Meeting:

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Guest Presenter:

Mary Irish

Former Director of Public Horticulture at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona

Program:

Agaves for Your Garden

Among the most striking of drought-tolerant plants, agaves are exotic natives of the Americas and wonderful garden accents. They provide contrasts to flowering perennial plants and can also be massed effectively or showcased singly in containers.

Mary Irish’s enthusiasm for agaves is infectious. She’ll demonstrate how well these architectural plants work with different landscaping styles, including formal, modern, naturalistic and Mediterranean. She’ll reveal how to combine agaves with herbaceous perennials, wild flowers and shrubs, and illustrate inventive ways gardeners have used them in containers, borders and the larger landscape.

Originally from Texas, the Irishes now live and garden in Scottsdale, Arizona, where Mary developed a passion for the study and cultivation of desert plants. Since resigning from her position at the Desert Botanical Garden in 1999, she has been a regular contributor to several magazines, including Sunset, and teaches classes on the care and culture of agaves, cacti and other desert shrubs and perennials.

Mary hosted a weekly radio show called The Arizona Gardener and has appeared on countless television news and lifestyle programs, including Martha Stewart Living. She helped produce several television programs about gardening and is a respected horticultural photographer. She is the recipient of the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association Xeriscape Award of Special Recognition.

As an author, Mary wrote Perennials for the Southwest: Plants That Flourish in Arid Gardens. Her book Agaves, Yuccas and Related Plants: A Gardener’s Guide that she co-authored with her husband, Gary Irish, will be available for sale and signing at this meeting.

Plant Raffle

The Huntington Botanical Gardens provided plants for the raffle following Mary’s talk.

Location: Friendship Auditorium, 3201 Riverside Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90027. Click here for a map to Friendship Auditorium.