Botany for Gardeners

New to gardening but intimidated by the jargon?  Botany is the science of plants, horticulture is the science of growing and propagating plants.  Basic knowledge of both will make you feel more secure, from buying plants at the garden center to knowing the “hows and whys” plants need to thrive.  It doesn’t have to be complicated, in fact, plants are quite fascinating and after this presentation, plant naming will be simplified and you’ll relate some critical plant functions to gardening.  Ed Lyon will send you home with some simple, easy to remember tips and hints that make science fun and easy.

    Color in the Garden

Color is one of the most powerful tools in garden design.  Use it properly and you can create a multitude of effects, from tranquility and serenity to a riotous feast for the eyes.  Effective garden designs don’t occur by random plantings; they are the results of inspiration combined with a knowledge of color.  Do you know most of our knowledge of color is based on paint and printing?  Would it surprise you to learn that color in the garden is based on the color we see and visual color differs from the artist’s palette?  This is a technical presentation where Ed Lyon will explain why color may not be as it seems.  You’ll go home having learned how to assess a garden for color design, how light, texture, and point of view effect color, and how to make beautiful color combinations.

    Color & Plant Combinations

Frustrated by plant color combinations gleaned from books that just don’t work in your garden?  Plant combinations include considerations improve on the frustrating task of finding perennials that provide bloom throughout the season.  This presentation takes you beyond flowers to all elements of plant combinations that will present more pleasing visual interest all year.  Join Ed Lyon as he shows you plant combinations you know will work because they are from the Midwest.  He’ll also show you how to look beyond the bloom to the “bigger picture”.

    Clutter, Chaos or Class: Using Creativity Effectively in Garden Design

Says Ed Lyon “I have an avid gardener friend who is so proud of a garden the rest of us call ‘eclectic’.  Beware, that’s a kind way of saying ‘cluttered mess’”.  Garden non-plant ornamentation can add visual interest and livability to a garden design but where is the line between kitsch and class?  This becomes even more critical today as homeowners are designing outdoor living and entertainment areas rather than just gardens.  Ed has had the opportunity to visit public and private gardens across the US and will use real-life examples to demonstrate adding panache while avoiding clutter and chaos.

The Root of the Matter: Quality Soils Made Easy

 Few subjects seem as “dry” as soils but few are nearly as important to the success of your garden landscape.  Ed Lyon takes the scientific jargon out of this subject matter and guarantees you’ll learn information in this class that will amaze you and make your gardening efforts easier and more successful.  In every class, the most common student comment is “Why hasn’t anyone told me this before?”  If you are currently experiencing problems, you’ll learn why and what to do; if you’re just beginning, you’ll learn pitfalls and misconceptions you can avoid.  Don’t put a plant in the ground until you understand how important the soil is to success.

Small in Size, Not Stature: Dwarf Conifers

One of the least known and underappreciated groups of ornamental plants is the dwarf conifer.  The general public has no idea that not hundreds, but thousands, of cultivars ranging from growth of less than an inch per year to over a foot a year are included in this group and provide some of the best range of color, form, texture, shape, and 4-season interest of any plant group.  Ed Lyon helps manage Stonewall Nursery, one of only a few nurseries in the Midwest that specialize in dwarf conifers, and writes professionally for public and industry.  He will show you what makes a conifer “dwarf”, explain the American Conifer Society size and growth rate designations and demonstrate what causes the enormous range of forms, colors, textures, sizes, etc. among a relatively few genera.

Creeping Crawlies: Groundcovers and Vines for Gardeners

One of the least known plant groups is the groundcovers and vines.  This ubiquitous group is so useful for many applications where other perennials just won’t fit.  It may seem unusual to combine climbing plants with groundcovers but, without support, many vines are groundcovers!  This group of climbers, spreaders, and trailers is much larger than you might think and there is a wide range of cultivars within many of the species.  Ed Lyon will help you explore possibilities for a wide range of situations to help fill those empty problem spaces as well as incorporating them into the overall ornamental impact of your garden design.

Go Native: Trees and Shrubs for the Home Landscape

It is easy for gardeners to get so caught up in the excitement of ornamentals that they forget the value of outstanding native trees and shrubs.  With recent concerns about invasive species, pests and diseases, and a growing interest in attracting wildlife and insects, many homeowners and landscapers are looking to natives to either incorporate with ornamentals or create entirely naturalistic landscapes.  However, cultural conditions of the modern home site may have been altered in such a way as to prevent the same healthy growth these species would find in natural sites.  Ed Lyon will address such questions as why paperbark birch is a “suicide tree”, why do sugar maples fail to thrive in the urban lot, just how serious is the toxicity from black walnuts and why it makes an ideal lawn shade tree, which native plants can still be invasives, and many other specifics.  We’ll include the solutions as well!

