If you love gardening, you will be thrilled with PLANT QUEST 2025!
Join nationally known experts to explore for your residential landscape a variety of conifer choices, native plants, iron-clad plant combinations and environmentally-friendly gardening practices over a 4-week series.

Sessions:  (All January sessions on Mondays from 6 – 7:15 p.m. ET)

Jan. 6, 2025 – Garden Conifers – The Good, The Bad and the Underused  Presenter:  Dr. Bert Cregg, Professor of Horticulture and Forestry, Michigan State University
Burnt out on blue spruce?  Pining for something different? In this webinar, Dr. Bert Cregg, will lead you through a tour of the weepy, twisty, wild world of dwarf and unusual conifers. This program will cover choosing top conifers for connoisseurs as well as how to avoid conifers that are destined for a ride on the chipper truck!

Jan. 13, 2025 – Lessons from Stoneleigh:  Reimagining Traditional Landscapes with Native Plants  Presenter: Ethan Kauffman, Director Stoneleigh:  a natural stone garden
With a 150-year history as a private estate, Stoneleigh: a natural garden became one of the newest public gardens in the Philadelphia region in 2018. Informed by the growing understanding of the connectedness of all living things, a vision arose during the transition: to reimagine a historical landscape as an ecologically vibrant wonderland of native plants. Relying on both tried-and-true gardening techniques and experimentation, the emerging garden is an exuberant exploration of cultivating native plants in the modern landscape.

Jan. 20, 2025 – Forging Alloys:  Captivating, Iron-Clad Plant Combinations  Presenter:  Dr. Jared Barnes, Meristem Horticulture
Combining plants. It’s a horticultural practice as old as time.  But, with an endless palette, which ones mix n’ mingle well? In this presentation, the mixer, Dr. Jared Barnes, will break down the basic elements of color, texture, height, season and more to help you forge your own gardening “alloys.” You’ll also take a trip around the world and discover other horticultural “alchemists” who have created plant pairings that have great chemistry.

Jan. 27, 2025 – Perennial Beauty at Olbrich Botanical Gardens  Presenter:  Erin Presley, Horticulturist, Olbrich Gardens, WI
At Olbrich Botanical Gardens, a free-admission 16-acre public garden in Madison, WI, success is defined by not only creating gorgeous gardens, but also trialing and modeling sustainable techniques. Erin Presley, a horticulturist at Olbrich for 10 years, walks you through a variety of perennial garden styles and best practices for attracting and supporting insect life, managing weeds, building soil and saving water – all while saving time and resources. We’ll cover spring garden tidying, matrix plantings and green mulch, the roles of natives and nativars, and much more!!

Register early by Jan. 5th at midnight for $40 (save $10!!)
or register from Jan. 6th to Jan. 26^th at midnight for $50. Click here to register and for information.

MASTER THE SCIENCE AND ART OF PRUNING!!!!!!

Pruning is an important cultural practice used to maintain health, safety, vigor and appearance of woody plants. It involves both art and science – art, in shaping plants in harmony with their growth habit to enhance the landscape, and science, in knowing how, when, where and why to prune for maximum benefit.

MSU Extension Senior Horticulture Educator (retired), Rebecca Finneran will lead the interactive online Zoom workshops that are designed to help participants learn best practices for pruning and the proper equipment it takes for each job. You will be able to ask questions and interact with the instructor. And, prior to the workshop you have selected, you will have the option to submit photos for discussion and analysis, as time allows.

For your convenience, this workshop is being offered on four different Fridays from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. To learn more about when and how to prune, register today for the workshop that best fits your schedule. All sessions will be recorded and the recording link sent to registrants after the session. Click here to register.

January 17^th workshop:  Registration deadline: Jan. 16, 2025, at midnight, or when the workshop is full.

Jan. 24^th workshop:  Registration deadline: Jan. 23, 2025, at midnight, or when the workshop is full.

March 7^th workshop:  Registration deadline:  March 6, 2025, at midnight, or when workshop is full.

March 14^th workshop:  Registration deadline:  March 13, 2025, at midnight, or when workshop is full.

Join us for our 4th Annual Legacy Seminar on Saturday, March 8, 2025 from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Our two featured speakers will be covering topics geared for home gardeners. Visit our vendors, Master Garden Table, and more. Admission includes a buffet brunch. The seminar will be in the Community Room of the Fred M. Alger Center at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial. More information will be available soon.

Mil Hurley was very fortunate to have taken a class at the famed gardens at the Great Dixter estate and will tell us of her wonderful experiences and share some of the valuable gardening knowledge she came home with. The program will be in the Reception Room of the War Memorial on Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at 7:00 p.m. Lecture is free to current Garden Center members, $10 for non-members. Registration will be available in March.

Spanish Master Florist Daniel Santamaria is the featured speaker for the 2025 Elizabeth Kuhlman Lecture in the Marvin and Betty Danto Lecture Hall at the Detroit Institute of Arts. The program is Monday, April 28 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. A Luncheon following program will be available. Details will be available at a future date.

Mark your calendars! The Garden Center’s ever-popular 33rd Annual Garden Tour is on Friday and Saturday, June 20 and 21, 2025, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  Visit six beautiful private Grosse Pointe gardens, enjoy artists painting in the gardens, garden docents for your gardening questions, MSU Extention Master Gardener Information Table, Tour Raffle, Garden Shoppe, Scavenger Hunt, and more….Check back for ticket availability.