Earthkind Lanscape School

Once you start looking for landscaping "don'ts," you'll find them everywhere: a huge oak tree planted close to a house; a holly bush planted beneath a window and covering the view; a solitary island flower bed, floating by itself, disconnected from all the other elements of the landscape. All were decisions made by well-meaning people that just turned out poorly. You didn't want to end up making such mistakes, so before you start reworking your own yard, set out to learn a little about landscape design. Here are some approaches road-tested and some thoughts about how to make them more useful to you. Each year around the end of January Texas Agrilife Extension Service in Leon County host a Home Landscape School. The Keynote speaker this year will be Texas AgriLife Extension landscape horticultural specialist Dr. Steven George. Each year the program has grown and this year we are expecting over 150 people to attend the session, which will take place at the Centerville High School Cafeteria. This years event, will mark the 4th year of the program. Dr. George will speak in the morning on topics including landscape bed layout and prep, plant placement, general design principles and, his foremost interest, EarthKind gardening and landscaping principles. He is a charismatic, engaging speaker who fits a lot of useful information into just a few hours. The pace will be brisk but understandable. He makes effective use of an overhead projector, sketching freehand the best places to put things like trees, shrubs and planting beds. For example, at one point Dr. George will show a sketch of a front landscape on the overhead and draws a big circle over the yard space to illustrate best places for turf, bedding plants and trees. Imagine a circle (as big or small as you want it) in the middle of the yard. That's for the turf. The areas that remain outside the circle are where you would place flower beds, shrubs and/or trees. This design technique is simple and, of course, there are other ways to effectively plan a landscape. But that circle stuck in my mind, and in many cases it jumps out at me when I notice good-looking properties. During class registration, participants receive design handouts, booklets on Texas plants, and graph paper. Participants sign up during class for a 30-minute consultation with a landscape professional that takes place at the event after lunch. The project goal is to use the class information to sketch a landscape plan and then review the plan during the event. The class is a great, time-effective way to learn solid landscape-design basics and get a plan going. The trick to getting the most of out of this class will be to focus effort on one manageable area. Pick the front or back yard or focus on an even smaller area to maximize the time you spend with the landscape professional. Participants must pre-register in the Texas Agrilife Extension office on or before January 27, 2009 and space may be limited. Their will be a $65.00 fee due upon registration of this event. Check in will begin at 9:30am on January 31, 2009 a noon meal, three CEU'S for the private applicator license holders and break snacks will be provided along with event materials. For more information please contact the Texas Agrilife Extension Service at 903.536.2531 or at leon-tx@tamu.edu We will seek to provide reasonable accommodations for all persons with disabilities for this event. We request that you contact Texas Agrilife Extension three days before the event to advise us of the auxiliary aid or service that will be required. Extension programs serve of all ages regardless of socioeconomic level, race, color, sex, religion, disability, or national origin. The Texas A&M University System, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the County Commissioners Courts of Texas Cooperating.

PIC CAPTION:
Texas Agrilife Horticulture Committee Member and part owner of Bo Bo's Ginger Vibral provides training to local Master Gardeners on successful shrubs for our area.










Tommy Neyland, CEA-Ag
Texas Agrilife Extension Service