Each fall, Kansas State University's Research and Extension department hosts a statewide Master Gardener conference in Manhattan. This year 270 MG's from across the state gathered for two days of advanced training classes. Not only is it a wonderful resource for learning new gardening techniques, it is a great time to touch base with old friends. Often times......... the info exchanged at the coffee tables is as valuable as a formal class!
Our opening speaker was David Salman, President/Chief Horticulturist from High Country Gardens, Santa Fe, New Mexico. He has spent over 26 years in pursuit of better plants for western landscapes. My first mental flash about New Mexico is sand and cactus. David did a great job of dispelling this idea. He presented beautiful photos of the mountainous areas around Santa Fe. The key being........ use of plants that readily adapt to the climate with minimum water and care. Many of these plants will thrive in our Kansas gardens. I quickly compiled a "mental list" of plants I sure want to try next year. You will want to check out his catalog and make a list of your own. You can find the catalog as well as many other facts and photos of High Country Gardens by checking it out on Google.
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| Davie Salman, High Country Gardens |
Low maintenance garden in Sante Fe, N.M.
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| High Country Garden catalog |
Another program was on Landscaping our home yards with the idea of making up "rooms". We were instructed to first establish what each area of our yard would function as. There are three major areas, Private, Service and public. Tips were given as to movement into and through these outdoor rooms. This is a new program from K-State. We were their first class presentation.
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Example of a landscape drawing
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Color and the use of it was a program presented by Sandy DeFoe. Many examples of color indoors and out were shown. We are encouraged to look at upscale fashion, home decorating and gardening magazines to detect colors for the next season. Not only do the colors of flowers change with the year but also the size and shape of blossoms are ever changing. Color in our flower beds plays a big part. Cool colors recede and warm colors jump forward. If we would like our beds to have the illusion of looking deeper, we could plant cooler blues towards the back of our bed and edge it with a hot orange! Neat trick hugh?
Basic Color Wheel
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| If you are seeing a color or design over and over again, you are looking at a current trend. |
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| Paint chips can be a "free" source of playing with color. |
My favorite class this year was Books, Blogs and Columns by Gregg Eyestone, Riley County Horticulture Extension Agent and Dr. James K. Roush, Riley County Master Gardener. The Extension service has it's blog at rileycountyextension.blogspot.com. Jim's blog is kansasgardenmusings.blogspot.com. He has also written a book, Garden Musings. These are both good blogs and will lead you to many more gardening blogs by checking out the blogs that they subscribe to. One thing leads to another!
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| Another blog that you will enjoy! |
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