Lectures
Spring Lecture Series
We are delighted to present two exceptional speakers for an exciting and informative spring and early summer lecture series. For all lectures, tickets at the door: $7 Members, $12 General. Doors open at 7 pm and programs begin promptly at 7:30.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
7:30 pm —Whatcom Museum, 121 Prospect St., Bellingham
Judith Tankard
Horticultural Obsession and Garden Design
Did you know that this innovative philosophy of linking the garden with the house to blend the indoors with the outdoors originated in the 1800's with the Arts and Crafts movement and redefined the relationship between the garden and the house? In this fascinating talk, noted garden design scholar and author Judith Tankard, will present elegant gardens of legendary Arts and Crafts builders and designers. She will examine their design concepts, plantings, and ornamental details. Judith will also discuss the work of Beatrix Farrand and Ellen Shipman, two of the most influential garden designers of the early twentieth century, who were expert horticulturists in the tradition of the renowned English gardener, Gertrude Jekyll.
Judith Tankard is a landscape historian, author, and preservation consultant. She has taught at the Landscape Institute, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University for over 20 years. Judith is the author of seven illustrated books on landscape history, including, Beatrix Farrand: Private Gardens, Public Landscapes and Gardens of the Arts and Crafts Movement: Imagination and Reality. She has written numerous articles for both British and American magazines. Judith gardens in the Boston area and on Martha’s Vineyard, but her passion is visiting other people’s gardens. Her latest book will be available for purchase at the lecture.
Judith's website: www.judithtankard.com
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
7:30 p.m. — Whatcom Museum, 121 Prospect St., Bellingham
Lecture Tickets $7 Members / $12 General
Karen Bussolini
Elegant Silvers: Striking Plants for Every Garden
Silver foliaged plants bring a luminous beauty to the landscape. Their distinctive shades of color, textures, and silhouettes enrich garden design. Their ability to withstand extremes of heat, cold, drought, wind, and, for variegated silvers, shade makes them indispensable for gardeners. The geographic range of silver plants is broader than many assume. Silver conifers evoke snowy, colder regions and thrive in the most frigid sites. Even in four-season climates where they are frost tender, stunning agaves, yuccas, and echeverias can be grown outdoors in containers and then wintered over indoors, while other silvers, including tropicals like the downy-leaved Plectranthus argentatus, can be treated as annuals.
In this exciting presentation, silver aficionado Karen Bussolini will show us some of the best candidates for growing and designing with silver foliaged plants. She will change the way you see and plant your garden with these uncommon and versatile plants.
Garden photographer and writer Karen Bussolini has been a gardener for as long as she can remember. She originally trained as a painter and had a career as an architectural photographer before specializing in garden photography, writing and lecturing. She has long been involved in organic, environmentally conscious gardening and has an abiding interest in herbs. She is the photographer for Elegant Silvers: Striking Plants for Every Garden, which she co-wrote with Jo Ann Gardner. When photographing she sees the world through the eyes of a gardener and painter. Although she travels far and wide, her roots are sunk deeply into the soil of a deer-infested mountainside in South Kent, Connecticut, where she gardens and lives with her family.
Copies of Karen's book, Elegant Silvers: Striking Plants for Every Garden will be for sale.