Gardening classes with a difference! ...
                                                            ... teaching not just the when and how, but WHY.
Gardening is an endlessly rewarding craft that brings together old and young, rich and poor, philosopher and farmer, old world and new. Few pursuits bridge as many divides or has the potential for richer pleasures. 
For over 25 years gardening has been my pastime and passion. Since 1995 my gardening classes have developed with the goal of helping gardeners achieve an integrated approach to the art of garden design and the science behind what's going on in the plants and the soil that supports them.  With a common-sense, science based, inspiring, budget friendly, and organic approach, I strive for participants to finish each lesson with a "now-I-get-it" moment that leads to decisions about what to do, when, and then how, being made with confidence. 
Gardening isn't just about an end goal, but is an on-going process that -
                             - feeds the creative spirit,
                                                      - engages a curious mind,
                                                                                                           - and nurtures the soul.  
                 Come on - join in! 
                 The possibilities are endless.     
                                                                                                       Evelyn Wolf       

scroll down for complete course and seminar descriptions.

Schedule for Winter & Spring 2010  
Something for all skill levels, with both afternoon and evening options usually available.
Registration in advance is required since space is often limited.

COURSES  (series of integrated 2½ hr lessons combining - discussions, demos, slide shows, & detailed course manual).  u Rethinking the Front Lawn   uPerennial Garden Essentials  uGardening Basics for Beginners

WORKSHOPS ( in-depth 3 hr lessons, demos, take home notes, & hands-on learning. Maximum 5 participants) 
    uShrub Pruning  uDividing Perennials   uCreating Great Plant Combos  uWell Designed Garden

SEMINARS ( 2 hr lesson & slide show presentation with take home notes.) 
    uThe Living Earth, soil    uOrnamental Grasses     uDaylilies    uSmall Trees  uTop 25 All-Season Plants  uThink Like a Plant!

Most classes are held indoors and outdoors at our display garden at 18825 Leslie St. in Sharon,
just 2 minutes north of Newmarket and Hwy 404's Davis Dr. exit.
TO REGISTER - Click Here or call anytime 905 478-7915.
Cheers! Evelyn

Workshops and seminars can come to your
backyard,   retail garden center,   monthly club meeting,
landscape crew's training,   community program group,  ...   wherever!
 
From just a casual 1/2 hour talk on organic lawn care for a small neighbourhood group to a full slide show presentation on planting a new perennial garden for your garden center customers.  We will customize a presentation to suit, or bring any of current workshops to you.  Cost for small groups would be per person as noted below, or for larger groups and public settings a flat rate can be negotiated.
Call soon to book your date for any time of year! 
 

Location, unless otherwise noted, is our display garden at
18825 Leslie St. in Sharon, just 2 minutes north of Newmarket.
TO REGISTER or for more information, Click Here or call anytime 905 478-7915.
Cheers! Evelyn

MORE DETAILS on all our courses and workshops offered throughout the year. 
If you'd like to receive updates when new classes are scheduled, email and ask to be included in
our "Outside My Window" gardening tips newsletter sent out monthly.

RETHINKING THE FRONT LAWN
2 week course. 
Keeping a nice lawn means engaging in a costly, tedious, and environmentally un-friendly battle with grubs, fertilizers, lawnmowers, noise, and a weekly maintenance grind.  Why not reduce that high cost green carpet and catch the popular wave of establishing a full front garden instead!  Think outside the garden box and learn how to apply basic design rules and to prepare a garden for lower-maintenance and lower water needs.. In step-by-step lessons we’ll first showcase the many possibilities through a slide show and deconstruction of different looks and styles.  In the second lesson we'll cover all the practical matters of creating your full front yard garden such as soil & site analysis, bed preparation, planning for reduced water needs, low-maintenance / low water plant choices, etc. - all with earth friendly methods as a focus. 

This short course is the first step down the path of a garden that virtually looks after itself in comparison to turf!  

NEW!  PERENNIAL GARDENING BASICS for COMPLETE beginners!
 If you're completely new to gardening, perennial garden plants, and the language of gardening, you may find our full course just too much to follow.  Here's a basics only beginner class to get you started right!  We'll cover most of the topics included in the Perennial Gardening Essentials course but with a first-steps approach.  We'll get you started with tried and true plants, basic design skills, and proper soil preparation.  Most importantly, a lesson on learning the language of gardening so that you can build on what you've learned and make better sense of product and plant labels, will be invaluable. 

SHRUB PRUNING -  STOP THE TORTURE! 
3 hour hands-on workshop, lesson, & take-home 24pg lesson manual. 