Stunning Plants for Dazzling Effects

A current trend in garden design is called “mixed-usage”.  In the past, herbs were relegated to the herb garden, vegetables to the vegetable garden, perennials to the border…you get the picture.  With decreased home garden size and the explosion of interest in container garden, we are now setting ourselves free from past boundaries and restrictions and creating combinations with colorful riotous effect.  Annuals, perennials, tropicals, edibles – even trees and shrubs, you won’t look plant combinations the same again.   In this presentation, Ed Lyon will showing you stunning, dazzling plant combinations and the plants that create them.

Variety of Variegation, Power of Purple and Glory of Gold

Have you noticed the “explosion” in availability of color-foliaged plants?  Propagators with keen eyes know the appeal of vivid color to gardeners and are releasing more and more new cultivars as fast as they can discover them.  The most popular colors on the market today are variegations, golds, and purples.  Colored foliage serves many purposes in garden design and has expanded the appeal of some plants previously considered only single-season interest.  Ed Lyon will explain what causes variegation and other foliage colors and how it affects cultural considerations; then you’ll explore the vast selection of plants available.  Panache and Pizzazz, you can have it all!

Can also do other "color themes", such as variegation, white, black, etc.

Foolproof Plants for the Weekend Warrior

Not everyone wants to spend a great deal of time “fussing” in the garden.  Low maintenance gardening is a hot topic.  Low labor requirements in planting and dividing, minimal fertilization and watering, winter hardiness and non-invasive growth are some of the issues that define low maintenance but do are disease and insect resistance, shade tolerance, and rodent and deer resistance.  This presentation is for the busy homeowner who wants more than the standard spirea and yew landscape yet hasn’t the time to muss and fuss.  Ed Lyon will introduce you to plants, from trees and shrubs to perennials, that are tough as nails as well as those you might want to avoid.

Garden Plant Architecture: Grasses, Sedges, Rushes and Flags

Few plant groups have generated more interest in the past ten years than the ornamental grasses.  Versatile and tough, they provide four-season interest and architectural interest to garden designs in an enormous range of sizes, shapes, and textures. However, they can be limited to sunny, dry sites; expand this strong plant architectural element into shade and moist areas with the sedges, rushes and flags and adds the interest of additional color and texture.  Ed Lyon will present you with a comprehensive demonstration of all of the “grass-like” plants available; there are new cultivars of each being offered annually, come see what they can add to your design.

Rock Gardens and the Plants for the Beginner

The term “rock garden” can take on many facets depending on how it is used.  In the strictest sense, it is used to describe gardens representative of alpine regions, where purists attempt to grow sensitive alpine plants out of their natural element.  In the broadest sense, it can be any garden planted among rocks.  In any case, most of the time it does involve dwarf and miniature plants, opening up a whole new plant palette.  Ed Lyon, who has been rock gardening for a number of years, will tackle rock gardening for the beginner, showing variations in the middle that may work for you.  The class will also deal with container rock gardens, such as troughs.  Whether you are looking to expand your garden horizon to include miniature landscapes, are looking for ways to garden in restricted space, want to learn more about dwarf and miniature plants, or simply love gardening with rock as a focus, you’ll find what you are looking for here.

Innovative Inspirations from American Gardens

How many times have you walked into someone’s garden and marveled over the creative use of plants and thought, “I wish I had thought of that!”  Experienced gardeners will tell you that many of their innovative ideas come from others.  A busy schedule might keep you from gleaning inspiration from personal visits so attend this presentation to view ideas from gardens around the country in one sitting.  Ed Lyon visits many gardens and has been fascinated with the ingenious innovations in landscape design he’s photographed.  Both design and plant based ideas will be shown from around the country, gardens both public and private.  You may find the answer to that problem area; let the creativity of others inspire you!

Faded Glory: The Autumn Garden

A recent trend in garden design has been interest in the “Autumn Garden”.  This is partly because the floral displays we plant in the Midwest for stunning spring and summer effect fade and wither away at the first kiss of frost.  Our yards then become useless as extensions of our home with no visual interest through our long winter season.  Neither autumn nor winter needs to be dreary and there are more ways to punch it up than with mums.  Ed Lyon will demonstrate plants ranging from annual to perennial to woody that not only define and create a spectacular fall garden, but will extend winter interest as well.  If your autumn garden has the drabs, find out how to jazz it up!

