Friends of the Regional Park Botanic Garden, Tilden Park, Berkeley

Classes, Field Trips & Workshops | Wayne Roderick Lectures | Special Events | Tours | Calendar

Our schedule of fun and informative classes, field trips, and workshops offers something for every native plant lover. Choose from our changing selection of classes on botany and natural history, field trips to wild California, and hands-on workshops on gardening, art, and photography.

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SUMMER AND FALL CLASSES 2010

To enroll, print out the Class Registration Form and send it with your check to:

John Rusk, 1354-B Lincoln St., Berkeley, CA 94702.

For additional information call John Rusk at 510-528-0526 or email at john@rusk.com.
(Advance registration is required for all classes. Drops in are not permitted.)

Insects in the Garden: A Class for Children Ages 8 to 12
Saturday, July 31, 10-11:30 am

Basic Drip and Low-Pressure Irrigation
Saturday, August 7, 10 am-12 pm

Taxonomy of Flowering Plants I Class full
Saturday-Sunday, August 21-22, 10am-2:30pm

Plant Portraits and Garden Images Photography Workshop
Saturday, August 28, 9 am-4:30 pm

Creating Hypertufa Containers Class full
Saturday, September 4, 10 am-1 pm

Late Summer Pruning of California Native Trees and Shrubs
Saturday, September 11, 9:30 am-5 pm

Harvesting Rain for the Landscape
Sunday, September 19, 10-11:30 am

Taxonomy of Flowering Plants II Class full
Saturday-Sunday, September 25-26, 10 am-2:30 pm

The Bay Area Wildlife Garden: Birds, Bees, Butterflies, and Other Beneficials
Saturday, October 2, 10 am-1 pm

Botanizing California: Searching for Fall Color in the Northern Sierra Class full
Saturday-Sunday, October 16-17

INSECTS IN THE GARDEN: A CLASS FOR CHILDREN AGES 8 TO 12
with Maggie Ingalls and Nancy Smith
Saturday, July 31, 10-11:30 am
At the Botanic Garden
$10 for children of members/$15 for children of nonmembers

Come on a safari searching for the many bugs that live in the garden. During this 1�-hour class we will look for bees, butterflies, spiders, beetles, and other fascinating creatures. We will think about how insects and plants sometimes live and work together and other times battle each other for survival.

BASIC DRIP AND LOW-PRESSURE IRRIGATION
with Sarah Wikander
Saturday, August 7, 10 am-12 pm
At the Botanic Garden
$20 members/$25 nonmembers

Learn the basics of irrigation installation in this introductory class focusing on systems that will be easy for beginners. Special consideration will be given to designing irrigation systems for native plant gardens.

TAXONOMY OF FLOWERING PLANTS I Class full
with Glenn Keator
Saturday-Sunday, August 21-22, 10 am-2:30 pm
At the Botanic Garden
$55 members/$65 nonmembers
Bring lunch

As we move ahead with studies of plant evolution and relationships, new systems are emerging, and names are changing. This course will help demystify what's going on in the world of evolutionary botany and explain the seemingly endless changes that make learning names even more challenging. We'll also focus on key features of California's most important plant families in the field using the Botanic Garden as inspiration. Each of the two days will include an indoor component illustrated with slides and an outdoor walk in the garden to look at the plants themselves

PLANT PORTRAITS AND GARDEN IMAGES PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP
with Bob Case
Saturday, August 28, 9 am-4:30 pm
At the Botanic Garden
$60 members/$65 nonmembers Bring the equipment you normally use (point-and-shoot cameras are fine), a laptop computer if you have one, and lunch.
Have a digital camera? Want to take better plant and flower photographs? Improve your skills in this all-day workshop designed for beginning photographers with digital cameras. We will cover photographic basics with emphasis on how to get better images. Two hours of lecture and discussion will be followed by two hours of hands-on photography in the Botanic Garden assisted by the instructor. After lunch we will edit, review, and critique our digital images from the day.

CREATING HYPERTUFA CONTAINERS Class full
with Darien Eckberg
Saturday, September 4, 10 am-1 pm
At the Botanic Garden
$65 members/$75 nonmembers (includes all materials)
Bring latex or plastic gloves and a cardboard box

Create unique plant containers to enhance your balcony or patio using hypertufa, a lightweight material composed of Portland cement and horticultural additives that yield the look of stone or granite without the heft. In a workshop taught by local landscape designer Darien Eckberg, principal and owner of Darien Eckberg Designs, students will explore different hypertufa recipes and learn about plants and potting soils compatible with hypertufa. Dress to get dirty, bring a pair of latex or plastic gloves, a cardboard box to carry home your container(s), and your sense of fun! The instructor will provide all other materials.

LATE SUMMER PRUNING OF CALIFORNIA NATIVE TREES AND SHRUBS
with Jocelyn Cohen
Saturday, September 11, 9:30 am-5 pm (with a 1-hour break for lunch)
At the Botanic Garden
$65 members/$75 nonmembers
Bring lunch and the pruning tools you usually use

This all-day class will focus on practical pruning techniques for trees and shrubs. The techniques can be applied to most woody plants, but the instructor will highlight specific differences in pruning native versus introduced species. In the morning we will focus on understanding the science and skill necessary for pruning trees and shrubs. In the afternoon, we will walk in the Botanic Garden, looking at and discussing the essence of specific species and how through pruning we can enhance their natural forms. We will also do a fun pruning project in the field. Whether you are a novice or have good pruning skills, this class is geared for all who want to understand pruning our native trees and shrubs to their proper natural habits. Be prepared to spend the full day outside.

