During our planning, we have focused on workshops for gardeners of all levels, from the novice to the die-hard.  All of our speakers are experts or knowledgeable enthusiasts.  They share their knowledge for little compensation other than your interest.  We thank them for enriching our nursery and our customers with their generous spirits.

Note: All our classes for 2011 are being submitted to the Oregon Landscape Contractors Board for approval for Technical Continuing Education Hours (CEH) credit toward re-certification of Oregon Landscape Professional licensing.  Pending approval by the O.L.C.B. we charge $10.00 per class for recording and processing attendance.  A registration for credit will be available in the barn in  the retail area.  Please sign up and make payment prior to the start of the class.  A certificate will be mailed to you during the week following completion of the class.

BASICS --“Pruning - An Interactive Workshop” - Mike Smith 

Ah, the difference fourteen inches of wet snow can make in the plans for Mike Smith's pruning class!  Yes, there are a number of damaged plants in the Joy Creek Nursery display gardens and Mike and the attendees will spend time doing reconstructive surgery on several with questions from Mike to the group about approaches and ultimate results.  Another issue Mike will address is the fact that over time shrubs in group plantings grow together and lose both their interest and their individuality, often becoming a tangled mess.  There are several solutions available to this problem.  Removal of some of the plants is one option, but Mike's approach in this session will be pruning to downsize or thin the existing plants.  Maurice Horn, the other Joy Creek Nursery owner, will play the role of "customer" in a consultative approach to solving this tangled situation.  Dress warmly, bring an umbrella and we will see you in the garden.

Mike Smith is co-owner of Joy Creek Nursery.  You can see his pruning handiwork throughout the nursery, especially in the large rhododendrons around the house and behind our lavender path and in the numerous shrubs shaped into small trees that are grown throughout our gardens.  Mike is a passionate gardener who retired from a management job in corporate America, got bored and then started the nursery.

“Fundamentals” - Leslie Gover  

You can have a more luxuriant, healthier garden if you understand the basics.  For example, do you have the proper circulation of air and water in your soil?  Or do all your plants need the same nutrition?  Now that it is April, does that mean its time to plant?  Learn how to listen to your garden.

Lesilie Gover  - Leslie has worked around plants since she was a very young girl planting her first garden.  She now serves as the propagator, plant entomologist, and plant pathologist for Joy Creek Nursery.  Her background in ornamental horticulture from Oregon State University has allowed her to spend lots of time in the field in both a professional and personal capacity.  As one of her personal goals, she began Daisytoes Nursery to teach her children what vegetables, business and a strong work ethic are all about.

The last two years have brought us record cold and record wet winters that have severely tried local Mediterranean-style gardens.  In our own low-water borders at Joy Creek Nursery, we have been pleased that the majority of plants have done well and most even flourished.  This is testimony to both the plants themselves and the soil amendments that make these borders possible.  Learn how we amend our soils and make our plant choices.

Maurice Horn, as co-owner of Joy Creek Nursery, has had the opportunity to trial a vast variety of perennials and shrubs.  He is ever eager to find ways to create exciting gardens that use low to no water.  He has conducted gravel gardening workshops for Metro, the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon (at Reed College), Portland State University and Heronswood Nursery.  Recently, Maurice designed a dry land garden in cooperation with PGE, ODOT and the Master Gardeners of Oregon™.  The new garden celebrates the largest solar panel array in the State of Oregon at the Baldock Rest Area just past the Aurora Exit north of I-5.

Even in the gentlest of wars, the number one rule is "Understand your opponent."  Some gardeners just want to co-exist with nature and some folks are ready to declare all out war.  Either way, understanding the whys of deer behavior can help.  Explore design tricks and plant suggestions for gardening in the presence of deer.

Ramona Wulzen received her love of all things wild from her mother.  She has gardened both on a city lot and on three acres in the woods.  She has also listened long and hard to the problems and solutions that other gardeners have experienced.  The nature of her current garden has lead to her passion for ground covers and container gardening.  Ramona is a veteran of our retail department and now works in our landscape department. 

What's the plan for your garden as you begin to show and feel your age?  When you look outside, do you only see a lot of work?  Or have you arranged your garden so that it still beckons with possibilities?  Get ideas and share strategies with someone who is undergoing the process now.

Nadine Black tried on many hats in our industry - from private gardener to wholesale plant sales - before she discovered that her real passion was helping retail customers create gardens.  At Joy Creek Nursery, she has found a new set of hats, managing retail sales, conducting on-site garden consultations, and teaching workshops.  Indeed, she likes to say, "I've been in horticulture for more than 20 years and half of them have been with Joy Creek."  In addition, she has acquired the Lifetime Certified Oregon Nursery Professional certificate from the Oregon Association of Nurseries.