For The Love of Trees

Utilitarian.  Inspirational.  In our garden landscapes trees are both.  In this presentation, Ed Lyon combines both.  There has been so much conflicting information on planting and maintenance of trees and shrubs and it is difficult for the homeowner to keep up with what is correct and how to keep these investments healthy and thriving.  Current research may surprise you and defy many misconceptions.  We’ll discuss mulching, planting, maintenance, watering, fertilization, pruning, and other issues and intersperse these topics with stunning visuals that remind us why trees inspire.

Made-In-the-Shade: Shade Garden Design Elements

A move to a new home 8 years ago forced speaker Ed Lyon from a sun-plant gardener into a shade activist; learn from his experience!  The problem with a maturing home landscape is that all of those gorgeous trees you have been nurturing to their magnificent adult size are now diminishing those full-sun perennial beds!  Don’t despair; shade gardening is more than hostas and astilbes; the plant palette is much more expansive than many people realize.  In addition, shade opens up entirely different garden uses and sensations that balance sun inspired areas.  This presentation will address different types of shade gardens, cultural requirements, design elements, and maintenance considerations. Come learn why shade gardening is becoming a ‘hot’ topic!

Made-In-the-Shade II: The Perennial Plants

Shade got you down?  Would you be pleased to know there is a large palette of plants that can provide beauty and interest to the shade garden all four seasons of the year? There are plants that “glow in the dark”, flowers than range from delicately diminutive to exotic, foliage that intrigues, forms for a winter garden, and textures to provide contrast.  Shade opens up entirely different garden uses and sensations that balance the sun inspired areas.  This presentation includes new plants and upcoming releases.  Come learn why shade is ‘hot’!

How to Build/Improve a Successful Shade Garden

So many gardening presentations show you the "afters" with some "before" but rarely include the process.  Ed Lyon built and developed a large shade garden in a nursery over 8 years . In 2007 he moved into town and turned the entire landscape of a Victorian home into a new shade garden.  He photographed the process of both.  In this presentation he shows you the entire process and talks about how to overcome the challenges of shade gardening whether you are building from scratch or improving existing.  This talk is truly "how to"!

Stuck in the Middle! The Missed Middle Landscape

Do you have an established garden but feel a sense of incompletion: something is missing from an otherwise lovely landscape, leaving you with a vague feeling of dissatisfaction? Chances are you missed incorporating into your design the "middle layer" of plants-those plants that fall between the canopy and ground layers, prevalent in nature and at levels where our eyes focus most. A fun aspect of adding this layer is that it includes small-scale trees and shrubs that possess outstanding seasonal characteristics including bark, foliage, flowers, form and fruit. Expert Ed Lyon has recently been "teaching" landscapers and other green industry professionals about this important and expanded plant palette through a series of articles in American Nurseryman magazine. Join Ed in person in this visually stimulating presentation and learn first-hand about this important component of design, and the interesting and unique plants that fulfill it.

The New Garden: Foliage, Color and Texture

Garden design has been long-time based on flowers.  It can be difficult for the Midwest gardener to achieve the same beauty for an entire season that gardeners in other regions take for granted.  Perennials flower for a relatively short duration and staggering plants that insure interest all season can be challenging.  The modern gardener looks beyond flowers to achieve interest in the garden for 4 seasons.  This is done through examining and using plant form as well as color and texture using foliage, form, bark, etc.  Not only do these factors provide multi-season interest, they work to tie the flowering elements together in a more visually interesting manner.  In this presentation, Ed Lyon will show you design possibilities beyond flowers that will help you achieve a garden that not only provides year-long interest, but will provide fluidity through the seasons, generating additional interest.

Fantastic Ferns

One of the most elegant and useful plants in the outdoor landscape is the fern.  Most gardeners don’t realize that there are an enormous variety of these ubiquitous plants in a myriad of sizes, forms, and textures.  In recent years, there has been a virtual explosion of new selections and cultivars with no indication of slowing down soon.  Selection goes well beyond ostrich and Christmas ferns!  There are a number of mutations that provide fascinating deviations in frond shape; you will be amazed at the forms created.  Ed Lyon has photographed and studied ferns useful for every landscape situation.  Join him for a presentation that will expand your impressions of ferns in your garden design!

