February 2005
Workshop:
Seed Starting February
1 Tuesday
6 – 8:30 p.m.
Registration deadline: January 25
Get your hands in the dirt while the snow’s still flying! Learning how
to start your own seeds is a fun way to save money and get more variety in
plants. Olbrich Horticulturist Mark Shimasaki will explain all the
essentials for effective indoor seed propagation. Participants will take
home seed
mix, a planting container, and seed
packets to plant at home. Registration
deadline is January 25. The cost is $18 for Olbrich Botanical Society
members and $22 for the general public. For more information or to register, call 608-246-4550.
Children’s
Workshop: Coffee Cup Creations February 5 Saturday 1 –
2:30 p.m.
Registration deadline: January 27
Where does the coffee
come from that your parents drink every morning? Take a tour through the
tropical Bolz Conservatory and learn about how to get a cup of coffee from a
plant with Olbrich’s Coffee Culture exhibit. Then settle down and decorate
your own terra cotta coffee cup planter for someone special. Don’t forget
that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner! Planter, decorations, and
plant included. Ages 5 and up. The registration deadline is January 27. The
cost is $10 for children of Olbrich Botanical Society members and $12 for
the general public. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Adults attend
free. For more information or to register, call 608-246-4550.
Informal Coffee Tasting
February 5 Saturday
1- 3 p.m.
A variety of coffees from around the world
can be sampled in the Botanical Center Foyer. Madison’s Dancing Grounds
coffee shop will bring their special blends to the February 5 tasting. No
registration is required. Free. For more information, call 608-246-4550.
Winter
Concert Series: Nath Dresser
– Original Folk February 6 Sunday 2 – 3
p.m.
Warm your winter day with a
concert in the Evjue Commons. Series sponsored by the Olbrich Botanical
Society. Nath Dresser plays original folk music.
Suggested $1 donation. Concerts
are every Sunday at 2 p.m., January 2 – March 27.
For more information,
call 608-246-4550.
Designing the Complete Garden
Lecture Series: Designing
Gardens for Beauty, Value, and Use February
8 Tuesday
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Registration deadline:
February 1
According
to Smart Money magazine, your gardens can amount to 18% of the resale value
of your home. Tim Garland, Board Certified Landscape Architect, owner of
Milwaukee’s Gardens by Garland, and winner of numerous state and national
design awards, will demonstrate how to design entire residential landscapes
for maximum use, enjoyment, and value. Garland will emphasize his philosophy
that gardens should be enjoyed, and thus designed, from the inside of the
house to the outside. Drawing on European influences, he will illustrate how
your home can be a part of your gardens and your front yard a focal
gathering place. Hardscapes, nightlighting, and other structural elements
will also be covered. The lecture Designing Gardens for Beauty, Value, and
Use is part of a six-session Designing the Complete Garden Lecture
Series, which is intended as a basic garden and landscape design course if
taken in its entirety. Other lectures are: A Garden of Your Own on February
15; Year-Round Highlights on February 22; Annuals to Enhance Your Perennials
on March 8; The Bones – Trees and Shrubs on March 15; and Creating
Interest with Conifers on March 22. The cost of the entire series is $55
for Olbrich Botanical Society members and $65 for the general public. The
cost for an individual session is $11 for members and $13 for the general
public. The registration deadline is February 1. For more information
or to register, call 608-246-4550.
Chocolate Talk & Tasting February 9 Wednesday
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Registration deadline: February 1
There’s more to chocolate than great taste. This tropical
food also has a rich botanical, social, and economic history. Join Eve
Komosa, Olbrich Education Director, for an entertaining talk about all the
things you can’t taste about chocolate. Then satisfy your senses with an
informal chocolate tasting of some of the world’s finest chocolates. The
cost is $5 for members and $7 for non-members. For more information or to
register, call 608-246-4550.
Valentines in Paradise Dance
February
12 Saturday 8 –
11:30 p.m.
