Invite us to speak

We go where we're invited!

That's taken us all over the country and then some over the past 20 years. We address many topics, drawing from
our list of 100+ talks.

• Scan the simple list of titles (or download it) or
• Download a complete catalog of our talks & workshops.

We also continue to meet groups' needs and expand our horizons with new material and "hybrids" from our basic 100. We take the challenge to customize to your situation.

We've done this for so long we're prepared for just about anything, including...

• How-to lessons for any experience level,
• Hands-on workshops, or
• A multi-part class for your group

To book a talk

To arrange a talk, send us an email (info@GardenAtoZ.com) or call 248-681-7850. Click here for a calendar of our talks and workshops currently scheduled.

Download our class materials

You can download outlines, plants lists, diagrams and other materials related to many of our presentations; they're available here.)

 

 

 

We can also connect you to one or a whole line-up of other experts we recommend who know how to explain how-to. (Above: Janet, Chuck Martin of Dow Gardens, and Steven. Photo ©2010 Paul Rodman)

So give us a call (248-681-7850) or email to make a date. Our calendars fill about a year in advance for spring weekends, and six months ahead for most other times.

- Janet's the best speaker I've ever heard, on any topic, anywhere! -

 

- They're so down to earth, and made so much sense! -

 

- You two play off of each other so well, it was really fun to watch. -

 

A community affair: We love it. Let us customize for you.

 Many times we are asked in to help a group extend gardening know-how to their whole community. If this is your goal, describe to us the type of people you expect to attract to the event -- range of ages, interest and experience level, for instance -- and talk to us about your community's specific situation. We will take the best approach to meet your objectives. Sometimes we must charge a fee for customizing workshops but not always, because we often make such modifications as part of our continual changes and improvements.

Your presentation... was extraordinary.... nothing but raves for your talk, your very warm and no-nonsense demeanor and the way you approached the topic and made it personal to our situations.

Our club members worked hard to offer our community a great day, and we basked in the vibes from the attendees!

Offering a design workshop open to the whole community is a great way for a garden club to reach out. It's also great fun and nets new members! Photo below: Courtesy of the Historian, Alpena, MI Garden Club

 

Here's a list of topics to consider (scan it here or download it), or you can download our complete catalog of our talks & workshops, which includes descriptions of each topic.

