north entrance at 2 p.m. Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Groups of 10 or more can call ahead for special-focus tours.

Around the Bay

“Olive Season Finale” is from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 16 and 17 at Cline Cellars at 24737 Arnold Drive in Sonoma. Free. Call 707-940-4024.

Cornerstone Gardens is a permanent, gallery-style garden featuring walk-through installations by international landscape designers on nine acres at 23570 Highway 121 in Sonoma. Free. Call 707-933-3010 or go to www.corner stonegardens.com.

Garden Valley Ranch rose garden is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays at 498 Pepper Road in Petaluma. Self-guided and group tours are available. $2 to $10. Call 707-795-0919 or go to www.gardenvalley.com.

“An Olive Odyssey,” a free olive curing festival with Don Landis, is from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 16 and 17 at Jacuzzi Family Vineyards at 24724 Arnold Drive in Sonoma. Call 707-940-4024.

The Luther Burbank Home at Santa Rosa and Sonoma avenues in Santa Rosa has docent-led tours of the greenhouse and a portion of the gardens every half hour from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. $7. Call 707-524-5445.

McEvoy Ranch at 5935 Red Hill Road in Petaluma offers tips on planting olive trees and has olive trees for sale by appointment. Call 707-769-4123 or go to www.mcevoyranch.com.

Wednesdays are volunteer days from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Occidental Arts and Ecology Center at 15290 Coleman Valley Road in Occidental. Call 707-874-1557, ext. 201, or go to www.oaec.org.

Quarryhill Botanical Garden at 12841 Sonoma Highway in Glen Ellen covers 61 acres and showcases a large selection of scientifically documented wild source temperate Asian plants. The garden is open for self-guided tours from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. $5 to $10. Call 707-996-3166 or go to www.quarryhillbg.org.

The Trowel Glove Calendar appears Saturdays. Send high-resolution jpg photo attachments and details about your event to calendar@marinij.com or mail to Home and Garden Calendar/Lifestyles, Marin Independent Journal, 4000 Civic Center Drive, Suite 301, San Rafael, CA 94903. Items should be sent two weeks in advance. Photos should be a minimum of 1 megabyte and include caption information. Include a daytime phone number on your release.

Filed Under: gardens and landscaping

Farm roots, high sights: Rocky Ford ag scholar outstanding in field

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It’s one of A.J. Brown’s many missions in life: to make certain his hometown of Rocky Ford is remembered for something other than cantaloupe (especially 2011’s listeria-containing melons, which actually came from a single farm in Holly, 90 miles to the east).

Maybe Rocky Ford will become just as well-known for chile peppers, a crop Brown has helped study at Colorado State University’s Arkansas Valley Research Center a stone’s throw from his family’s house.

“We grew this chile called Holiday Cheer.

It’s this little chile plant that grows up like a Christmas tree with colored bulbs on it. You take those chiles and stuff them with cream cheese and grill them and, oh!” he said.

Or maybe it’ll be winter canola, which the station is growing to see which variety’s seed will make the best biodiesel.

Brown, 19, is hooked on questions.

“It’s amazing to be part of the research that goes into the textbooks,” he says. “You learn things that other farmers don’t really know.” For instance, the promise of canola — not quite a cost-effective crop at the moment, “because down here there’s only

Get connected to our Colorado at Home blog for ideas.

one press,” he says. But the potential? Big as the Arkansas Valley sky.

Brown, whose initials stand for Ansley Joseph, is the 2012 winner of the annual Colorado Garden Show Inc. full-ride scholarship, a grant that pays for tuition and room and board, plus a laptop. The nonprofit organization also awards four one-year scholarships, plus grants for community gardens and landscaping projects, each year.

The funding for those grants comes from admission and booth fees at the Colorado Garden Home Show, kicking off Saturday and running through Feb. 17 at the Colorado Convention Center, and a similar fall show.

Brown won’t begin at CSU until this fall. He graduated from Swink High School with 32 hours of college credits, then started classes at Otero Junior College, where he’ll get an associate degree this spring. He plans to get a bachelor’s and a master’s in soil and crop science in the three years he’ll spend at CSU, and then probably a doctorate.

When he’s not at school or working at the research farm, Brown does one stereotypical thing for an ag student. He bonds with his truck, a 2002 Ford F-250 diesel. “If I weren’t going into ag, I would be a diesel engineer. Me and my buddy Ethan, we’re always brainstorming how to make that engine run cleaner and greener.”

He also gives the sermon every third week at Holy Cross Lutheran/St. Andrew’s Episcopal church, a combined congregation in La Junta.

Obviously, Brown has smarts and dedication. But that’s not all that makes him a standout, says vegetable crop specialist Mike Bartolo, Brown’s boss for four years at the research farm.

Brown doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty, Bartolo said. “The most tedious and hard work we have is an onion variety trial. And A.J. says, ‘All right! We’re thinning onions today!’ He’s got that kind of an attitude.”

More important, “he has this amazing talent to relate to people,” Bartolo said. “He is so eager to learn. And people just gravitate toward him and want to be around him.”

And then? Look out.

“I’m kind of an arguer,” Brown said. “My mom always says I’d be a good lawyer. But my role, I think, is just being able to remind people of what farming is really like.”

Right now in Colorado, farming is dry. Disturbingly dry. A major part of the chile research Brown helped with involved seeing what effect drip irrigation had on chile yields and quality (the short answer: The chiles liked it). But Brown also sees the effects of drought all around him, including grass hay, the crop his family grows on five acres.

“Corn prices were going up, so farmers wanted to do corn, and they thought the drought couldn’t get any worse. So now they’re all hurting,” he says. Meanwhile, hay prices are going through the roof.

That’s precisely the type of tough decision he wants to help farmers of field crops navigate — what to grow when, how to chart the right course between market prices and weather conditions.

Specifically, his farmers. Because another thing that sets Brown apart is his commitment to his roots.

“I really want to come back and try to help. I don’t want to leave the Arkansas Valley. I know it’s hurting right now, and I know how many of my classmates don’t want to come back.

“But I think it’s the most beautiful place in the world.”

Susan Clotfelter: 303-954-1078, sclotfelter@denverpost.com or twitter.com/susandigsin

COLORADO GARDEN HOME SHOW More than an acre of flowering garden displays and 650 companies showcasing their home-improvement and landscape products. Colorado Convention Center, 700 14th St. Saturday-Feb. 17; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturdays, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sundays and noon-8 p.m. Monday-Friday. Admission $12, kids 12 and under free; discounted tickets at Tickets West outlets in King Soopers or with a non-perishable food item.

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