Sessions and Workshops

Landscaping with a Theme -- Bill Vaughn, Design Manager of Landscape Architecture for Walt Disney World, using slides of Epcot Center's 92 intensely landscaped acres, illustrated the use of a theme to tie together a landscape, a principle which can be applied on many different scales in the home or commercial landscape.

By considering architecture and area development, planting design, committment to maintenance, plant and color palette and horticultural specialties, you can create an attractive home garden. And the virtual tour of Epcot has whetted our appetites for Friday's day in the park.

Bill's recommendations for repetition of colors in landscape and hardscape, using mass plantings for high impact, and bringing color up to eye level in high traffic areas with hanging baskets or horticultural specialities such as topiaries reinforced the earlier lecture on gardening in layers nicely.

Mack Thetford of the University of Florida, gave a thought provoking and visually stunning presentation on Gardening in Layers. Using slides of largely formal English gardens, he illustrated the point of creating a series of experiences in the garden by creating intimate spaces to surprise and delight.

The use of a strong visual backdrop (wall, fence or structure) helps create a focal point. English gardens are good examples of how to garden against walls to conserve space or to conserve warmth for early plants in colder climates. Remember to keep focal points in context with their surroundings. Very dramatic focal points can be enhanced or softened by creating specific views of them or allowing plant material to partially conceal them.

Vertical elements draw the eye up as well as down. Consider mixing several vines on a trellis or arbor to extend bloom season, using a mix of colors or deciduous and evergreen plants together. The addition of water as a design element adds motion and sound. In fact, the reflection in still water can be a focal point in itself.

Judi's Classes:
Junior Master Gardeners -- It was great to meet these folks. 17 MG programs from across the US were represented. I discovered that JMG's are about to have pins per chapter. So there will now be a badge system. We created some of the items from the manuals and learned that these can be used to evaluate teaching progress. I got to make a pressed pulp seed shape.

All about Bats was taught by Bill Kern, of the University of Florida. Great class! Did you know that one quarter of the mammal population on our planet is bats?! The most common bat in Tennessee is the Mouse Eared Bat. AND the Vampire Bats (found only in Central America) have an anesthetic (numbing agent) and blood clotting properties in their saliva. 20,000 bats can eat about 2.5 million insects per night. Put your bat houses out in the sun -- 95° to 105° Fahrenheit. WOW!

Lisa wrote:
The Landscape Design Game, taught by Pat Grace, a northern Florida Horticulture agent, was exactly that. We divided into groups. A master game board was given to each group. Game pieces included sheets of paper representing ground cover, flowers, large and small trees. Our goal was to develop a working landscape plan that would satisfy the design principles. It was very interesting because this design process really illustrated the regional differences of plants.

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