Classes
Looking for a program?
I teach several 2-hour classes at the Chicago Botanic Garden, Olbrich Botanical Gardens, and 1-hour programs for garden clubs and libraries, including:
American Home Garden Design 1830-Present: Draw inspiration for your own home, no matter what age or style, as you look at garden design evolution in the Midwest. Learn about design trends, the rise of the suburban lawn, foundation plantings, cottage gardens, moon gardens, and heirloom plants.
The Arts and Crafts Garden: Arts and Crafts-inspired houses built more than a century ago—from bungalows and Tudor-style homes to craftsman cottages and the American Foursquare—can be found in cities, suburbs, and small towns across the country. Their charming designs were meant to be in harmony with nature and outdoor living. Discover elements of the Arts and Crafts movement and its impact on garden design, outdoor structures, and plant choices.
Attract Hummingbirds to Your Garden: Ruby-throated hummingbirds are frequent inhabitants in the midwest during the summer. Learn how to attract them.
Autumn Planning for Next Year's Veggie Garden: Fall is a great time to start planning next year’s vegetable and herb gardens. Learn about soil preparation and tests, vegetable garden layouts, heirloom and modern cultivars, and when and how to plant for a continued, flavorful harvest.
Bungalow Gardens: Bungalows and Arts and Crafts-inspired houses are typically charming smaller homes found in cities and suburbs across the country. These popular style homes are appealing because they were often designed to be in harmony with nature and outdoor living. Discover how plants, hardscape, and other elements can enhance your own bungalow garden.
Designing the Sunny Border Garden: The well-designed border wears a combination of perennials, annuals, and shrubs that provide three seasons of color and winter interest. Learn how to artfully combine plants with an emphasis on the use of color, texture, and form. Whether you are a new gardener or have an established border that could use updating, this class is for you.
Growing, Harvesting, Using and Storing Herbs: It's not difficult to grow a variety of herbs in a sunny place in the ground, on a patio, or on a deck. Discover what's needed to grow healthy plants, how and when to harvest them, how to store them, and how to use them. Rosemary, bay leaves, thyme, basil, and oregano are staple herbs for cooks, and there are many more that are just as easy to grow. In summer, herbs attract pollinators and add fragrance to the garden, and in winter, they can brighten a kitchen counter or windowsill.
Gardens of the 1920s: Home gardens in the 1920s celebrated and welcomed nature. Birdhouses, bird baths, fish ponds, and rock gardens were all the rage. Cottage garden perennials, such as Canterbury bells, irises, foxglove, phlox, pyrethrum, coreopsis, hollyhocks, roses, columbine, and poppies were just some of the flowers that adorned the front and back gardens.
Cottage Gardens: Past & Present: Cottage gardens are known for their informal, colorful jumble of flowers, foliage, herbs, and edible plants. We will cover design elements for lower-maintenance, exuberant plantings that can be used in gardens of any size.
Earth-friendly Gardens: Sustainable Practices for Making Your Garden Greener
Fallscaping: The Best Plants for Fall Color Discover the value that native perennials offer the environment and wildlife. Learn what you can do to provide native habitat in your own garden while helping local pollinators and nectar-seeking insects. Explore interesting plant combinations, including natives and native cultivars, for both sun and shade. Gardening for Birds, Butterflies, Bees: The plight of pollinators and nectar-feeding insects is well known. Honeybees, native bees, monarch butterflies, moths, and many lesser-known insects rely mainly on native plants for survival and reproduction. Explore recommended pollinator-attracting plants for Midwest gardens including native and nonnative cultivars, and nectar-rich varieties.
Gardens of the Pros: A look at the home gardens of midwestern landscape architects, designers and others in the green industry. * Grow a Salsa Garden: Learn how to grow the ingredients for your own fresh salsa.
Gardening for Butterflies, Hummingbirds and Other Winged Wonders
Growing Cool-season Edibles: Make the Most of Your Spring Veggie Garden
Grow a Cut-Flower Garden: Discover new ideas about what to plant and how to harvest and care for cut flowers. You'll learn simple techniques for creating beautiful arrangements. The Gardener as Artist: Thinking outside the Phlox, coloring outside the lines. Yes, you ARE an artist in your garden. This program looks at public and private gardens—from quirky and magical to the elegant and innovative (and their creators)—and the plants and garden art within them. If you need inspiration, this is for you.
Grow a Cook's Garden: If you have a spot in your garden, balcony, or deck that receives more than six hours of direct sunlight, you can grow herbs and vegetables. Discover how to grow tomatoes, onions, peppers, squash, garlic, and leafy greens. Learn plant selection, soil preparation, potting methods, pest protection, extending crops into fall, and food preparation.
