Speakers-2020
Choosing the Right Plants
January 21, 2020: Gwen Odermatt
Without the seasonal pressures of cultivation, the month of January gives gardeners a perfect opportunity to stand back and assess the best features in their gardens and those that need revision and improvement. With that in mind, we are delighted to present Master Gardener Gwen Odermatt, a speaker whose horticultural chops are unparalleled when it comes to expert knowledge and experience with garden design linked to plant choices for the Pacific Northwest region.
In her presentation, Choosing the Right Plants, Odermatt plans to share plant updates, well-researched recommendations and new stories with prepared visuals in time for South Delta gardeners to implement useful information into their 2020 woodland gardens, ponds and sunnier-sited beds.
Odermatt is a member of the international Great Plant Picks Selection Committee whose work informs the horticultural industry and consumers alike on the right plants to choose for a thriving garden in maritime BC, Washington and Oregon. As a member of this authoritative Committee, Odermatt is a valuable resource to South Delta gardeners providing education in outstanding plant choices according to growing conditions.
In past years, South Delta gardeners have participated in a group visit by appointment to Odermatt’s five-acre farm nursery, Petals and Butterflies in south Langley where she propagates species for the various micro environments and sells her plant progeny.
Chaos in the Rock Garden
February 18, 2020: David Sellars
David Sellars is an award-winning photographer and a former President of the Alpine Garden Club of British Columbia.
Together with his wife, Wendy, he is developing an extensive alpine and woodland garden in coastal British Columbia. He is an avid mountain hiker and maintains the website www.mountainflora.ca. David’s particular interests are rock garden design and construction, alpine plant photography and using video to illustrate mountain landscapes and alpine plant habitats.
David has given talks on rock gardening and alpine plants across North America and in the UK including the North American Rock Garden Society (NARGS) Discussion Weekend in Portland, Oregon and the 2016 International Saxifrage Conference in Oxford, England. In 2018 he was invited to give two lectures at the Scottish Rock Garden Club Annual Discussion Weekend in Pitlochry, Scotland.
He has written articles on rock garden design and alpine plant explorations for the NARGS Rock Garden Quarterly, the International Rock Gardener, and the Saxifrage Magazine. A selection of his photographs was published in the recent book Alpine Plants of British Columbia, Alberta and Northwest North America. His images are also included in a 2019 edition of Arthur Kruckeberg’s Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest and will be included in a new book on Crevice Gardening to be published in 2020.
In his presentation David focuses on rock garden design and how it relates to natural landscapes and preferred plant habitats. The principles of chaos theory are introduced together with the way nature can be described by fractal geometry and the principle off self-similarity. The talk is illustrated with images from the European Alps, the Pyrenees and mountain ranges in North America. The presentation concludes with a practical application of chaos theory in the Sellars Garden. Join us for a fascinating and beautifully illustrated expression of how nature behaves and adapts to its surroundings.
Ecological Planting Design
September 15, 2020: Egan Davis
Please note that our meetings will now be presented online for members due to the Covid-19 virus. Hope you understand.
Supported by his travel photos of landscapes from different corners of the world, Horticulturalist Egan Davis shows us how patterns in natural ecologies can inform our own plans for garden design. Join us on September 15th at 7:30 p.m. online via ZOOM to enjoy a
visual journey guided by Egan, through nature’s tapestries.
About Egan Davis
Egan is a Red Seal horticulturist at UBC. He is the Principal Instructor of the Horticulture Training Program, Faculty of Science, UBC Botanical Garden and also lectures regularly in the UBC Urban Forestry Program. From 2004 to 2012 Egan curated and managed botanical collections for Van Dusen Garden and for six years prior to that was Garden Foreman at Park & Tilford Gardens. An award-winning horticulturalist and popular educator among gardening enthusiasts, Egan returns to South Delta Garden Club to share some of his vast knowledge via ZOOM
Garden Tour
October 20, 2020: Janine and Bruce Theideke
Mark your calendar for the October 20th presentation of the South Delta Garden Club “Home Movie” on YouTube! Settle down and enjoy a garden escape with a bowl of popcorn or a glass of wine….or both!
In the recent hot days of August, Angelika and Wendy visited the incredible Beach Grove garden of Janine and Bruce Thiedeke. This garden was on the June 2019 SDGC Tour and you may have had the good fortune to visit it then, but if you missed it or just didn’t have enough time to take it all in, join us in this video and photographic compilation.
Meet Janine and Bruce as they describe their efforts to ensure an abundant harvest of fruit and vegetables using espalier and vertical growing methods and by combining flowers and vegetables in limited-sized garden beds. Thriving bee hives, the creative use of found items, asparagus hedging, and water features enhance this charming small space.
Flower Arranging
November 17, 2020: Jessica Clark, Quince Fine Florals
We will be featuring Jessica Blossom Clark, the owner and young, creative floral mind at Quince Fine Florals in Vancouver. Jessica says that she was raised by a horticulturalist mother in a flower filled garden, with an appreciation for design! While in high school, she worked for Thomas Hobbs whom she considered to be her mentor, after which she worked for a top designer in New York, providing floral designs for Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.
Jessica returned to Vancouver and in 2007, she started her own floral design business, Quince Fine Florals, which is known as one of Vancouver’s most creative, boutique floral design companies. Jessica finds inspiration in the natural world, travel, design, and decor.
After her return from the Vancouver flower market on Tuesday morning, Jessica will be at her workbench for us and will demonstrate some late Fall and early Holiday season designs using purchased flowers, as well as foraged materials that might still be found in our own gardens in November. Jessica will also discuss the most current design techniques and plant materials, which we can incorporate into our own designs. Members will be inspired by Jessica as we spend our coming winter days outside and plan our spring and summer gardens with future plant designs in mind! If you want to see some of her floral designs, check out her work on her Instagram account at Quince Fine Florals!
