Spring 2012 Landscaping Classes and Seminars

Spring 2012 Landscaping Classes and Seminars

Composting and Improving Your Soil (150-03-17-12)

Saturday, March 17, 10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
$35 member/$45 non-member, All Levels, Lecture, Limit 30, Visitor Center/Azalea Classroom

Register at mnarbonline.com  Snyder Building, Minnesota Arboretum, 3675 Arboretum Drive, Chaska MN 55318
There is hope for your soil. Regardless of its current condition, there are ways to improve it and create the soil needed for healthy plant growth. In this class, you will learn some of the essentials to what makes good soil and what you can do to better understand what needs to be done. You will learn from expert gardener Dan Miller how to approach composting and create a composting system that works best for your system and setting.

The Small Enough Garden (500-03-24-12)


Saturday, March 24, 10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. $35 member/$45 non-member
Register at mnarbonline.com  Snyder Building, Minnesota Arboretum, 3675 Arboretum Drive, Chaska MN 55318

There has been much attention given to the “small enough house.” Now take some of those goals of simplicity, elegance, and best use to your garden. In this class with expert Arboretum gardener Mary Bigelow, you will learn, for example, how to create a small meditative garden space inside of a larger area, or how to take a small area and choose the plants and elements of design that will create unexpected and delightful scope and greater dimension.

Advanced Vegetable Gardening (150-03-31-12)

Saturday, March 31, 10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
$35 member/$45 non-member, Beginner-Intermediate, Lecture / Demo, Limit 30
ClassroomRegister at mnarbonline.com  Snyder Building, Minnesota Arboretum, 3675 Arboretum Drive, Chaska MN 55318
Take your vegetable gardening to a higher level with expert gardener and vegetable fanatic Larry Cipolla. Take some of your favorites and learn how to incorporate some new varieties, and maximize all of them with techniques in getting the most out of your vegetable gardening space. Learn the what, where, when, and how about vegetable gardening. Find out which varieties will best fit your appetite and your garden site from an expert vegetable gardener.

The Development of Small Fruit and Tree Fruit Cultivars

Thursday, April 5 2012  6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. $15 members, $20 nonmembers
To register, call 651-643-3601 or 800-676-6747, ext. 211.
Minnesota State Horticulture Society Classroom.  2705 Lincoln Drive, Roseville, MN 55113
Learn more about fruit breeding with Brian Smith of UW River Falls’ and what they do to achieve new fruit cultivars.  Brian will tell you what is involved in the hybridization process, how they maintain the parental stock, seedling growth out in the field, identification of selections, evaluation of those elite selections. He will also discuss grower and university testing and the release process. Find out what cultivars that have already been released, and upcoming releases.
Dr. Brian Smith is an Extension Commercial Fruit Specialist who helps growers make improvements in cultural efficiency to remain competitive, improve their profitability, diversify their operations, and respond to changing government regulation of pesticide usage. He has conducted many in-depth fruit schools, organizes the berry portion of the Wisconsin statewide grower conference and regularly teaches Master Gardeners.

Grow Your Own Food (500-04-07-12)


Saturday, April 7, 10 a.m. – Noon $35 member/$45 non-member
Register at mnarbonline.com  Snyder Building, Minnesota Arboretum, 3675 Arboretum Drive, Chaska MN 55318



Whether you have a postage-stamp sized urban lot or spacious farmyard, you can grow an abundance of your own food. Learn about some of the best choices for your vegetable garden from lifetime gardener and Arboretum Director of Education Tim Kenny. For a variety to become one of his favorites it must be easy to grow, harvest, and prepare in the kitchen. Selections must be relatively insect and disease free and promise fabulous flavor. By the end of the class, you’ll have a list of favorites, know where to purchase them, how to grow them, and have easy-to-make recipes featuring the selections. Class is lecture style with plenty of photographs, recollections, opinions, and seed catalog references. Suitable for beginner to advanced gardeners.

Any Tree can Become an Espalier

Tuesday, April 10, 2012 6:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m. $15 members, $20 nonmembers
To resigister; call 651-643-3601 or 800-676-6747, ext.211
Minnesota State Horticulture Society Classroom, 2705 Lincoln Drive, Roseville, MN 55113

Add interest to a wall, side of a building, or fence by planting a young tree and training an espalier. This class covers non-fruit bearing espaliers for part-sun or shady spots: easy to prune, disease-resistant and twelve months of charm every year.
Instructor Katherine Aby has initiated and maintained over 80 espaliers for private and institutional clients in the last 15 years.  She is the author of Espalier: Essentials of the Candelabra Pattern. For more information, visit www.espalierservices.com.

Conserving Butterflies, Bees & Good Bugs – and Killing the Pests

Tuesday, April 24, 2012 6:30 p.m. 8:00 p.m. $15 members, $20 nonmembers
To resigister; call 651-643-3601 or 800-676-6747, ext.211
Minnesota State Horticulture Society Classroom, 2705 Lincoln Drive, Roseville, MN 55113

Sharing your garden with butterflies, bees, and bugs that will eat your pests requires an understanding of how insecticides work. It is easy to manage for good bugs once you have learned the details provided by this workshop.  Also, Vera will explain how to add certain plants to the garden to provide food for good bugs to reduce pest numbers.
Instructor Dr. Vera Krischik is an associate professor at the University of Minnesota in the Department of Entomology.  She is interested in increasing the use of Integrated Pest Management to reduce insect problems in the Twin Cities.