There is tremendous diversity within the genus Rhododendron.  This workshop is an opportunity to Explore the range of structure, size, and leaf forms that rhododendrons offer.  The Pacific Northwest is a perfect environment to grow most of the species and hybrids that will enhance your garden.  Come see a selection of unique, exotic, and new introductions.

Mike Stewart is a rhododendron expert.  Along with his wife Maria, he owns Dover Nursery which is known for its outstanding selection of rhododendrons, bath species and hybrids.  He has been honored with the Gold Medal from the American Rhododendron Society (ARS) - their highest award.  He is also a popular speaker who shares his professional knowledge with the gardening public.  Mike is very active with the ARS, having been a recent International ARS president.  There are those who say that he never knows when to say "no" in the service of rhododendrons and so he is now the Vice President of the Rhododendron Species Foundation.  Dover Nursery, in Sandy, Oregon, has one of the most exceptional collections of rhododendrons in the country with acres of perfectly planted and cared for shrubs.  The nursery collections include the newest hybrids from hybridizers on both the East and West Coast along with one of the largest collections of commercially grown species anywhere.  There is also a delightful display garden with many mature plants under a canopy of native fir trees with an outstanding view of Mount Hood in the background.  This is a most extraordinary location for fabulous rhododendrons.

Joy Creek Nursery became an official concern in early May twenty years ago.  In honor of the occasion, Mike and Maurice will offer tours of our gardens, growing areas and plant trial sites.  Come and take a stroll with us down memory lane and into the future.  We will lead two tours, one at 10:00 a.m. and one at 2:00 p.m.

Mike Smith and Maurice Horn are the co-owners of Joy Creek Nursery.  Over the last two decades, they have worn more hats than they can remember, from ditch-digger to garden writer.  They have also had the pleasure of working with a creative and loyal staff and an enthusiastic gardening public. 

Hebes are small evergreen shrubs from New Zealand which come in a wonderful array of colors, textures, and sizes. The numerous species and cultivars of hebes have varying degrees of hardiness but many varieties are outstanding for our region.  We will look at these and discuss how to use them in the garden and give tips for making them thrive.

Andy Stockton has a degree in creative writing from Western Washington University which, of course, means he ended up working at a nursery.  He has been at Joy Creek for five years where he works retail and runs social marketing.  It was love at first sight with hebes and he has been growing, and killing, a slightly excessive number ever since.

The outline shapes of trees, shrubs and even of individual flowers are often overlooked but essential elements in the look of a garden.  The same is true of the textures of the leaves of these plants.  This insight can help you combine a wide variety of plants – bulbs, grasses, perennials, shrubs and trees – to achieve the most impact in your garden all year round.  Bring a pencil and let the fun begin!

Lucy Hardiman was to the garden born—and is a fifth generation Oregon gardener.  She is the principal of Perennial Partners, a garden design collective recognized for their innovative approaches to garden design.  Her garden and those of clients have appeared in many magazines and books.  A popular speaker who lectures and teaches throughout the country, she writes for regional and national publications.  She serves on many boards of horticulturally based organizations in the Northwest including the Great Plant Picks perennial committee and the Friends of the Rogerson Clematis Collection.  She is also a past president of the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon.

You can grow everything from fruit trees to beets in containers! You just need to choose the right container and varieties that thrive in a constricted space. In this hands-on workshop, Willi covers all the nitty-gritty details for creating a thriving edible container garden, including how to choose a container, what type of soil to fill it with, and strategies for designing attractive and productive pots.

Willi Galloway is an award winning writer and radio commentator and author of the new book, Grow Cook Eat: A Food-Lover’s Guide to Vegetable Gardening, Including 50 Recipes, Plus Harvesting & Storage Tips. She writes about kitchen gardening and seasonal cooking on her popular blog and for Apartment Therapy. Each Tuesday morning, Willi offers vegetable gardening advice on Seattle ’s popular NPR call-in show, Greendays. She also teaches a joint gardening and cooking class with chef Matthew Dillon at the Corson Building in Seattle and hosts an online garden to table cooking show, Grow. Cook. Eat., with her husband, Jon. Willi was the West Coast Editor of Organic Gardening magazine from 2003 to 2009.  She lives and gardens in Portland , Oregon .   Willi will also have her new book available for purchase.

A brief summary of the different species of lavenders reveals a lot about how to grow them in our Northwest gardens.  Andy will give a detailed account of the most popular varieties and showcase brand new varieties that are just finding their way into the trade from Australia and New Zealand .  With 153 different lavenders in his collection, Andy knows the right ones for our climate.

Andy Van Hevelingen has been growing herbs for over 40 years!  A past president of the Willamette Valley Herb Society, he has written articles for Sunset Magazine, Fine Gardening and the Herb Companion.  He is now an honorary member of the Oregon Lavender Association and frequently lectures at Northwest Lavender Conferences.  When the Great Plant Picks committee needed detailed information on lavenders, Andy was the man they turned to for his encyclopedic knowledge of the genus.

