I would like to find a speaker for our garden club which meets at the Phinney Neighborhood Center in northwest Seattle. We are a small general interest club. Do you have any suggestions for resources for finding people willing to talk to our club, on topics such as winter interest in the garden?
Here is a link to the King County Master Gardeners Speakers Bureau, with a list of presentation topics and instructions for requesting a speaker. The Arboretum Foundation may still maintain a list of speakers; you can contact them directly at info@arboretumfoundation.org
Do you know of any correspondence courses concerning landscape design criticism and critique?
There is a book called North American Horticulture–A Reference Guide, compiled by the American Horticultural Society (second edition, 1992, edited by Thomas M. Barrett). The book includes a chapter on education, including correspondence courses.
Three community colleges in the Puget Sound area offer horticulture degrees, and they might know something about correspondence programs. They are Edmonds Community College Horticulture and South Seattle College Horticulture, and Lake Washington Institute of Technology.
More colleges and universities are offering online courses now. Here are two examples :
I am interested in finding a speaker in the Seattle area who can talk about environmental issues, such as conservation, ecology, sustainable gardening, and so on. Can you help?
You can try contacting Seattle Tilth at 206-633-0451, or email them at tilth@seattletilth.org.
Plant Amnesty may be able to help you (206-783-9813), or email them at info@plantamnesty.org.
Other resources include:
King County (Washington) Master Gardeners maintain a speakers list. The speakers address a wide variety of gardening topics.
The Arboretum Foundation has also had a speakers list. I’m not sure whether it is maintained now, but you could ask at info@arboretumfoundation.org.
I am going to create container plantings for some customers, and I wonder if you know the best source (book) for combining plants in containers. Also, where might I take a class in container planting?
The Miller Library has a large number of books in its online catalog on container planting, but here are a few which may be helpful to you:
Container Gardens by Number by Bob Purnell (Reader\’s Digest, 2004)
Contain Yourself by Kerstin Ouellet (Ball Publishing, 2003)
The Complete Book of Container Gardening edited by Alan Toogood (Quarto Publishing, 1991)
The Book of Container Gardening by Malcolm Hillier (Simon & Schuster, 1991)
A Practical Step-by-Step Guide to Complete Container Gardening compiled by Ideas into Print (Whitecap Books, 1997)
This booklist will give you an idea of the selection of books on the topic.
UW Botanic Gardens occasionally offers classes on container planting,
as does Seattle Tilth.
Also, some local nurseries occasionally offer classes. One example is Swanson’s Nursery.
Do any colleges or universities in the Seattle area have programs on horticultural therapy?
At one time, Edmonds Community College offered a certificate in therapeutic horticulture but they do not any longer. You can find other programs available around the U.S. on the website of the American Horticultural Therapy Association.
The University of Washington doesn’t offer a horticultural therapy program, though there may be individual courses through the department of Landscape Architecture. Professor Daniel Winterbottom specializes in “ecological urban design and the role of restorative/healing landscapes in the built environment.” The Miller Library has a good selection of books and articles on the horticultural therapy, including information about making raised beds, appropriate tools, gardening for the differently abled, and the like. This booklist will give you an idea of the resources available. For information about library hours and directions, go here.