Friday July 18 - Sunday July 20, 2014
Second in the series, Secrets of the Season
Workshop:
Continuously Crafty Color and Professional Cheating
At the Bennerup Garden, Berlin,
Connecticut
It's not just the combination of plant species and varieties
that make for April through October bloom in a garden. What counts
are the gardener's tricks for extending, stalling, and coaxing
repeat shows from flowering plants. This workshop is intensive
hands-on lessons in both plant combinations and practical
techniques that add up to a really long show of color. (Two related
sessions make it a whole season of secrets. See May 2-4 and October 3-5.)
Cheryl
Bennerup of Sunny Border Nurseries in Berlin, Connecticut
invites you to
garden with her and friend Janet Macunovich in the 3 acre
Bennerup garden. You'll learn techniques and be able to practice
them in sunny areas and shade, in mixed borders as well as annual,
vegetable and alpine beds.
What we will we do and learn:
• absolutely ruthless cutting back and delicate deadheading and
pinching,
• artful pruning,
• adding new plants without rattling current residents,
• problem diagnosis and solutions,
• design*,
• and much more we cannot list here...
... because this is the real deal. You will be working right
alongside pros in one of the best gardens in the country, right
with us to make the plan and then flex as we must to address the
practicalities of nature.
*Those who love new plants -- us! -- will have special fun in
design, as one of the
objectives Sunny Border nursery Director Pierre Bennerup has set
for this garden is to display and trial the newest of the new
perennials.
Right: Pierre, his passion for and contributions to the
perennial garden were recently covered in American Gardener
magazine. Take a peek!
The Bennerups work together on their gardens: A dream, a
discussion, a delight to be around to see it happen!
The schedule
Friday welcome and warm-up (optional): 5:30 -
8:00 pm at the Bennerup garden. Refreshments, tour, meet the
instructors and other gardeners, and start formulating your best
questions and dreams for Saturday.
Saturday workshop
Strategy session, explanations and demonstrations,
9 - 10:30 am
Small group hands on activities,
10:30 am - 12:30 pm
Luncheon and discussion of tactical corrections,
12:30 - 1:30 pm
Small group activities, 1:30 - 3 pm
Wrap up review, questions and divvying of any "spoils", 3 - 4
pm
Sunday self guided tour of area horticultural
attractions
10 am - 4 pm, a fun and idea-ful tour of lovely, innovative
gardens small and large.
Right: We learn by doing, and by talking we process what
we've done to learn even more. Lunch is such a great time to enjoy
this process!
To register
Friday welcome and warm-up: $40.00 Optional.
Saturday workshop: $175.00
Sunday self-guided tour: Free. Optional, but we must be notified
in advance if you will make the tour.
Registration does not include the cost of your travel to or
lodging in Berlin. Berlin is 30 minutes southwest of Hartford.
There are lovely, reasonably priced, places to stay nearby. A list
of accomodations will be provided with your registration
confirmation. Contact us if you would like the accomodations list
in advance.
Register now by sending an email with
• your name,
• mailing address,
• the number of people in your party,
•
the date of the workshop you plan to attend,
• telephone number,
• any special dietary needs and
• whether you plan to attend the optional Friday and Sunday
sessions.
Email that to BerlinWorkshop@GardenAtoZ.com. Simple as that. We
will send you a bill!
What you should bring:
Tools. One of the best things about working with other gardeners
is the chance to see and try different tools. Some of the
instructors' hand tools will be available for trial and general use
but we strongly suggest you bring your favorite hand tools, such as
a spade, fork, trowel, pruning tools and weeder.
Gardening clothes, including a light rain jacket and a hat. Rain
can alter our activites, and in the case of an electrical storm we
take our work indoors, but we may be outdoors in a light rain.
Temperatures are generally pleasant in summer in Berlin and
we do have plenty of shady spots to delve into if the sunny spots
are hot, but sunscreen might be useful, too.
A quick tour of the Bennerup
gardens
Green greeting as you pull in.
Skirt the door, detour through the cool shade, peek toward
the pool, then go see what's ripe in the kitchen garden.
It's hard to stop and only peek in at the gate to the formal
garden, no matter the season. (Below: left, October; right,
May.)
In the spring the woods are full to bursting with
leopardsbane (Doronicum caucasicum, below, left) and other
beds are readying themselves for a later show.
It's a plant collectors' garden. Everywhere, plants you know
and many you don't, each in its niche.
This is a garden to enjoy and one with endless secrets to teach
us!