HARVESTING RAIN FOR THE LANDSCAPE
with Kim Titus
Sunday, September 19, 10-11:30 am
At the Botanic Garden
$20 members/$25 nonmembers

Areas served by municipal water systems tend to overlook rainwater as a resource, but that is starting to change. Rainwater harvesting keeps relatively clean water out of the sewer and makes it available for watering plants, filling wildlife ponds and pollinator habitats, creating rain gardens, and possibly for other non-potable uses. In this class we will cover roof and downspout connections, first flush diverters, above-ground containment options, and predicting the volume of water that typically can be collected from a roof. The class will cover both gravity-only and pump-assisted water delivery.

TAXONOMY OF FLOWERING PLANTS II Class full
with Glenn Keator
Saturday-Sunday, September 25-26, 10 am-2:30 pm
At the Botanic Garden
$55 members/$65 nonmembers
Bring lunch

Whether you took the first classes of our new taxonomy series or not, you'll hear more about the theoretical basis for changes in the classification system and learn to identify important plant families by field characteristics. Each day will have an indoor component illustrated with slides and an outdoor walk in the garden to look at the plants themselves.

THE BAY AREA WILDLIFE GARDEN: BIRDS, BEES, BUTTERFLIES, AND OTHER BENEFICIALS
Nancy Bauer and Charlotte Torgovitsky
Saturday, October 2, 10 am-1 pm
At the Botanic Garden
$35 members/$40 nonmembers

Enhance the habitat value of your garden to provide sanctuary for birds, bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects. We'll look at beautiful habitat gardens and lawn alternatives, food and nectar plants for each season, butterfly caterpillar host plants, dragonfly habitat, and some of the wildlife you're likely to attract. Next we'll take a closer look at several groups of native shrubs, perennials, and grasses for sun and shade situations, along with how to plant and maintain them, which wildlife they attract, and suitable companion plants. Afterwards, we'll take a walk through the Botanic Garden to see mature specimens of these plants and how they might work in your garden setting. In addition to a summary handout, you'll take home a free native plant to help you get started.

BOTANIZING CALIFORNIA: SEARCHING FOR FALL COLOR IN THE NORTHERN SIERRA Class full
with Glenn Keator
Saturday-Sunday, October 16-17
In the field
$90 members/$100 nonmembers (fee does not include food, lodging, or transportation)

Even after the last flowers have faded, the Sierra is awash with color from fall foliage-aspens, black oaks, willows, cottonwoods, dogwoods, maples, and more. The vivid yellows, oranges, and reds contrast strikingly against the deep green needles of pines, firs, and incense-cedars to produce a stunning effect. Add to that bright flashes of color from berries and herbaceous foliage, and you have scenes that rival other areas of the country noted for their fall color. Our trip will take us to the Feather River country east of Chico and Oroville. We'll meet mid-morning in Chico to follow Hwy 32 through the Deer Creek drainage towards Lassen National Park, then return to stay overnight in Oroville. The next morning, we'll make a drive along the north fork of the Feather River to Quincy, then south to Donner Pass and home.

Overnight accommodations are available at the Comfort Inn in Oroville or at any other nearby place of your choosing. Participants are responsible for making their own arrangements for accommodations. Meeting times, locations, and driving directions will be provided upon registration.

INSTRUCTORS

NANCY BAUER has been a wildlife habitat gardener and educator since 1998. She is the author of The Habitat Garden Book: Wildlife Landscaping for the San Francisco Bay Area.

BOB CASE has taught biology and environmental science classes in many Bay Area community colleges and also speaks at meetings of plant lovers about invasive plant management and wildflower photography. His photographs have appeared in many books, plant publications, and lectures.

JOCELYN COHEN brings the eye of an arborist, ecologist, artist, and passionate advocate for trees to her pruning practice. She teaches arboriculture at Merritt College and combines tree care and preservation with aesthetic pruning, garden design, and landscape restoration in her own business, Poetree Landscapes and Arboriculture.

DARIEN ECKBERG is a landscape designer and custom hypertufa artist who lives and works in the East Bay. She holds certificates in horticulture and advanced landscape design and construction from Merritt College, and she has designed regionally appropriate gardens in Montana and California. Please visit www.eckbergdesigns.homestead.com and www.hypertufagarden.com for more information.

MAGGIE INGALLS is a docent at the Regional Parks Botanic Garden. She has been a passionate gardener for more than 25 years, beginning with the prairie plants of the Midwest and switching to California natives when she moved to Benicia in 2007.

GLENN KEATOR is a popular free-lance instructor of botany in the Bay Area. He currently teaches, leads field trips, and provides docent instruction in botany for the Regional Parks Botanic Garden. He is the author of a number of books on native plants.

NANCY SMITH is a docent and volunteer at the Regional Parks Botanic Garden who has a special interest in insects and spiders.

KIM TITUS has been in the landscape business for over 20 years, with The Urban Farmer Store for much of that time. She enjoys teaching others about how to best use water in their landscapes.

CHARLOTTE TORGOVITSKY is a naturalist, longtime organic gardener, and garden writer. As garden education manager at the Marin Art and Garden Center from 2001 to 2009, she created numerous California native gardens, a native plant nursery, and composting facilities.

SARAH WIKANDER has over 25 years experience working with irrigation and manages the Irrigation Equipment Company in Berkeley.

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