Learn How to Plant a Desert Garden at Community Day

Palm Desert event delivers hands-on information

Michelle Roe Home & Design

 

Creating a beautiful garden is not such an easy task for most desert dwellers.

Where do you begin?

The eighth annual Desert Garden Community Day, set from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 19 in Palm Desert, breaks down the “How to …” into informative classes designed to deliver information you can put to use immediately.

Start with Ruth Watling, botanist and horticultural design consultant, who will teach Natives for Newcomers: Desert Gardening 101. Some of her pointers will cover:

Agave, sage, or cactus… What works well?
•  Find out the basic foundation for using native plants
•  Find out why it’s important to use native plants
•  Learn about best practice water conservation techniques
•  Learn what native flowers and plants add colorful accents

Desert Garden Community Day, co-sponsored by the Desert Horticultural Society of the Coachella Valley (DHSCV) and the City of Palm Desert, will help eager garden enthusiasts succeed.

The Joy of Gardening
The DHSCV has put together a series of special classes for attendees to choose from including:
•  Designing a Desert Garden: Painting with Plants  

•  Proper Pruning: Shrubs, Trees and Grasses
•  DIY Grass Removal 

•  Growing Vegetables in the Desert

Paint with Plants
Chris Hermann, a well-known local landscape architect, will present Designing a Desert Garden: Painting with Plants. Hermann will show how to use native plants to design a desert landscape in celebration of its simplicity and beauty.

The Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Desert campus will also host a variety of opportunities to explore desert gardening.

Get ready to:
•  Grab a complimentary tablet to sketch in the gardens.
•  Take a class in paper making and printing.
•  Take advantage of guided tours of the Eric Johnson Memorial Garden as well as the Faye Sarkowsky Sculpture Garden.