Maggie Rutherford, artist and gardener at the Elizabeth Miller Garden, will dig into the nitty gritty of how to cultivate this beautiful and generous plant, from establishing tubers in the spring to digging, dividing, and storing at season’s end. She’ll also discuss some of the most common questions and misconceptions she hears about growing dahlias, and offer troubleshooting tips and a selection of her favorite varieties to grow.

Greg Butler, garden designer and educator, believes everybody loves hummers. They’ve got the dance moves of those overly choreographed gangs from West Side Story and sport more bling than a bus full of grannies on their way to a sale at Rhinestone Rosie’s. Taking advantage of our mild maritime climate makes it possible to turn your garden into a year-round hummingbird feeder just by choosing the right plants. You’ll also get tips on life cycles, behavior, enhancing habitat, and more. Accessorize your garden with tiny flying jewelry!

Landscape designer Jennifer Carlson will guide participants through the process of reading their land and making design decisions that save time, energy, and money, while bringing lasting health and value to their property. She will share inspiring ideas on selecting the right plants for the right place, soil building, water conservation, and designing garden features with quality materials. Low-maintenance plants and gardening practices will also be discussed, and participants will receive worksheets to take home.

Inspired by beautiful pictures of prairie gardens but lacking a large space to have massive sweeps of plants Susan Calhoun, Landscape Designer, set out to make a grass garden. The idea of a 4-season grass garden soon followed. The result was a garden that is interesting all year, from the first bulbs and evergreen grasses in early spring to the wheat-colored inflorescences providing food for birds in the winter. Adding plants that like the same conditions bring color interest along with seasonal changes. These gardens can be any size, in almost any location, and the biodiversity and sustainability are amazing with very little water, no fertilizers and seasonal maintenance.

Brian Thompson, Manager, and Curator of horticultural literature and rare books at the University of Washington’s Elisabeth C. Miller Library has a special interest with the library’s rare book collection that is especially rich in botanical illustration. He will share examples and tell the stories of the work by some of the earliest botanical artists from the western United States and Canada – all of them women – beginning in the late 1800s.

Nita Jo Rountree, author of Growing Roses in the Pacific Northwest, will tell you how to make sure your roses are gorgeous by choosing disease-free varieties and practicing proper care. We will celebrate the versatility of roses—how they can grace mixed beds, containers, and formal designs with equal charm. All aspects of rose care for the Pacific Northwest will be discussed. It’s exciting to grow roses again!

Join Trevor Cameron, General Manager for Sunnyside Nursery in Marysville, as he explores both the history and future of Evergreen Arboretum and Gardens. As a non-profit organization, they are 100% volunteer driven and have created a free tranquil escape at Legion Park in North Everett. From themed gardens to an incredible collection of outdoor sculptures, their board of directors and hundreds of volunteers continue to make improvements.

Local landscape designer and Floretum member Dana Niblack designed the Habitats at Home exhibit at Bellevue Botanical Garden as part of a team of King County Master Gardeners. Dana will share how the project came to life, how the plants were selected, and how home gardeners can apply the same habitat-supporting principles in their own landscapes.

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