The palm tree is so iconic that we can lose sight of the varied uses of palms for making lovely gardens and landscapes. Jason Dewees, author of Designing with Palms and longtime friend of the UC Botanical Garden, will give a presentation with photos by Caitlin Atkison on the power of palms in garden design. In his book, he discusses palms' appeal to the senses and their use in creating garden styles, as well as basic information gardeners and designers need to know about the diverse palm family, including a portfolio of useful hardy palms and tropical staple species illustrated with photographer Caitlin Atkinson's gorgeous photos. Come see why palms' beauty and diversity -- from from delicate understory plants and hardy shrubs, to graceful trees and even bamboo-like clusters -- earn them a place in well-designed gardens throughout the warmer parts of the world -- including California. Lecture is followed by a walk through the collection.
Jason Dewees is the horticulturist and palm expert on staff at Flora Grubb Gardens, in San Francisco, who has consulted on palm collections of the Conservatory of Flowers, UC Botanical Garden, and San Francisco Botanical Garden, trained volunteers and docents on the palm family, grown thousands of palms from seed, planted palms in gardens, consulted with gardeners, landscape architects and designers on using palms in the landscape, and lectured on palms. Jason joined the Northern California Chapter of the International Palm Society as their youngest member in 1986 and offers a very local point of view on palms for Bay Area climates.
Copies of his book will be available for sale.