For certificate program:  One of the most elegant and useful plants in the outdoor landscape is the fern.  This ubiquitous plant preceded the seed bearing and flowering plants giving it a fascinating history and biology as well as unique methods of propagation.  Most gardeners don’t realize there are a fairly large number of hardy species and an enormous variety of garden cultivars in a myriad of sizes, forms, and textures.  In addition, there are a number of mutations that provide fascinating deviations in frond shape; you will be amazed at the forms created.  Ed Lyon has photographed and studied ferns useful for every landscape situation.  Join him for a presentation that will expand your impressions of ferns in your garden design!

Designed as Day or Half Day Sessions:

A Day in the Shade

A move to a new home 9 years ago forced speaker Ed Lyon from a sun-plant gardener into a shade activist; learn from his experience!  The problem with a maturing home landscape is that all of those gorgeous trees you have been nurturing to their magnificent adult size are now diminishing your full-sun perennial beds!  Don’t despair; shade gardening is more than hostas and astilbes.  Shade opens up entirely different garden uses and sensations that balance out the sun inspired areas.  The options are expansive enough; in fact, we can spend an entire day on developing a “WOW” shade garden!  In the morning, we will address the most critical factors you need to know before starting or to correct current problems.  Shade comes with a variety of solvable solutions to more issues than a lack of light.  Let Ed “enlighten” you and make the process easy, understandable and successful as we tackle the different types of shade gardens, cultural requirements, design elements, and maintenance considerations. In the afternoon, we delve into the fun of plant materials.  Would you be pleased to know there is a large palette of plants that can provide beauty and interest to the shade garden all four seasons of the year? There are plants that “glow in the dark”, flowers than range from delicately diminutive to exotic, foliage that intrigues, forms for a winter garden, and textures to provide contrast.  This presentation includes new plants and upcoming releases; both perennials and “woodies”.  Come learn why shade gardening is becoming a ‘hot’ topic!

Landscaping for the Older Home

If you’re planning a garden design around an older, or even historic home, get some advice and perspective from Ed Lyon. Much effort often goes into the upkeep and remodeling of an old home to enhance its history; the same effort regarding the garden landscape can greatly augment the entire appearance and mood as well.  Finding and creating the right garden style can be a satisfying project.  This working class will address American architecture and the garden styles each evoked and will move into the plant materials that will help lend historical perspective and “complete” the older-look landscape.  Bring photographs of your older home and property and we will discuss solutions as a class.

Gardening Basics

This all day session will cover the basics every homeowner should know to ensure success before even starting a home landscape design.  Topics include the mystery of plant naming, defining hardiness zones, the critical importance of soil, how to mulch and what to use, water and fertilizer issues, maintenance, rodents and deer, and how to cultural control versus pesticides and other harmful methods.  Whether you are a beginner struggling where to begin with a new landscape or a current gardener struggling with problems, this session will simplify gardening and explain many myths and misconceptions about the “how-tos”.  Ed Lyon will teach you how to maximize success while minimizing stress, maintenance, and expense.

Gearing Up to Design

Once you’ve mastered Gardening Basics, you’ll have the confidence to tackle the next step in the process, designing the home garden landscape.  This day-long session will prepare you to understand such issues as how to get started, what tools you will need, matching house style to garden design, the elements of design, use of color, texture, shape and form, and the basics of problem areas including shade and designing for four-season interest.  We will look at a number of home garden issues photographed off season so we can evaluate structure without the distraction of flowers.  Bring photographs of your home and garden and we will discuss issues as a class.

Garden Plant Design Seminar

You’ve taken all of the basic landscaping ‘how-to” classes and now you’re itching to get to the good stuff – the plant materials!  And where to start; the selection seems overwhelming.  Annuals, tropicals, tender perennials, perennials, trees and shrubs – you better start signing up for all of the plant classes now!  Before you do, Ed Lyon will spend a day with you previewing the excitement you’ll find in individual plant material classes and help you direct your focus where you need it the most.  In the morning we will start with the “framework” plants for your garden, the deciduous trees, shrubs, broadleaf evergreens and conifers.  In the afternoon we’ll tackle the annuals, tender perennials, groundcover, vines, and perennials including grasses, ferns, and shade plants. Ed concentrates on exciting lesser-known plants with high ornamental value so this class will be useful to both novice and experienced gardener.  It includes many new releases so come join us at the preview show!