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12th Annual Desert Garden Community Day is upon Us!

Full Schedule for 2017 Garden Day

We’re super excited about this year’s line-up of FREE classes and instructors! We have several different tracks, so you can be super focused on your favorite gardening topic, or you can mix-and-match among the groups to attend whatever looks most interesting to you.

Please note: this event is a collaboration among The Desert Horticultural Society of Coachella Valley, UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners, and UC Riverside Palm Desert. To learn more about other group’s events, please contact them directly.

THIS SCHEDULE WAS UPDATED ON 10/27/17!

Program Overview

8:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Doors open, join us to explore local vendors who can help you put your ideas in place

9:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. Keynote Address: Peggy Mauk of UC Riverside

9:45 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Classes, open to all (see Classroom Tracks below for more info)

9:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Kids Program open to all, but recommended for elementary school students

1:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. DHSCV Scholarship Presentation

2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Film Screening: Hometown Habitat, UC Professor Cameron Barrows will lead a discussion with the filmmaker Catherine Zimmerman after the film

Classroom Tracks

Landscaping and Horticulture (DHSCV)

9:45 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Sponsor Tent Pruning for Desert Landscapes: Al Hollinger, Vintage Landscaping, Inc.

9:45 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. B114/117 Flowering Cactus for the desert and intermountain landscape-  So Pretty, it hurts!: Tom Jesch of Waterwise Botanicals

10:45 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Sponsor Tent Rock Talk: Pathways, Ponds and Perches: Michelle McLeod, Southwest Boulder & Stone

10:45 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. B114/117 Natives for Newcomers: Tracy Merrigan, Vice President of DHSCV, UCCE Master Gardener

11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. B114/117 Native Plants, Who Needs Them?: Madena Asbell of Mojave Desert Land Trust

12:45 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. B114/117 Gardening in the Future: Wendy Proud of Mountain States Wholesale Nursery

Read more about these classes

Wellness & Horticulture in the Garden (DHSCV)

9:45 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. B118/120 Native Bee Pollinators, the Forgotten Treasure of Native Bees: Melissa Bacall & Ruthe Meyer

10:45 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. B118/120 Meet Our Garden Royalty, Monarch & Queen Butterflies: Wallace and Maureen Austin

11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. B118/120 Use of Desert Native Plants, Yesterday & Today: Robin Kobaly of The SummerTree Institute

12:45 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. B118/120 Usage of Native Desert Plants of Southern California: Jasmin Gonzalez of the Malki Museum

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In the Auditorium – UCR, DHSCV, UCCE Master Gardeners, and Sponsors

9:45 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Not all weeds are equal; effects of weeds on desert biodiversity: Cameron Barrows, University of California Riverside, Center for Conservation Biology

Second only to habitat loss, invasive weeds are one of the main factors causing the worldwide loss of natural biodiversity. Starting with tamarisk, I present a rogue’s gallery of weeds that plague our desert habitats, including Russian thistle, Sahara mustard, and invasive grasses. In some cases, we can “live with” or accept a particular weed invasion because the impacts are negligible (or even positive); in other cases, the losses to biodiversity are abundant and clear, and so require immediate action.

10:45 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Sustainable Vegetable Gardening: Angela Fasano of CVWD

11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Growing Fruit Trees in Small Spaces: Susan Krings

12:45 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. CV Water Counts Panel: Water Guzzlers or Water Gurus? A Discussion About Sustainable Water Use Technology in Water-Dependent Industries

When you fly over the Sonoran-Desert Communities of the Coachella Valley, you quickly note vast regions covered with agriculture and golf courses. Many discussions have been raised about sustainable growth as it pertains to water, not only in a drought-susceptible state such as California, but also in the middle of a desert!

The CV Water Counts regional conservation group will host a panel of industries known for their dependence on water to shed light on contemporary practices that have moved historic “water-guzzler” industries over to sustainable “water-guru” industries. Panelists include Craig Kessler, Director, Governmental Affairs Southern California Golf Association, John Powell Jr., Coachella Valley Farmer and CVWD Board President and Joshua Seipel, Area Specification & Public Agency Account Manager for the Rain Bird Corporation.

1:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. DHSCV Scholarship Presentation

2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Film Screening: Hometown Habitat with discussion afterward led by UC Professor Cameron Barrows and filmmaker Catherine Zimmerman

Food & Vegetable Gardening (UCCE Master Gardeners)

10:45 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Auditorium Sustainable Vegetable Gardening: Angela Fasano of CVWD

11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Auditorium Growing Fruit Trees in Small Spaces: Susan Krings

12:45 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. B213 Raised Bed Vegetable Gardening: Bob Adamson

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Kids Educational Program in the Kids Tent

This track is open to all, but it is recommended for elementary-school aged children

9:45 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. Butterflies: Maureen Austin

11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Make a Bee Motel: Melissa Bacall; Planting & Papermaking: Ana Beatty

11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Potting Plants for Pollinators (Take One Home!): Ana Beatty

Learn more about the Kids program

Horticulture (UCCE)

9:45 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. B200 Top Ten Ways to Save Water in Your Landscape: Janet Hartin

10:45 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. B200 Diseases Impacting Desert Trees: Akif Eskalen

11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. B200 Palm Selection & Care: Don Hodel

12:45 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. B200 South American Palm Weevil Outbreak: Mark Hoddle

Read more about these classes

Vermiculture – Worms & Composting! Room B213

9:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Vermiculture Presentation & Hands-on Workshop: George Podolsky, Riverside County Dept of Waste Resources

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