From essential pruning in youth to establish a strong framework to rejuvenating that overgrown lilac or sculpting a topiary, all pruning situations are covered.

Pruning is probably the most misunderstood and usually incorrectly executed garden task. The haircut trim that often passes for “pruning” is the best example I can think of of exactly how NOT to prune.  At best it leads to weak, twiggy, non-flowering plants with “bare legs” and, at worst leads to a long slow diseased death. The “haircut” trim method is literally plant torture!  After this workshop you'll clearly see why.

Most of the damage bad pruning leads to, stems from a misunderstanding about what happens inside the branch that has been cut.  Pruning stimulates growth in the exact spot where the pruning cut is made, when most often the gardener is attempting to reduce growth.  The more you prune the stronger the plant will respond at the pruned spot, most often at the expense of growth elsewhere on the plant.  The result?  Weak twiggy tips with bare worn out branches at the base.

Quality trees and shrubs can cost a lot of money, but it's skillful training and knowledgeable pruning that makes the investment worthwhile by keeping them strong, healthy, and sculpted. Only with either a stroke of very good luck or through proper pruning, will ordinary trees and shrubs become beautiful specimens.  An expensive Japanese Maple will be a pretty, red leaved, addition to your garden but with skillful pruning it can become that gorgeous layered sculpture you see in pictures. 

LIFTING AND DIVIDING PERENNIALS
A 3 hour workshop

Whether you’re rejuvenating an overgrown Iris or want to multiply what you have to spread around a larger area or share with a friend, dividing perennials gives them renewed vigor and is an inexpensive way to expand your garden. In this workshop we’ll go through an overview of the different types of root systems, how to determine the best times for particular plants, and hands-on demonstrations of different perennials to show exactly what you’re looking for when dividing their roots. You’d be amazed at just how many divisions can be made from just one overgrown patch of daylily, hosta, coral bell, Iris, Dahlia, or ornamental grass. You’ll take home a few starter plants of your own from the demonstration plants, and gain the know-how you need to create hundreds of dollars worth of new plants from the ones you already have.

  Current dates

THE LIVING EARTH
a 3 hour workshop

Most garden problems are rooted in incorrect soil preparation, neglected soil health, or lack of attention to the effects of many garden products we routinely apply. Learn more about the fascinating world that is life underground in your garden, and how to maintain soil health in both the short and long term.  

Various approaches to starting a new bed; 
understanding pH; 
different mulches and when to choose which; 
weed/pest control;   fertilizing; 
compost, triple mix, top soil, loam ... what's the 
difference and why it matters to choose correctly; 
determining your soil type and how to improve it;

If you have time for no other class, this one is a must.  Everything starts with the soil and mistakes or neglect here can at best cause a garden to be much higher maintenance than necessary, and at worst cause costly plant stress and death.    

GREAT PLANT COMBINATIONS
A 3 hour workshop on designing complimentary plant 
partners and trios for all seasons.

The huge assortment of plants available today is overwhelming and its easy to end up with a cluttered mess instead of the beautiful garden you envisioned. In this workshop we’ll talk about how to think of your plants in partnerships or trios and demonstrate some classic examples of plant combinations that work well in any setting.   Learn how to take your garden from spring to autumn with something blooming or contributing at all times through creating good partnerships.  

Seeing a plant’s shape and form, not just flower colour; 
staging on slopes; 
colour combinations that sing;
foliage contrasts; 
creating vignettes with something for each season;

OUR MAIN COMPREHENSIVE COURSE -
 

The Language of Plants. What exactly is a Perennial, Annual, Bulb, Shrub, etc. and why it matters to know.  Without a thorough understanding of terminology no one would ever be able to build on their knowledge, so this is the lesson that starts us off.  Understanding the basic plant groups determines their best care, what to expect from them, how far you can push them, when and how to propagate, etc..

Hardiness Zones Hardiness zones and what determines a plant's hardiness ... what it means to plant selection, handling and how to push the boundaries.

Thinking Like a Plant. Plant life cycles and how each plant’s personal growth/dormancy routine dictates the ebb and flow of energy, nutrition needs, and maintenance.  This lesson provides many "ah ha" moments where participants begin to understand what's behind some of the occurrences in their garden.   Successful gardening is 100% about advance planning and this lesson makes clear all the natural forces we're working together with to achieve our end goal. 

The Living Earth.  A thorough look with an amateur science point of view at the underground ecosystem and it's importance to a healthy garden ... repairing or working with the soil you have ... long term soil care that offers plants what they need, when they need it ... compost, organic matter and composting ... understanding pH (soil acidity or alkalinity) and what it means to the availability of nutrients ... mulching choices ... fertilizers.