Gardens for Mid-Century Modern Homes: A well-designed midcentury house is a thing of beauty. Open floor plans, large window walls, exposed beams, and projecting eaves are just some of the defining architectural features. Well-defined outdoor space, floor-level patios, abstract geometric lawns, and restrained plantings are characteristic of midcentury landscapes. The overall intent is a flowing relationship between indoor and outdoor space. This program looks at hardscape elements, garden elements, lighting, site furnishings and plants appropriate for the Midwestern midcentury modern-style landscapes.
Growing and Using Herbs for Cocktails, Mocktails and Tea: Make your own beverages with fresh, organically grown herbs from your own garden, containers or window boxes. We'll discuss how to grow, harvest and prepare your own hot and cold beverages.
Native Perennials and Cultivars for the Shade Garden: Take your shade garden beyond hostas with native wildflowers for spring, flowering perennials for summer and late-blooming
Native Perennials and Cultivars for the Sunny Garden: Discover shrubs, perennials, and grasses for the home garden that offer great fall color with they
The Elegant Edible Garden: A potager is an elegant, productive kitchen garden—large or small—that provides seasonal vegetables, berries, and cutting flowers. Discover the elements that make attractive, functional layouts for your home, provide a wonderful harvest, and attract pollinators. Painting Your Garden with Plants: Shade: A garden shaded by trees or buildings is often a challenge for the gardener who is faced with low light levels, tree roots, and soil that is often dry. Discover solutions and ideas for artful plantings that can help you create effective combinations with optimal color, texture, and form.
Totally Tomatoes: It’s not summer without a bounty of juicy tomatoes. Discover how to select, grow, harvest, store, and prepare these nutritious fruits as well as onions, peppers, shallots, basil, and cilantro. Everything you need for a basic salsa and sauce can come straight from your garden. Discover different varieties--from determinate to indeterminate tomatoes to heirlooms and All- America Selection winners; prepare the soil, train the plants, harvest and use your bounty of these delicious fruits.
Indoor Plants: Choosing, Growing, Displaying and Enjoying!
Prairie Flowers and Native Grasses for the Home Landscape Grow This, Not That--Alternatives to Invasive and Aggressive Plants
The Summer Vegetable Garden: Growing Warm-season Edibles
The Edible Patio: Herbs & Veggies for Containers
The White Garden: Creating Magnificent Moonlit Spaces for the Evening Garden: This program is based on my book of the same title. Discover how to make your garden enticing at dusk and beyond.
Tantalizing Tablescapes: Clever Ideas for Making Containers and Floral Arrangements * Container Gardening: Pots with Panache: Adding containers helps to create a dazzling display. This one- or two-hour program explores pots, potting mixes, planting techniques, maintenance, and a variety of plant to create four-season interest. Victory Gardens:—Then & Now: This class looks at the history of war gardens and victory gardens and discusses new and heirloom vegetables as well as planting techniques to help you create your own victory garden.
Victorian Theme Gardens: From cottage gardens and moon gardens to cut-flower borders and carpet beds. Discover the ways Victorian gardeners used plants and accessories to make their home landscape unique.
Bungalow Gardens: Bungalows and Arts and Crafts-inspired houses are typically charming smaller homes found in cities and suburbs across the country. These popular style homes are appealing because they were often designed to be in harmony with nature and outdoor living. Discover how plants, hardscape, and other elements can enhance your own bungalow garden.
Designing the Sunny Border Garden: The well-designed border wears a combination of perennials, annuals, and shrubs that provide three seasons of color and winter interest. Learn how to artfully combine plants with an emphasis on the use of color, texture, and form. Whether you are a new gardener or have an established border that could use updating, this class is for you.
Growing, Harvesting, Using and Storing Herbs: It's not difficult to grow a variety of herbs in a sunny place in the ground, on a patio, or on a deck. Discover what's needed to grow healthy plants, how and when to harvest them, how to store them, and how to use them. Rosemary, bay leaves, thyme, basil, and oregano are staple herbs for cooks, and there are many more that are just as easy to grow. In summer, herbs attract pollinators and add fragrance to the garden, and in winter, they can brighten a kitchen counter or windowsill.
Gardens of the 1920s: Home gardens in the 1920s celebrated and welcomed nature. Birdhouses, bird baths, fish ponds, and rock gardens were all the rage. Cottage garden perennials, such as Canterbury bells, irises, foxglove, phlox, pyrethrum, coreopsis, hollyhocks, roses, columbine, and poppies were just some of the flowers that adorned the front and back gardens.
Cottage Gardens: Past & Present: Cottage gardens are known for their informal, colorful jumble of flowers, foliage, herbs, and edible plants. We will cover design elements for lower-maintenance, exuberant plantings that can be used in gardens of any size.