Enjoy romantic music, sweet treats, and slow dancing in the splendor of
Olbrich Botanical Gardens and the tropical Bolz Conservatory.
Valentines in
Paradise is presented by WTUX Radio and Mid-West Family Broadcasting.
The event is sponsored by Ryan
O'Connell, State Farm Insurance and Financial Services; and
Waunakee Remodeling. Desserts
will be provided by EmIan's European Bakery; MATC's Baking/Pastry Arts
Program; the Wisconsin Cheesecakery; and Gail Ambrosius Chocolatier,
Madison. Black River Ice will provide a 3-foot-tall, heart-shaped ice vase
filled with flowers for the occasion.
Tickets are $20 in advance and a limited number are sold (300).
Proceeds benefit Olbrich Botanical Gardens.
Dress is semi-formal. For
tickets call 608-246-4550.
Winter Concert
Series: Chris
Plata Trio – Tex-Mex Swing February
13 Sunday 2 – 3
p.m.
Warm your winter day with a concert in the Evjue Commons. Series sponsored
by the Olbrich Botanical Society. The
Chris Plata Tri plays Tex-Mex Swing music. Suggested $1 donation. Concerts are every Sunday at 2 p.m., January 2 – March 27.
For more information,
call 608-246-4550.
Designing
the Complete Garden Lecture Series: A Garden of Your Own February
15 Tuesday 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Registration deadline: February 8
We all see pictures of
beautiful gardens, visit glorious displays of horticultural delights, and
hear inspiring lectures. Then we come home and look at our yard and feel
overwhelmed. Where do we start? How do we know what we really want? How do
we know what plants to use? Garden designer and consultant Tibi Light will
give you insightful and useful information, gleaned from years of consulting
with homeowners, to answer just these questions. The lecture A Garden of
Your Own is part of a six-session Designing the
Complete Garden Lecture Series and is intended as a basic garden and
landscape design course if taken in its entirety. Other lectures include: Designing
Gardens for Beauty, Value, and Use, February 8; Year-Round
Highlights on February 22; Annuals to Enhance Your Perennials on March 8;
The Bones – Trees and Shrubs on March 15; and Creating Interest with
Conifers on March 22. The
cost of the entire session is $55
for Olbrich Botanical Society members and $65 for the general public. The
cost for an individual session is $11 for members and $13 for the general
public. The registration deadline is February 8. For more information or to
register, call 608-246-4550.
Horticulture
Magazine Symposium: Personal Gardening - Real Lessons from Designers’ Own
Gardens
February
17 Thursday
9 a.m.– 4 p.m.
The best gardens transcend the seasons. But where do you start to design and
plant so that every season offers excellence? And how can you expand the
pleasures of a favorite time of year? Join Horticulture magazine at
Olbrich for this annual symposium, which brings experts from around the
country. Discover the practical lessons designers have learned in developing
their own gardens – their successes, their failures, their favorite
plants, and their most treasured moments of the gardening year. See the
results of their efforts as they explain how they celebrate their favorite
seasons in the garden. Speakers and topics include: Gordon Hayward on Learning
from 20 Years and Four Seasons in My Own Garden; C. Colston Burrell
on How I
Finesse Hot Summers, Cold Winters, and My Passion for New Plants;
David Culp on Why I
Like Winter: My Favorite Flowers and Forms in the Late Winter-Early Spring
Garden; Paul Cappiello on Making
Magic with Dogwoods –Versatile Plants That Add Charm to My Garden in All
Seasons; Nicholas Staddon on Selecting
the Best of the Four-Season Plants. This is a wonderful opportunity
to take advantage of experts from around the country in one day. For further
information or to register, call Horticulture
magazine at 877-436-7764. Fee includes a continental breakfast and buffet
lunch from Chez Vous Caterers. The cost is $119 for Olbrich Botanical
Society member and $129 for the general public.
Children’s
Workshop: Worm Bins for Kids February 18 Friday 6 –
7:30 p.m.
