Meeting:

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Guest Presenter:

Karen Bussolini

Garden photographer, writer, lecturer and co-author of “Elegant Silvers: Striking Plants for Every Garden”

Program:

“Designing with Elegant Silvers”

The silvery appearance of certain plants results from protective adaptations that enable them to withstand extremes of heat, cold, drought, wind, low humidity and for variegated silvers, shade.

Ms. Bussolini will reveal how to bring a magical dimension to the garden with silver-hued plants. She’ll demonstrate inventive ways gardeners have utilized these stalwart plants in containers, borders and the larger landscape, employing color and texture to create exciting combinations. Paying special attention to regionally appropriate silver-toned plants, she’ll point out those that are fragrant, beneficial and deer resistant. You’ll hear her discuss their historical uses from medieval times to modern xeriscaping.

Karen Bussolini originally trained as a painter and had a career as an architectural photographer before specializing in garden photography, writing and lecturing. She is a proponent of organic, environmentally-conscious gardening and has an abiding interest in herbs. Ms. Bussolini’s writing and photography appears in Garden Design, House Beautiful, Better Homes and Gardens, The American Gardener and Connecticut Home and Garden. She is the recipient of photography awards from the Garden Writers Association in 2001, 2004 and 2007. Although Karen travels widely to capture images of gardens and plants, she lives and gardens in South Kent, Connecticut.

Copies of the book she co-authored with Jo Ann Gardener, Elegant Silvers: Striking Plants for Every Garden (Timber Press, April 2005), will be sold at this month’s meeting. SCHS members will be able to purchase the book at a discounted price. Karen will be available to sign your copy and answer questions.

Plant Raffle

The Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden supplied plants for this month’s plant raffle.