All meetings will be at Harvest Park Middle School in the multipurpose room, 4900 Valley Blvd, Pleasanton, CA MAP

2010:

Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010 Kathy Echols "Australian and South African Plants"
Kathy has been an instructor at DVC Pleasant Hill in the Horticulture Department for the past 18 years. .She teaches classes in Plant Propagation, Plant Production, Greenhouse and Nursery Practices and New Plant Introductions. She has extensive knowledge of Australian plants, rare and unusual perennials and CA natives. She is an avid propagator and has introduced many new favorites to the industry.

Thursday, Feb. 11 Gisele Schoniger "Breakthroughs in Natural Organic Practices"
"G" is the Category Manager and Organic Gardening Educator at Kellogg Garden Products. She has 30 years of experience in the business and nine years with Kellogg. She is promoting green practices in gardening.

March 11
Susan Ballinger Designing with edibles and color in the garden

May 13
Emma Connery will do a presentation on bugs!

2009:

January:
Kathy Echols, Diablo Valley College Horticulture, “New Plants” Kathy Echols is an instructor at Diablo Valley College, and spoke on newly propagated plants. She brought plants for sale.

February:
Deborah Whigham from Digging Dog Nursery, “Ornamental Grasses and Winter Bloomers” Our speaker, Deborah Whigham is co-owner of Digging Dog Nursery in Albion. She spoke about ornamental grasses and off-season interest, which includes the time period between mid-August to early spring and would be about not just off-season bloom but other points of interest like garden architectural details, bark, branches, berries, etc.
Deborah Whigham co-owns Digging Dog nursery with her husband, garden designer, Gary Ratway. Their nursery was founded nearly twenty years ago. They have traveled in Europe & throughout the country assembling a diverse collection of often hard-to-find plants that excel for easy care, long blooming periods, year-round interest and versatility. Their nursery and garden have been featured in Martha Stewart Living and will also be published this spring in Gardens Illustrated. Deborah loves to write about plants, and has just finished Digging Dog's 17th mail-order catalog. The nursery is surrounded by extensive borders, including a series of bioremediation ponds & an extensive kitchen garden.

March:
Bill Grant, "Tea Roses"
Bill is a passionate rose gardener and expert and explained to us the advantages of Tea Roses over Hybrid Tea Roses.

April:
Patrice Hanlon, Heather Farms, "Planting for Birds and Butterflies"
Patrice Hanlon is the garden manager of the Gardens at Heather Farm in Walnut Creek. She also is a columnist for the Garden section of the Valley Times.
 
May:
Carnivorous Plant Society Members, "Carnivorous Plants"
 
June:
Ed Laivo from Dave Wilson Nursery, "Fruit Trees"  

September 10 (note: this date was previously mentioned as September 11th in current publications and was incorrectly posted)  
Patrice Hanlon - Spring annuals to plant in the fall
Patrice Hanlon is the garden manager of the Gardens at Heather Farm in Walnut Creek. She also is a columnist for the Garden section of the Valley Times.  

October 8                 
Bethallyn Black - Winter vegetable gardening  

Thursday, Nov. 12 Neal Richmond "Daylilies"
Neal has been growing daylilies for nearly two decades. He personally has 200 different cultivars. He is currently the program chair for the bay Area Daylily Society. He has served in many capacities in several daylily and hemerocallis groups.  

Thursday, Dec. 10 Brian Debasitis "Healthy Soil/ Healthy Plants"
Brian is the owner of Mauby’s All Natural in San Jose, CA. It is a company that provides soil related services that help lead to healthy gardens and lawns without the use of chemicals. He will talk about soil composition and the whole soil ecosystem and how it effects plants.

2008:

September:  
John Muir Laws, “Wild Life and Flora of the Sierra Nevada” Our speaker was naturalist John Muir Laws telling about the Flora and Wildlife in the Sierra Nevada and how to identify them. He has an excellent Field Guide he has written and illustrated and is interviewed in the Sept. Sunset magazine. John is a very enthusiastic, informative, and amusing speaker.
 
October:       
Bob Case, from CA Invasive Plant Council spoke to us about invasive plants. He is on staff with the California Invasive Plant Council. He addressed the identification and problems of invasive plants and touched upon biologically sound pest management. Bob teaches in Bay Area colleges and community colleges, and has worked for the Contra Costa County Department of Agriculture. He presently resides in Concord with his family.
 
November:     
Don Larson and Drew Harwell from Common Ground, “Edible Landscaping” The speakers were from Common Ground Education Center in Palo Alto. The talk was on Edible Landscaping.  Don Larson is the Assistant Manager and has a passion for sustainable living, an interest in permaculture and solar technologies. Drew Harwell is the manager of the demonstration garden and works to inspire and promote edible gardens.
 
December:
Eric Nicholas, program naturalist at the new Alviso Adobe Community Park in Pleasanton. Eric Nicholas, is a program naturalist at the new Alviso Adobe Community Park in Pleasanton. He is an East Bay native who has enjoyed exploring the region since early childhood. He has spent time on American Indian reservations learning how to live off the land and talking with elders. His job at the new park will involve education of the history of the Ohlone culture, native animals and plants, and a history of the dairy industry in the area.