Alex La Villa will discuss some of the best, most reliable perennials for the NW gardener including many of the recent Great Plant Picks™. He will also introduce some of the promising newcomers for 2012 and give suggestions for successful plant combinations

Alex LaVilla is the Plant Buyer and Manager of the Perennial Department at Swansons Nursery in Seattle , WA , where he features an extensive selection of perennials, herbs and ornamental grasses. He has been the Chair of the Great Plant Picks Perennial and Bulb Selection Committee since its inception in 2001.  Alex also is the owner of Gardenculture Design a horticultural consultation and design service.

Large flowered clematis certainly are the best known and most often grown clematis in the United States .  But regional gardeners are beginning to understand the charm of the less commonly available species and varieties with small, often bell-shaped flowers.  There is a selection for every garden, from the hot and baking to the damp and shady.  Come and fall under their spell.

Maurice Horn is co-owner of Joy Creek Nursery.  He is a long-time member of the International Clematis Society and serves on the Perennial Selection Committee and Clematis Advisory Committee of the Great Plant Picks program of the Elizabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden .  Over the years, he and the staff of the nursery have amassed a significant collection of clematis and many other climbers. 

When designing and buying plants for your garden, it’s important to think of plants that bloom at different times of the year.  We will discuss a broad palette of plants for year round blooming as well as pruning tips to prolong a plant’s bloom cycle.  

This year, Twilight in the Garden will be a celebration of our 20^th anniversary.  Please join us for this special summer soiree and enjoy live music and light refreshments in our twilit gardens.  We will also keep our retail yard open for those of you who are inspired to shop.  6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

How drab our gardens would be without the vibrantly-colored flowers we grow. Of course, there wouldn’t be nearly the diversity of these flowers without the work of a single family of insects—bees! This family is composed of honey bees, bumblebees, mason bees, carpenter bees and many others, and they pollinate close to 70 percent of all flowering plants. In fact, there are thought to be about 250 species of bees in western Oregon alone. This class will take a look at the some of the more common bee pollinators, the interaction between bees and flowers, and a tour of the nursery’s many bee-friendly plants.

Glen Andresen’s life changed in unimagined ways when an old-time beekeeper introduced him to the art, craft and science of keeping bees…and so began a lifetime fascination with the wonder and magic of honey bees. Glen has been keeping bees in his own backyard in Portland , Oregon since 1992 and in other people’s backyards since 2002. Last year, his bees produced more than 3,000 pounds of honey.  

He teaches backyard organic beekeeping classes through Portland Community College , the city of Portland ’s Urban Growth Bounty, Garden Fever nursery in Northeast Portland , and others.

Glen Andresen is the host of the hour-long edible gardening show, "The Dirt Bag," heard the second Wednesday of each month at 11 a.m. on community radio station KBOO, at 90.7 FM in Portland . He also writes "Ground View," a monthly gardening column for "The Portland Alliance" newspaper.  

He has degrees in economics and music but still would rather play with his bees.

This talk will deal with striking a balance in the shady garden. A shade garden isn't just a combination of plants that perform well in shade. Greg Graves will talk about creating levels of plants starting with the tall trees overhead going down to understory trees then shrubs and finally the groundcovers. A second factor in building a shade garden is developing seasonal interest to get more impact at certain times of the year. With the proper balance a shady garden can be interesting throughout the four seasons.

Greg Graves returned to school after a 24 year career with Burlington Northern Railroad and received a degree in Landscape Design and Ornamental Horticulture. He began his career at the Miller Botanical Garden where he was the head gardener for 13 years. He retired from the garden in 2011.  Greg is on the Perennials and Bulbs subcommittee of Great Plant Picks, an educational program sponsored by the Miller Botanical Garden . He is the past president of the Northwest Horticultural Society and has chaired the education committee of NHS’s monthly lecture series for the past 11 years. He is currently president of the Pacific Horticulture Society. Greg has traveled throughout North America and Britain visiting outstanding gardens. He has also escorted garden tours to Sardinia , Australia , Tasmania , New York , South Carolina  and New Zealand . He developed an award-winning garden on Capitol Hill, in Seattle , but, in 2005 sold it and moved to Orting , WA . Along with his partner, Gary Waller, he has been building a new garden and specialty nursery called Old Goat Farm.

Last year we held our first Dog Day in Summer.  It was such a success that we decided to try it again.  Events for the day include a round-table to discuss planting and designing with dogs in mind.  Bring your problems and ideas to share.  In addition, we're planning games and contests for dogs and their owners.  These were the highlight of the day last summer!  Even non-dog-owners got in the swing of it.  Bring a donation of pet food for the Columbia County Humane Society and come ready for fun. 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Conducted by Andy Stockton and Nadine Black from the Retail Staff of Joy Creek Nursery.