Registration deadline: February 10
Parents, want to reduce trash while making soil and teaching your children
about science and environmental ethics? Worm bins are a great way for the
whole family to conserve and learn together! Join Eve Komosa, Olbrich’s
Education Director, for this hands-on worm bin workshop. Worms, in the right
container, can provide clean, odorless, fruit fly-free, indoor composting
services to turn paper, food, and houseplant waste into rich soil! Kids will
learn how this worm system works and go home with a ready-to-go worm bin.
The size of your worm bin depends on how much waste you produce. A small bin
is recommended for a household of two and a large bin for a household of
four to six. You will select a size and be charged accordingly upon
registration. Participants are asked to bring a grocery bag of shredded
newspaper and/or corrugated cardboard. For ages 5 and up. The registration
deadline is February 10. The cost of the workshop with a small bin, which is
recommended for a household of two, is $28 for Olbrich Botanical Society
members and $36 for the general public. For a large bin, which is
recommended for a household of four to six people, the cost is $35 for
members and $45 for the general public. Children must be accompanied by an
adult. Adults attend free. For more information or to register, call 608-246-4550.
Children of the
Rainforest: Polynesian Hula February
19 Saturday
Performances at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Enjoy the expressive dances
of Hawaii and the Polynesian islands with the Madison group Hula Ho’oli:
Dance for Joy. Sway with
the music of the islands and learn how to use hula to talk with your hands.
Tickets are available at the door for $3 for adults, $2 for children 12 and
under, and free to ages 2 and under. Come
out for some international fun! Visitors also can enjoy a free coffee
tasting from 1 to 3 p.m. in the lobby at the Gardens. The Children of the
Rainforest series offers performances for families to celebrate cultural
differences in rainforest regions around the world, and is generously
sponsored by William and Joyce Wartmann. For more information, call
608-246-4550.
Workshop: Build an
Antique Trough February
19 Saturday
1 – 4 p.m.
Registration deadline is February 10
Build a trough to take home at this workshop taught by Master
Gardener Jane Gahlman. A trough is historically a container that looks like
stone and features miniature plants, although it can be used for any
grouping of small plants. Troughs allow you to garden anywhere since they
take up little space and are portable. Created for alpine plants, they’re
easily adapted to any plants just by changing the soil mix. Make the trough,
then take the Plant a Trough workshop on April 26 to add your plants. The
registration deadline is February 10. The cost is $35 for Olbrich Botanical
Society members and $45 for the general public. For more information or to
register, call 608-246-4550.
Winter
Concert Series: Yahara String
Quartet – Classical, Jazz, and Ragtime February 20
Sunday 2 – 3 p.m.
Warm your winter day with a concert in the Evjue Commons. Series sponsored
by the Olbrich Botanical Society. The
Yahara String Quartet plays classical, jazz, and ragtime music. Suggested $1
donation. Concerts are every
Sunday at 2 p.m., January 2 – March 27.
For more information or to register, call 608-246-4550.
Roses Luncheon
Series: Nationally Acclaimed Roses February 21 Monday 11:30 a.m.
–1 p.m.
Registration deadline: February 14
Olbrich’s innovative new rose garden opens on June
19th. To celebrate this grand opening, join Olbrich January through May for
a monthly luncheon series featuring roses. Fee includes buffet lunch
provided by Chez Vous caterers. Joan
Schultz, Consulting Rosarian for the American Rose Society, will take you on
a visual tour of past national rose shows. Highlights will include pictures
of national award winners. A delight for the eyes! The registration deadline
is February 14. Other luncheons in the series include: Olbrich Over
the Years, January 31; Gorgeous Roses for Mixed Borders, March 21; Roses in
Culture, April 18; and Roses Through the Ages, May 23.
The
cost for the entire series is $95 for Olbrich Botanical Society members or
$120 for the general public. The cost per lecture is $21 for members or $26
for the general public. For more information or to register, call 608-246-4550.
