Classes

Spring 2009 Education Program

To register by phone, call Gamble Garden at (650) 329-1356 weekdays from 9AM to noon.

Become a Member and receive your membership discount as well as advance notice of future classes in your semi-monthly newsletter.

Dahlias with Deborah Dietz
Date:	Friday, April 17, 10:00AM to noon
Fee:	$30 member, $40 non-member; class limit 25
Location:	Carriage House
Dahlias yield more cut flowers per square inch of garden than almost any other flower. In the Bay Area they can bloom from Flag Day to Thanksgiving, yielding colorful pleasure for months. Come learn how to jump start tubers with a hands-on planting. From slides and lecture, you will learn the 3 ways to propagate dahlias, the 15 colors, the 18 various forms, and practical tips for maximizing your dahlia growing success. Learn how dahlias can be used in containers, color spots, or even dedicated dahlia dells. Discover clever solutions for thwarting dahlia enemies such as aphids, gophers, caterpillars, powdery mildew, or too much sun. (This is a hands-on class. Each class member should bring a ½ gallon coated paper milk or juice carton, cleaned and dried, in which our tubers will be planted. Tubers and planting medium are included in the registration fee.) Register online for this class Deborah Dietz has been growing and showing dahlias for 25 years, including supervising the dahlia collection in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. Editor of the Dahlia Society of California newsletter, she judges national dahlia competitions and was just named to the Dahlia Mentor Hall of Fame by the American Dahlia Society. Her friends affectionately call her the “Dahlia Llama.”

Herb Gardens: Growing and Designing with Niki Muller
Date:	Saturday, April 18, 9:00 to 11:00AM
Fee:	$25 member, $35 non-member; class limit 25
Location:	Carriage House
Gamble Garden welcomes back Niki Muller with a comprehensive class on herbs. Learn how to grow, propagate, and care for herbs; how to design an herb garden; and how to incorporate herbs into an existing landscape. Niki will cover the many uses of herbs in our everyday lives. She will discuss their culinary uses in seasonings and beverages, their uses in toiletries with soaps and perfumes, and their uses in medicine and healing and as disinfectants. Niki will also cover their use in religion, with incense and candles. Register online for this class Niki Muller, Master Gardener, has been growing and using herbs all her life. She was born in South Africa and has lived in England and in the United States. She has now spent 30 years growing and gardening with herbs in California.

Glorious Succulents in Containers with Linda Roark
Date:	Saturday, May 9, 10:00AM to noon
Fee:	$40 member, $50 non-member; class limit 20
Location:	Carriage House
Discover how to care for succulents, the new water-wise darlings of the plant world. Linda Roark, designer of Gamble’s beautiful succulent container gardens, will talk about choosing containers, proper care, and assembling a garden. Each person will take home a container garden, assembled under Linda’s instruction. You will choose from a variety of succulents provided by Gamble. This is a hands-on class. Participants should be prepared to work outside at a table with their hands in soil. Register online for this class Linda Roark has been a volunteer at Gamble Garden for over three years. Her love and interest in succulents and gardening has been a lifelong passion. She admires succulents for their textural diversity and drama. She has designed and assembled the beautiful succulent gardens for sale at the Spring Tour Plant Sale. Some of her gardens will be available for sale at the class.

Creating Hand-tied Bouquets with Alena Whiting
Date:	Thursday, May 14, 1:00 to 3:00PM
Fee:	$45 member, $55 non-member; class limit 20
Location:	Carriage House
Hand-tied bouquets can be simple and sweet, or breathtakingly sophisticated. They range from favors for your daughter’s birthday party to bridal bouquets. Alena Whiting will teach you which flowers and foliage work best and how to make them last. With Alena’s guidance you will take home a beautiful and polished bouquet, and the techniques for making them on your own. Register online for this class Alena Whiting is the owner of Alena Jean Flower Shop and Nursery in Half Moon Bay which she established in 2005. She graduated from the College of San Mateo floral design program in 2002 and from San Francisco State University in 2004 with a major in sculpture and ceramics. She has participated in Bouquets to Art at the De Young Museum in San Francisco.

Revisit a Garden from the Spring Tour with Maureen Decombe
Date:	Wednesday, May 27, 10:00AM to noon
Fee:	$25 member, $35 non-member; class limit 25
Location:	Carriage House
Gamble Garden invites you to revisit one of our gardens, Whimsical Woodland, from the 2009 Spring Tour for a behind-the-scenes look at the design process, plant choices, and maintenance plan for this diverse and interesting garden. We will meet at Gamble Garden for a brief slide show and discussion, and then walk to the garden for a tour with the designer. Register online for this class Maureen Decombe is the owner of Green Willow Gardens, a garden design and maintenance company dedicated to creating and maintaining ecological and edible gardens.

GARDENING BASICS FOR BEGINNERS
Are you a brand new gardener who needs help from the ground up? Gamble Garden offers basic classes each season to meet your needs; noone needs to feel intimidated about asking simple questions in these classes. Get started right in gardening and make your garden a source of pleasure rather than a chore or another monthly expense. Check back each season for classes in this series.