We don’t have to shut down our gardens in the fall.  With the large palette of broadleaf evergreen shrubs and conifers available to choose from, it is possible to have a rich and luxuriant garden even during the so-called quiet winter season.

Roger Gossler was born, raised and attended school in Springfield , OR .  His interest in plants has been life-long, and his learning comes from hands-on work with plants, an extensive library, and visits with other growers.  He received an Associate Degree at Lane Community College in Landscape Design Maintenance.  He is a partner in Gossler Farms Nursery along with his mother Marj and his brother Eric.  The nursery specializes in magnolias, winter blooming trees and shrubs and many other beautiful plants, including some unusual perennials.  Roger is a life member of the Magnolia Society, and a member of the American Rhododendron Society, The Hardy Plant Society of Oregon, the Willamette Valley Hardy Plant Group and the Royal Horticultural Society.  He has lectured extensively throughout the United States .  In 2009, The Gossler Guide to Hardy Shrubs by Marj, Eric & Roger Gossler was published by Timber Press.

Kelly and Sue will showcase plants from the far corners of the world, not only from their own collecting expeditions but also from collectors from the past.  Get a little history as you learn about some truly unusual species and cultivars.

Kelly Dodson and Sue Milliken, owners of Far Reaches Farm, have spent their lives learning about and working with plants in nurseries, botanic gardens and the fine private gardens they have designed and installed.  They have combined their talents to create a nursery in Port Townsend which is regarded as having the largest collection of uncommon ornamentals in the State of Washington .

 Their emphasis has been on perennials but every year brings an ever increasing selection of bulbs, alpines, trees and shrubs.  They have worked hard at expanding their plant palette to include a wide range of plants that can tantalize even the most jaded gardener.  Many of these new plants have come from their seed collecting expeditions in Asia as well as sources the world over.  Visit them at www.farreachesfarm.com.

This unique garden features sedums, saxifrages and other succulents and dry loving plants planted on a table top surface creating an interesting miniature landscape. Richie Steffen, will demonstrate the techniques he uses to create these table top garden gems and how to care for them as they mature.

When you look at the large selection of dwarf conifers that are available, do you feel as if you are lost in Wonderland?  Do you want the charming, fuzzy, extra-small one or the tall, spiky, Dr. Seuss-like one?  What about the color, the ultimate size, the shape?  Come and share your thoughts and questions with Susan and find the key to unlocking the world of conifers in your own garden.  If you do not already know it, you will soon learn that they are a gardener’s friends. Portland native 

Susan LaTourette started her career as a landscape designer in 1999 working with Lucy Hardiman of Perennial Partners.  She started her own business, ‘Creativescaping,’ in 2000.  She still works with Lucy as a design associate to this day.   Her innovative designs, focusing on four seasons of interest, showcase her love and use of unusual plants and conifers.  Her desire for focal points and contrast in a garden drives her continuing exploration of dwarf conifers.

Early fall in the Pacific Northwest is ideal for planting trees, shrubs, perennials and bulbs. It is also a perfect time to assess your garden, make design changes, choose plants, and prepare the soil.  Take advantage of our mild autumn days to refresh your garden for the coming year.

Jolly Butler became familiar to gardeners throughout the Portland area through her “Gardening 101” column in Garden Showcase magazine; and many gardeners learned their gardening basics in her classes at Portland Community College .  She also hosted a two-hour, call-in radio show called “Gardening with Jolly Butler” on KPAM in Portland . She is an Oregon State University Extension Service Master Gardener, is currently on the Board of the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon, and loves to teach new gardeners that everyone has at least one green thumb.

With colorful shrubs like English hollies being listed as “invasives” in the Pacific Northwest , it is time to consider what can replace their brilliant berries in the landscape. Red, yellow, white and other colorful fruited replacements are available, some evergreen and some deciduous.  Indeed, there is a wonderful array of fruiting ornamental shrubs suited to a wide variety of sites.  Understanding their cultural needs and pruning requirements will help you have the best display!

Basic container maintenance and a strong design element are essential to having breathtaking containers throughout the winter.  Create a winter container combination that will delight you through the cold winter months and the year ahead.

Ramona Wulzen received her love of all things wild from her mother.  She has gardened both on a city lot and on three acres in the woods.  She has also listened long and hard to the problems and solutions that other gardeners have experienced.  The nature of her current garden has lead to her passion for ground covers and container gardening.  Ramona is a veteran of our retail department and now works in our landscaping department.

20300 NW Watson Road  Scappoose, OR 97056
(503) 543-7474    (503) 543-6933 (FAX)
catalogue@joycreek.com