Lecture:
Year-Round Seasonal Highlights February
22, Tuesday 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Registration deadline: February 15
In the upper Midwest we have the opportunity to celebrate seasonal changes
in our gardens. With proper plant selection many landscapes can garner
greater attention, arouse curiosity, and provide drama. Join Galen Gates,
Director of Plant Collections for the Chicago Botanic Garden, as he
highlights some of his favorite landscape plants that extend the seasons
with color, fragrance, and beauty. The lecture Year-Round Seasonal
Highlights is part of a six-session
Designing the Complete Garden Lecture Series, which is intended as a basic
garden and landscape design course if taken in its entirety. Other lectures
in the series include: Designing Gardens for Beauty, Value, and Use, February 8; A Garden of Your Own on February 15; Annuals to Enhance Your Perennials
on March 8; The Bones – Trees and Shrubs on March 15; and Creating
Interest with Conifers on March 22 The cost of the entire session is $55
for Olbrich Botanical Society members and $65 for the general public. The
cost for an individual session is $11for members and $13 for the general
public. The registration deadline is February 15. For more information or to
register, call 608-246-4550.
Workshop: Indoor Composting with
Worms February 23
Wednesday 6:30 – 8:30
p.m.
Registration deadline is February 10
Want to
reduce trash while making soil for your houseplants and garden? Perhaps
you’re already a faithful outdoor composter frustrated by the challenge of
winter? Join Eve Komosa, Olbrich’s Education Director, for this hands-on
worm bin workshop. Worms, in the right container, can provide clean,
odorless, fruit-fly free, indoor composting services to turn paper, food,
and houseplant waste into rich soil! Learn how this worm system works and
take home a ready-to-go worm bin. The size of your worm bin depends on how
much waste you produce. A small bin is recommended for a household of two
and a large bin for a household of four to six. You will select a size and
be charged accordingly upon registration. Participants are asked to bring a
grocery bag of shredded newspaper and/or corrugated cardboard. The
registration deadline is February 10. The cost of the workshop with a small
bin is $28 for Olbrich Botanical Society members and $36 for the general
public. The cost with a large bin is $35 for Olbrich Botanical Society
members and $45 for the general public. For more information
or to register, call
608-246-4550.
Lecture:
Practicing Sustainability with Heirlooms February 24
Thursday 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Registration deadline: February 17
Many of us are intrigued by the nostalgia of heirloom plants. Just the
phrases “brandywine tomato” or “cranberry red potato” bring to mind delicious and wholesome
images. Mayo Underwood, of Underwood Gardens, will explain why heirloom
plants are more than just nostalgia. Underwood will illustrate why modern
hybridized and genetically engineered plants can be detrimental to the
health and longevity of our food supply, as well as to essential insect
populations. She will demonstrate why heirloom plants are a more
environmentally sound choice that can provide equal beauty, flavor, and use
in the garden. Learn why this means it’s important to save your own seeds,
as well as the best way to harvest, process, and store seeds. The
registration deadline is February 17. The cost is $11 for
Olbrich Botanical Society members and $13 for the general public. For
more information or to register, call
608-246-4550.
FULL
Children’s
Workshop: Nighttime in the Jungle - Watery World February 24 Thursday 6:30
– 8 p.m.
Registration deadline: February 17
What lives in the stream in Olbrich’s tropical Bolz Conservatory? Do the
fish sleep at night? Come and learn what happens to the animals and plants
in the Conservatory when the lights go out. Create your own pretend fish to
take home. Bring a flashlight for an after-dark tour! For ages 5 and up. The
registration deadline is February 17. The cost is $5 for children of Olbrich
Botanical Society members and $6 for the general public. Children must
be accompanied by an adult. Adults attend free.
For
more information or to register, call
608-246-4550.
FULL
Children’s
Workshop: Garden Jewelry February 26 Saturday 1 –
2:30 p.m.
