In the garden: What can a garden teach you today?

Sue Goetz

guest columnist

It’s the beginning of garden show season, and one of the popular and favorite parts (beyond the cool plants to buy) is the lecture series.

I love to attend lectures and be inspired by what our garden can teach us. I love to share the inspiration, too. Join me for my garden seminars at the Tacoma Home and Garden show this week.

Topics this year include:

Water Wisdom in the Garden, 3 p.m. Jan. 27 on the Green Theatre stage.

This is one of the most requested this past season. Think the subject of watering the garden is boring and mechanical? Gravel gardens, beautiful drought-tolerant plants and landscape designs make you think twice about how water is used.

Every garden needs water; it all comes down to how we use it wisely. From less dependence on lawn to the lure of gravel gardens, there will be timely garden-wise tips with rain barrels and miserly sprinklers for design inspiration.

I’ll include my favorite plant lists for drought-tolerant gardens.

Color and Texture in the Garden, 3 p.m. Jan. 28 on the Green Theatre stage.

Flowers can be fickle. Find ways to add color from foliage and décor, and let the flush of color from flowers come and go for seasonal affect.

The use of color in a garden is the one element that catches the eye and makes us stop to look. Much like an artist who paints a picture, inspirations to infuse color in your garden include playing with hardscape, plants, pottery and the natural surroundings.

Add a bit of wow to your garden!

Maximizing Small Space Gardens, 3 p.m. Jan. 30 on the Green theatre stage.

This is a lecture that shows how to maximize every inch of your garden.

There are no places to hide in a small garden. Find ways to make an impact. The emphasis will be on low maintenance and fabulous gardening tricks for small spaces that are big on design. Included is a free drawing plan for a small space edible garden and container gardens that have fruit, veggies and herbs.

Find space for outdoor entertaining while having room to grow! There will be design tips to play with scale, plus top 10 plant lists for small spaces.

The seminars are free with admission to the show.

Now is the time to plan and dream about the garden, so when the weather warms up and the muck in the garden is bearable, you will be ready to take action!

Please stop by and say hi!

In the Garden columnist Sue Goetz, CPH, is a garden consultant, designer, speaker and writer from Gig Harbor. Visit www.thecreativegardener.com or e-mail questions to be answered in this column to info@thecreativegardener.com.