• 8 Months of Color
• 8 Months of Color, Even in Small Spaces!
• 52 Weeks of Color
• Allergies: Gardening with allergies
• Annuals and Perennials for All Seasons
• Armchair Gardener, The
• Art of Fall Garden Clean-up, The /Winterizing the Perennial Garden
• Basic Perennial Gardening
• Basic Pest Management
• Before-Afters: Learn and smile
• Beginner Gardens /Starter Gardens
• Beginning Green: Eco-conscious gardening
• Benefits of Gardening /More than a Garden: Balm for the Soul, Glue for the Family
• Best Foot Forward: Ideas for Entrance Gardens
• Bulbs: Choosing, Planting, and Growing Bulbs
• Bulbs: Using Bulbs in the Perennial Garden
• Busy Gardener, The
• Butterfly and Hummingbird Gardening
• Canned Goods: Gardens in Containers
• Caring For Perennials  / A Season in the Perennial Garden: April to November Care of Perennials / One Hour Perennial Maintenance
• Caring for Perennials: Beyond the Basics
• Caring for Perennials / Maintaining Perennial Gardens
• Caring For & Using Your Perennial Garden
• Challenging Garden, The
• Children's Gardens
• Choosing and Placing Plants in the Landscape
• Choosing and Using Trees
• Choosing Perennial Plants
• Classes FOR Children: Adventures in the Garden:
• Classes FOR Children: Fantastic Flowers
• Classes FOR Children: Insect Heroes and Villains
• Classes FOR Children: Plant Neighborhood
• Classes FOR Children: Super Seeds
• Classes FOR Children: Myths and Legends from the Garden
• Clay Soil / Gardening on Clay  Soil
• Clipping Conifers
• Collectors' Gardens -- Engaging Harmony from Intriguing Diversity
• Color Cures for the August Blahs
• Color Schemes in the Garden
• Columbo on Conifers, or Why'd it Die?
• Common Problems and Critter Control / Controlling Diseases and Insects / Diseases and Insects
• Companion Plants / Plants Managing Without Us
• Composting / A Toast to Compost
• Conditioning Cut Flowers/Foliage / Cut Flowers from Your Garden
• Construction Damage, preventing loss of trees and landscape / Preventing Construction Damage to the Landscape / Saving Trees During Construction
• Continuous Color / Continuous Color in the Landscape / Keeping Your Garden Fresh and Colorful all Season / Primping Perennials
• Cutting back overgrown plants / Cutting Back the Rambunctious Garden
• Design Tips: Using Garden Art / Using Garden Accent Pieces
• Designing Your Perennial Bed
• Designing and Planting Your Perennial Bed
• Designing With Perennials: Doubling-Up in the Perennial Garden
• Designing With Perennials: Garden in a Box
• Designing With Perennials: Made in the Shade
• Designing With Perennials: Small Areas/No Time
• Display Gardens: Lower Care, Higher Sales
• Dividing Perennials / Making More Perennials: Basic Propagation / Math for Gardeners - Multiplying and Dividing Perennials
• Don't Know the Plant 'til You've Killed it: Learning from losses
• Earthwise Gardening
• Earthwise Gardening: Preparing the Bed for Perennial Plants
• Easiest Best Perennials
• Easy Garden Design / Simple, Successful Garden Design 
• Easy Landscape Design / Do It! Easy, Beautiful Landscapes
• Ecological Gardener: The impact of gardening on the environment
• English Garden Design / What Makes it English?
• Entry Gardens / Best Foot Forward
• Expert Perspective: From Challenging Site to Great Garden
• Eye to Hand-y Image: Garden Photography Workshop
• Fall Bed Preparation
• Fall Planting to Save Time and Money
• Fall Planting for Wildlife
• Favorite Plants /Horticultural All-Stars
• Fertilizers / Making the Most of Soils and Fertilizers
• Focal Points: True Gems in Landscape or Garden
• Foliage / Fabulous Foliage
• Folklore, Gardening / Groundhog Tradition / What the Groundhog Won't Tell
• Four-season Interest in the Garden and Landscape /Persuading Perennials to Delight us for All Four Seasons / Landscaping to Delight the Eye for all Four Seasons
• Fundamentals of Gardening
• Garden Design Workshop
• Garden Maintenance - April
• Garden Maintenance - August
• Garden Maintenance - July
• Garden Maintenance - June
• Garden Maintenance - May
• Garden Maintenance - October
• Garden Medicine Chest
• Gardener's Health
• Gardening for Wildlife
• Gardening From the Ground Up
• Gardening in Wet Areas
• Gardens of the Future
• Getting the Garden Ready for Spring
• Grasses in the Perennial Garden
• Great Garden Give-away / What Your Garden Says About You
• Great Plants and Plant Combinations: The best of the best perennials, trees and shrubs
• Green Revival: The Perennial Garden as Spring Tonic
• Hardiness Zones, pushing the limits / Gardener, Hedge Your Bets!
• Hardy Hydrangeas
• Hedges: Living Walls for Outdoor Rooms
• Herbs: Breaking Out into the Landscape
• History of Gardens in the U.S. /Thank You Great-Grandfolks
• Holiday Magic -- Plants of Christmas Lore
• Holiday Decorations from Your Garden
• Horticultural Therapy
• Hot Weather Gardening Tips
• How to Select Plants
• Hydrangeas / Hardy Hydrangeas
• Improving the Older Garden
• Indoor Gardening /Basic Indoor Gardening / Bringing the Garden Indoors for Winter
• Invasive Plants: The Situation, the Plants and You
• Landscape Design: Adapting the Best from What You See Around Town / Landscape Critique through the Windshield
• Landscape Design: Backyards
• Landscape Design Workshop / Step by Step Landscape Design Workshop