Registration deadline: February 17
Kids can make colorful, crazy, edible jewelry and a necklace that will grow
before their eyes at this hands-on workshop! For ages 6 and up. The
registration deadline is February 17. The cost is $6 for children of Olbrich
Botanical Society members and $7 for the general public. Children must be
accompanied by an adult. Adults attend free.
For more information or to register, visit Olbrich’s web site at
or call 608-246-4550.
Winter Concert
Series: Redefined
– A Capella February 27 Sunday 2 – 3
p.m.
Warm your winter day with a concert in the Evjue Commons. Series
sponsored by the Olbrich Botanical Society.
Redefined is a co-ed a capella group. Suggested $1 donation.
Concerts are every Sunday at 2 p.m., January 2 – March 27.
For more information visit Olbrich’s web site at
or call
608-246-4550.
Art
on Site: The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art at Olbrich Botanical Gardens
Ongoing: January - March
9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily
Olbrich Botanical Gardens and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art present
Art on Site, an exciting exhibit of site specific art in Olbrich’s outdoor
gardens. Artists installing exhibits include: Milwaukee artist Roy Staab who
has installed a design made from willow reeds in the pond by the Discovery
Dock; and Madison’s Brenda Baker displaying her story poles in the
Perennial Garden. John Ready created oversized charms made from everyday
discarded items to hang from trees along Starkweather Creek. Exhibits will
stay on display through winter, depending on weather conditions. The exhibit
is free.
Art on Site: Photographs
on Display Ongoing:
January and February
Art on Site Photographs by
Mike Paggie are on display through February 18 at Olbrich Botanical Gardens.
The large format digital prints show site-specific art installations
included in Art on Site: Madison Museum of Contemporary Art at Olbrich
Botanical Gardens. Paggie, who is on staff at the museum, photographed the
art installations throughout the summer and fall of 2004. Several of the
installations will remain in place throughout the winter, providing an
interesting contrast to the warm-weather views shown in Paggie's
photographs.
Art Exhibit: A
Celebration of Nature Ongoing:
December 12, 2004 – March 6, 2005 Sundays
11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Watercolor artwork by members of the Madison Watercolor Society will be
displayed in the Evjue Commons. The exhibit will contain both abstract and
realist work that express the different vision each artist has when painting
botanical matter. Admission to
the exhibit is free. Gallery Sundays are made possible by a gift from
William and Joyce Wartmann. For
more information call 608-246-4550.
Gardens of
Thailand Trip Ongoing:
January 31 – February 11
Olbrich
Botanical Society sponsors a 12-day trip to see and learn about the exotic
gardens of Thailand. Director
of Horticulture Jeff Epping leads the tour with stays in Bangkok and Chiang
Mai, with a special visit to see the mountain flowers in Chiang Rai.
Weekly
Toddler Story & Stroll Ongoing:
February 8 - March 15 Tuesdays
10– 11 a.m.
Join Olbrich every
week for stories about the natural world. Then, load up the stroller for a
tour through the tropical Bolz Conservatory or the outdoor gardens. Tours
are designed just for toddlers. This class will focus on stimulating the
senses and introducing families to the natural world. For children walking
to age 4. No pre-registration required for this class. The cost for the
entire series is $10 for Olbrich Botanical Society members and $16 for the
general public. Individual sessions are $2 for members and $3 for the
general public. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Adults attend
free.
Yoga in the Gardens
On-going, Mondays, 5 – 6:15 p.m. OR
Thursdays, 7:30 - 8:45 a.m.
This is a participative experiential class for gardeners, nature
enthusiasts, and yoga students. Held in the Conservatory or outdoor gardens
when possible. Comfortable, loose fitting clothing and a portable mat are
recommended; feel free to bring a water bottle. Rick Comello, Monday
instructor, is a bodyworker and Reiki Master with over 20 years of
experience. Jonathan A. Garber RMT, Thursday instructor, is a certified
Kripalu Yoga and Yoga for the Special Child Teacher. The cost is $10 per
class - pay at the door. Check with instructors concerning
holiday weeks. For more
information call 608-246-4550.