Earth-friendly Gardens: Sustainable Practices for Making Your Garden Greener
Fallscaping: The Best Plants for Fall Color Discover the value that native perennials offer the environment and wildlife. Learn what you can do to provide native habitat in your own garden while helping local pollinators and nectar-seeking insects. Explore interesting plant combinations, including natives and native cultivars, for both sun and shade. Gardening for Birds, Butterflies, Bees: The plight of pollinators and nectar-feeding insects is well known. Honeybees, native bees, monarch butterflies, moths, and many lesser-known insects rely mainly on native plants for survival and reproduction. Explore recommended pollinator-attracting plants for Midwest gardens including native and nonnative cultivars, and nectar-rich varieties.
Gardens of the Pros: A look at the home gardens of midwestern landscape architects, designers and others in the green industry. * Grow a Salsa Garden: Learn how to grow the ingredients for your own fresh salsa.
Gardening for Butterflies, Hummingbirds and Other Winged Wonders
Growing Cool-season Edibles: Make the Most of Your Spring Veggie Garden
Grow a Cut-Flower Garden: Discover new ideas about what to plant and how to harvest and care for cut flowers. You'll learn simple techniques for creating beautiful arrangements. The Gardener as Artist: Thinking outside the Phlox, coloring outside the lines. Yes, you ARE an artist in your garden. This program looks at public and private gardens—from quirky and magical to the elegant and innovative (and their creators)—and the plants and garden art within them. If you need inspiration, this is for you.
Grow a Cook's Garden: If you have a spot in your garden, balcony, or deck that receives more than six hours of direct sunlight, you can grow herbs and vegetables. Discover how to grow tomatoes, onions, peppers, squash, garlic, and leafy greens. Learn plant selection, soil preparation, potting methods, pest protection, extending crops into fall, and food preparation.
Gardens for Mid-Century Modern Homes: A well-designed midcentury house is a thing of beauty. Open floor plans, large window walls, exposed beams, and projecting eaves are just some of the defining architectural features. Well-defined outdoor space, floor-level patios, abstract geometric lawns, and restrained plantings are characteristic of midcentury landscapes. The overall intent is a flowing relationship between indoor and outdoor space. This program looks at hardscape elements, garden elements, lighting, site furnishings and plants appropriate for the Midwestern midcentury modern-style landscapes.
Growing and Using Herbs for Cocktails, Mocktails and Tea: Make your own beverages with fresh, organically grown herbs from your own garden, containers or window boxes. We'll discuss how to grow, harvest and prepare your own hot and cold beverages.
Native Perennials and Cultivars for the Shade Garden: Take your shade garden beyond hostas with native wildflowers for spring, flowering perennials for summer and late-blooming
Native Perennials and Cultivars for the Sunny Garden: Discover shrubs, perennials, and grasses for the home garden that offer great fall color with they
The Elegant Edible Garden: A potager is an elegant, productive kitchen garden—large or small—that provides seasonal vegetables, berries, and cutting flowers. Discover the elements that make attractive, functional layouts for your home, provide a wonderful harvest, and attract pollinators. Painting Your Garden with Plants: Shade: A garden shaded by trees or buildings is often a challenge for the gardener who is faced with low light levels, tree roots, and soil that is often dry. Discover solutions and ideas for artful plantings that can help you create effective combinations with optimal color, texture, and form.
Totally Tomatoes: It’s not summer without a bounty of juicy tomatoes. Discover how to select, grow, harvest, store, and prepare these nutritious fruits as well as onions, peppers, shallots, basil, and cilantro. Everything you need for a basic salsa and sauce can come straight from your garden. Discover different varieties--from determinate to indeterminate tomatoes to heirlooms and All- America Selection winners; prepare the soil, train the plants, harvest and use your bounty of these delicious fruits.
Indoor Plants: Choosing, Growing, Displaying and Enjoying!
Prairie Flowers and Native Grasses for the Home Landscape Grow This, Not That--Alternatives to Invasive and Aggressive Plants
The Summer Vegetable Garden: Growing Warm-season Edibles
The Edible Patio: Herbs & Veggies for Containers
The White Garden: Creating Magnificent Moonlit Spaces for the Evening Garden: This program is based on my book of the same title. Discover how to make your garden enticing at dusk and beyond.
Tantalizing Tablescapes: Clever Ideas for Making Containers and Floral Arrangements * Container Gardening: Pots with Panache: Adding containers helps to create a dazzling display. This one- or two-hour program explores pots, potting mixes, planting techniques, maintenance, and a variety of plant to create four-season interest. Victory Gardens:—Then & Now: This class looks at the history of war gardens and victory gardens and discusses new and heirloom vegetables as well as planting techniques to help you create your own victory garden.
Victorian Theme Gardens: From cottage gardens and moon gardens to cut-flower borders and carpet beds. Discover the ways Victorian gardeners used plants and accessories to make their home landscape unique.
Questions? Reach me at ninakoziol@icloud.com or 708-217-9357