May 18, 1998

Learn to grow beautiful bouquets at free workshop

Flower bouquets bring the beauty of the garden indoors and help brighten any space. Growing your own bouquet ingredients will be the topic of a free two-hour workshop on Saturday, May 30, from 10 a.m. to noon at San Lorenzo Lumber's Garden Center, 235 River Street, Santa Cruz.

Orin Martin, manager of the Alan Chadwick Garden at UC Santa Cruz, will gear his talk to the beginning gardener interested in growing great cut flowers. Martin will discuss the major features of many annual and perennial flower varieties that can flourish in home garden settings. He'll give tips on harvesting techniques and postharvest care to ensure a longer vase life and offer a list of his "greatest hits" for the Monterey Bay region.

"The home gardener has fewer constraints than commercial growers when it comes to growing bouquet ingredients," says Martin, who has managed the historic Chadwick Garden for more than 20 years. "That opens up a wide range of plants that can be grown for cutting." His springtime favorites include agrostemma, larkspur, sweet peas, perennial cornflowers, delphinium, and annual gypsophyllum. He'll discuss these and more at the workshop, offering ideas for both bedding and border plantings.

The free talk is sponsored by the UCSC Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems and the Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden.

For more information, call (408) 459-3240 or 459-3248.

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