Lecture
Spirit of Japanese Gardens
Zilker Botanical Garden 2220 Barton Springs Road, Austin, TX, United StatesTake a trip to gardens around the world without even leaving Austin. Please join Dr. Molly Ogorzaly as she contrasts Western and Eastern gardening traditions and explains how religious beliefs influenced the conception and construction of Japanese gardens. Dr. Ogorzaly, will share design principles and identify adapted plants that can be used in Central Texas. These designs and plants are featured in Austin’s Taniguchi Japanese Garden, which opened in 1969 and was built by Isamu Taniguchi. His motivation in building the garden was that “through the construction of this visible garden, I might provide a symbol of universal peace.” After the presentation, we will walk down to enjoy the Taniguchi Japanese Garden, a tranquil, meditative spot in the middle of Zilker Botanical Garden. Enjoy snacks and matcha green tea at 9:30 before the presentation at 10:00. This is the monthly Austin Herb Society club meeting. No registration is required. Attendance at the seminar is free and open to the public.
Think Outside The Pot: Alternative Growing Methods With Heart Of Texas Orchid Society
Zilker Botanical Garden 2220 Barton Springs Road, Austin, TX, United StatesJoin us for the Heart of Texas Orchid Society’s May meeting on alternative growing methods for orchids. Clay and plastic pots are tried and true favorites for many orchid growers. They are inexpensive and readily available. In this discussion, we will talk about alternative methods that mimic natural orchid environments: rafts, baskets, wood & mounts, the PET method, and Japanese kokedama. If you have an orchid that is grown in something besides a pot, consider bringing it to the meeting. Seeing other growers’ creativity may inspire us to try something new. Open to the public, free to attend.
Resilient Beauty In The Garden
Zilker Botanical Garden 2220 Barton Springs Road, Austin, TX, United StatesAs seasonal transitions and climatic extremes continue to challenge Central Texas gardens, it becomes more important than ever for gardeners to explore the question: “How do plants thrive in the wild without our help?” Matt Welch, a horticulturist, farmer, and plant ecologist, spends entirely too much time pondering this very question. Join us for the monthly Garden Club of Austin meeting as he shares his best answers, exploring the hidden ways the incredible plants and plant communities of the Hill Country survive the seasons, and how you can take cues from these tough Texas plants to build wild beauty and resilience in your own garden. Matt Welch has spent the last 35 years enamored, mystified, perplexed and often confounded by the plant kingdom. He has worked in orchards, nurseries, botanical gardens, academia, and now lives and works on the Pedernales River, canoes to work every day, and is learning how to farm vegetables and grow cut flowers. An East Texan by birth and by disposition, Matt left Nacogdoches for Austin in 2005 after working several years at the SFA Mast Arboretum and the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, two gardens affiliated with Stephen F. Austin State University, where he received his BS in Horticulture a hundred years ago. While there, he happened upon the only thing he’ll be remembered by, a pink fruited form of American Beautyberry, known in the trade as Callicarpa americana ‘Welch’s Pink.’ This will take place in the auditorium. Open to the public, free to attend.