Lawn Care. Routine maintenance, and all about the many organic methods for weed control and general health. 

No Haircuts Please! Shrub pruning.  A lesson in the botany of woody plants and how they react to pruning ... how to make healthy cuts ... working together with their instinctive response to pruning to achieve particular goals such as size reduction or topiary ... when and how to prune a shrub completely depends on why it is being done in the first place ...

Basic Principles of Design This is a topic that could take all 6 evenings in itself, but we'll discuss some basic design rules to guide your creative explorations.  Working with your site conditions ... form & texture ... balance and scale in overall landscape design ... creating fabulous all-season plant combinations.

Pests & Diseases. Good guys and bad guys—achieving pest control, not elimination is the goal. Organic protection and prevention techniques.

Early Spring / Late Fall to-do list.   ... freeze/thaw protection... when and how to keep a garden clean of debris ... when, why and how to use mulch ... realities of our climate ...

General Garden Maintenance. Identifying wish-list factors that determine how much work you need to do—low-maintenance/natural? manicured perfection? ... different types of care and their goals or end results ...  manipulating perennials - shorten floppy plants,  deadheading, stagger or delay bloom, prompt repeat bloom, preventing late summer foliage decline, weed control.

Now what!  Pulling together all the pieces and learning how to apply the information learned to some real world scenarios through exercises and lots of Q & A.   Your questions, photos, and particular problems addressed.  General discussion where I’ll follow where your questions lead with detailed explanations and take home notes.

Moving, Dividing, or buying Plants. Different root systems and how they’re best divided, and when ... demonstrations of a few different types ... new perennials can cost anywhere from $5.00 to $20.00 or more—which ones are worth it and why such a difference ... how to select a healthy plant at the garden center ... best moving or dividing time... 

PERENNIAL GARDEN MAINTENANCE    

7 Monthly, out in the garden, 2 1/2hr lessons. Afternoon & Evening.
 April thru September (two in June) learning the how-to's and when-to's of tending 
a successful perennial garden.  (A basic familiarity with perennial plants is assumed.)

Achieving maximum blooming performance and long term health of perennial and shrub gardens. The seasonal maintenance routine of the pros to achieve a garden that’s healthy and beautiful from the first snow melt to the first snow fall. 

Perennial gardens can be many things depending on how much work a gardener wants to put in. A low-maintenance and natural look with the plants more or less looking after themselves is possible, but a particular type of preparation and care is necessary to prevent problems and a messy look. If the desire is for a garden that looks neater and blooms more vigorously and longer into the fall, then routine care of a different sort is necessary. It’s all about advance planning and working together with the plant’s natural life cycle of growth, bloom and seed set and a plant’s instinctive response to particular actions - manipulating them into doing a bit of what you want and less of what they want.   ...

pruning, pinching, training, and other bloom 
extending manipulation techniques of the pros.
early spring and late fall bloomers to extend the season.
planning & planting for winter interest.
creating great plant combinations..
when and how to use mulch and what type to choose.
preparing for winter and taming the ravages of freeze/thaw.
lifting and dividing perennials to renew vigor.
earth friendly weed control.
pest patrol and when to act.
shrub pruning for different purposes.
details on many great performance plants.

... It isn’t completely that simple though—if you want your plants to work harder, more effort must be put into keeping the soil in peak condition, as well as paying more attention to planting design to make sure you have plants that bring beauty in all parts of the season.

Learning the finer details of gardening always leads to the same fact—that everything is intertwined. Nothing is ever an isolated choice—one action or decision inevitably leads to another and the whole picture always needs to be considered.

The first class will be an indoor lesson for a condensed overview* of perennial plant life cycles, principles of shrub pruning, and understanding soil life, so that what we then actually go out in the garden and do in the following lessons will make sense. 

* for those who took our full Perennial Gardening Essentials course in winter, this first lesson will act as a refresher on 3 of the core lessons from that course.                                                                                    

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garden consultations - perennial garden design & planting - shrub pruning renovation - gardening classes - seminar speaker.
Over 25 year's experience designing, creating, tending, talking, and writing about perennial gardens.

Email: Contact Us

GARDEN POSSIBILITIES,  PERENNIAL GARDENING SERVICES
18825 Leslie St.  ( just 2 kms north of Green Lane, Newmarket, on the east side). 
(by appointment only please)    
Sharon, Ontario, L0G 1V0
905 478-7915

All articles © Evelyn Wolf, Garden Possibilities!  
Call or email for permission to use any of the articles here for use in your
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