2019 Annual Membership Meeting & Lectures
Sunday, September 15
Free to NPA members/$15 Nonmembers
Aaron Education Center at Bellevue Botanical Garden
12001 Main Street
Bellevue, WA 98005
Doors open at noon for plant sales
1:00 pm:
"Designing a Dry Woodland Garden" with Alanna Matteson
Come see the transformation! NPA intern Alanna Matteson shares the lessons she learned while designing and installing her first dry woodland garden at the Bellevue Botanical Garden. She will describe how she created a smooth transition between the Native Discovery Garden and the NPA Perennial Border. She will also explain her strategies for developing seasonal interest and share visualizations of how the garden will grow and change over time.
The daughter of a gardener and a sculptor, Alanna is drawn to the dynamic relationship between botany and form. She has developed her design approach in gardens across the U.S. and Latin America. Now she is pursuing a master’s degree in landscape architecture from the University of Washington. Ultimately she hopes to work on botanically rich, green infrastructure projects that make communities more equitable, livable and resilient to climate change. In the meantime she remains dedicated to playing in the garden, believing that the most impactful design work is inspired by practiced observation and a deep familiarity with one’s medium.
1:40 pm:
"The Gardens at Sunnyside--30 Years of Living Next to the Candy Store"
with Steve Smith
This presentation is a celebration of the joy of gardening. No need to take notes and no handouts will be provided, so simply sit back, relax, and experience the incredible diversity of the plant world and the amazing variety of plants that Steve has managed to cram into his gardens. All of the plants in his gardens are fairly easy to find for your own garden. His presentation will likely spur you on to add even more plants to your garden then you ever thought possible. Remember, there is always room for one more plant!
For over 50 years Steve Smith, also known as “The Whistling Gardener” has had the privilege of working in the field of horticulture from San Diego to the Canadian border. He grew up in Southern California, spending many a summer mowing lawns and working in yards. He quickly realized that studying and working with plants was what he wanted to spend his life doing. He earned a degree in Environmental Horticulture from the University of California. After three years in the Army band in Virginia and two years in Nepal with the Peace Corps, he settled down in Central California working as a landscape contractor for fifteen years while also teaching community college classes on the side.
In 1989 Steve and his wife moved to the Pacific Northwest and purchased Sunnyside Nursery where they have been having a great time sharing their passion for gardening with all their wonderful customers. Steve hopes to share that same passion through his weekly articles, classes and speaking engagements giving horticultural advice with a touch of humor to help make the most out of time spent in the garden.