• Landscape Design Workshop II / Landscape Design - Right There in Your Back Yard
• Landscape Renovation / New Life for Older Landscapes
• Landscaping Basics: Deciding What to Do With Your Yard
• Landscaping Basics: Choosing and Planting Trees
• Landscaping Basics: Setting Boundaries with Shrubs, Walls, Hedges, Fences and More
• Landscaping Basics: Coloring Your Landscape: Flowering Trees, Shrubs and Groundcovers
• Landscaping Basics: Coloring Your Landscape: Annual and Perennial Flowers
• Landscaping Basics: Coloring Your Landscape: Designing Flowering Plant Combinations
• Landscaping Basics: Tending the Landscape: Simple, Effective Tree, Shrub and Lawn Care
• Landscaping Basics: Tending the Landscape: Handling Problems
• Landscaping Basics: Tending the Landscape: Tending Flower Beds
• Limitless Gardening in a Limited World
• Local Color: How geography affects garden color
• Long Interest Perennials
• Low Maintenance Gardens / Saving Time / Easier Yard Work
• Mail Order Gardening / Gardening by Mail
• Maintenance: Keeping the Garden Looking Good: Summer Edition
• Meadow Gardens
• Michigan Garden Kaleidoscope
• Michigan Natives in the Landscape
• Michigan Wildflowers in the Perennial Garden
• Mid-season Garden Design Review
• Mixed Borders
• Monarch Butterflies / Making a Monarch
• Myths and Legends from the Garden
• Myths and Realities of Perennial Gardening
• Native Plants
• Natural Landscapes
• Naturalized Gardening
• New Perennials / Perennial Introductions  / Seeking the Best New Plants / Plants in the News and New in Your Garden
• Nosing Around: Smelling your way to a better garden
• Organic Gardening / Basic Organic Gardening
• Overwintering tender perennials / Winter Care of Tender Perennial Plants and Roots
• Pathways: Improving the Garden Journey
• Perennials: the Best Picks
• Perennial Combinations / Great Perennial Combinations
• Perennials for the Collector
• Perennial Garden Design
• Perennial Gardening / Perennial Gardening: Short Course
• Perennial Gardening: Chores and Fun
• Perennials for Growers: What Your Customers Want
• Perennials in the Landscape:  Design Ideas
• Photography in the Garden/ Effective Photogardening
• Photography for the Horticultural Professions
• Picture Perfect Garden / Transplanting the Picture Perfect Garden
• Pinching and Shaping PerennialsPlanting a Perennial Garden
• Practical Gardeni Design/ Easy, Practical Garden Design
• Professional Series: A Season in the Perennial Garden
• Professional Series: Estimating Planting Costs
• Professional Series:
• Maintaining Perennial Beds, Part 1: A Professional Approach Maintaining Perennial Beds, Part 2: Beyond the Basics
• Professional Series: Profitable Perennial Maintenance
• Professional Series: Perennials in the Landscape, Current Opportunities and Forecast
• Professional Series: Maintenance: Staying ahead of perennial trouble
• Professional Series: Design and planting perennials - What works, what's lasted, what pays off
• Pruning Evergreen Shrubs and Trees
• Pruning Overgrown Plants
• Pruning Trees and Shrubs / Fine-pruning the Landscape
• Rain Gardens and Other Eco-Friendly Designs
• Raise Your Sights to Lower Maintenance
• Real-World Gardens: An Evolving Shady Garden
• Real-World Gardens: Fall Bed Preparation
• Real-World Gardens: Garden Design
• Real-World Gardens: Garden in a Rock Wall
• Real-World Gardens: Rock Garden on the Flat
• Real-World Gardens: Making a Garden in the Shade
• Real-World Gardens: Perennial Garden Maintenance
• Renovating a Perennial Bed
• Renovating Gardens and Landscapes / Garden and Landscape Renovation
• Restrained Garden: Gardening in Small Spaces
• Rock Gardens
• Secret to Beautiful Gardens: Not the Green Thumb but the Right Tools
• Sense-ational workshop: Designing all the Best Sense in a Garden/Designing sight, scent, touch, taste and sound in a garden
• Shade Gardening, a Practical Approach
• Shade Gardens
• Shamans of the 21st Century: Gardeners / Gurus of the Garden: 21st Century Shamans
• Simple, Successful Garden Design
• Simplify Your Garden: Save time, money, defy age
• Slide Shows and More - How to Develop and Illustrate a Master Gardener Talk
• Specialty Gardener
• Spring Tonic
• Spring Start-up: Working the garden now for a year of non-stop color
• Starter Gardens
• Successful Perennial Gardening
• Thank You, Great Grand-folks / Traditions in Gardening
• Tool Care/Cleaning and Sharpening Tools
• Tools for a Great Garden
• Traveling Gardener: Tips for Getting the Most from Your Trips
• Traveling Gardener in The Midwest
• Traveling Gardener in England
• Traveling Gardener in Scotland
• Traveling Gardener in Canada
• Traveling Gardener in the Pacific Northwest
• Traveling Gardener, Close to Home
• Tree I.D. Workshop
• Tree Planting
• Tree Planting in the Wake of Lost Ashes
• Trees and Shrubs for Small Spaces
• Versatile Viburnums
• Visualizing Changes to a Garden or Landscape / Gardener's Crystal Ball
• Visualizing Changes to a Garden or Landscape: Try it and See
• Walls of the Garden, Garden Walls
• Water Gardens / Practical Water Gardens
• We Don't Know the Plant 'Til We've Killed It
• Weeds: To Know Them is to Beat Them
• Wildflowers
• Wildlife Gardening
• Winter Interest in the Garden - High Returns for Small Investments
• Wintering-over Tender Perennials
• Year-round Landscapes