Participants at the Rutgers Home Gardener School learn from an outdoor demonstration by Robert Belleck, owner of Lily Pad Ponds, LLC, teaching a pond design & installation hands-on workshop. This year Belleck will teach a “pondless” water feature workshop.
Home Gardeners School returns on March 21 with 26 expert instructors
and 35 workshop choices for plant lovers
Plant enthusiasts will have the opportunity to learn innovative gardening and landscaping techniques from 26 of the state’s top home horticulture experts at the 39th Annual Rutgers Home Gardeners School on Saturday, March 21, 2015. Held from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on the Cook/Douglass campus at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, the program features 35 different interactive workshops covering a wide range of subjects from composting and irrigation to beekeeping and canning.
This year, Bruce Crawford, director of Rutgers Gardens, will be teaching three workshops: Exotic Plants for NJ Gardens; Color Theory for the Gardener; and 400 Million Years – The Story of Plants on Earth.
For those who prefer to learn by doing, there are several workshops with hands-on activities, such as building a “pondless” water garden, creating a terrarium or learning the art of fresh flower arranging. This year’s Home Gardeners School offers 16 brand new workshops including color theory, bulb selection, meadowscaping, hydroponics and more. Attendees can create their own schedules by selecting the workshops that are most relevant to their gardening interests for a truly customized and exciting day of learning.
The expert speakers represent both commercial horticulture and landscape design firms along with faculty and staff from Rutgers Cooperative Extension and School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. They will provide homeowners with the opportunity to learn from the best in the business. The lunchtime program will feature a special presentation by Peter Pascale CCC, Executive Chef at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset, who will be doing a live cooking demonstration featuring local Jersey Fresh produce.
Between classes, participants can peruse plants and books at the Home Gardeners School plant sale.
During breaks, participants can browse gardening and landscaping volumes at the book sale or purchase a plant, knowing that all proceeds of the plant sale will support the Rutgers Gardens (plants can be held for end-of-day pick-up). They can also learn about soil health and purchase soil testing kits from the Rutgers Soil Testing Laboratory or expand their horizons with other organizations represented: Gardener News, NJ Farm Bureau, NJ Landscape Contractors Association, NJ Nursery and Landscape Association, NJ Beekeepers Association, Garden Club of NJ, Jersey Fresh, CoCoRahs, NJ Deer Control, Flower Station and EcoBeneficial, to name just a few.
The registration fee is $60 until March 10; $75 after (discounts offered to Rutgers Master Gardeners). Bring your own bag lunch or purchase a $10 box lunch when you register. Pre-registration is recommended; some workshops have limited seats.
For more information, workshop descriptions or to register, visit www.cpe.rutgers.edu/HGS or call the Rutgers Office of Continuing Professional Education at 732-932-9271.
