Let’s Talk Gardens

Join us as we explore the history and horticulture of the hop plant, Humulus lupulus, and its role in defining American craft beer.

Learn how to keep your tropical treasures for more than a summer. 

Learn more how the pandemic offered a rare opportunity for Rosenfield to observe how the environment reacts to drops in human activity.

Learn about the common challenges and best practices for watering, choice of nutrients, repotting methods, light requirements, air circulation, and the optimal supplies required for home orchid cultivation

Janet Draper, Horticulturist in the Mary Livingston Ripley Garden, highlights her favorite plants for creating a garden with year-round interest.

Love them or hate them, this year the east coast is going to encounter a phenomenon that only happens once every 17 years. Join Holly Walker, Plant Health Specialist to learn more about cicadas.

Learn about basic design principles and learn how to put foliage first!

Join Andrew Bunting as he explores the breadth of hydrangeas and their relatives and how they can be successfully used in the garden

Janet Draper, Smithsonian Gardens Horticulturist, will share her top dozen (or so) perennials she relies on to create a garden with year-round interest,

Learn about hand-tinted glass lantern slides and how they were used a century ago to document gardens.

With thoughtful plant selection, garden design and cultural practices, your rose garden can be beautiful and earth friendly.

Learn how to fabricate a wreath made of succulents and a seeded greeting card.

Learn how to beautifully capture your backyard oasis or neighborhood park no matter what kind of camera you own.

Horticulturist Sarah Dickert will discuss some of the key plants and garden features to attract these fun little birds.

Introducing children to gardening is a great way to increase their awareness of where food comes from and the importance of the environment in everyday life.

Watch this webinar to learn more about exploring personal relationships with plants and celebrating garden communities during challenging times.  

Plant suggestions, design tips, and techniques for how to make your late season garden excel. 

Using examples from D.C.-area gardens, Kathy Jentz, editor and publisher of Washington Gardener magazine, will illustrate basic design principles for maximizing garden space.

Learn how to upcycle things to create beautiful (and shareable) garden tchotchkes.

Join Andrew Bunting for an overview of great magnolias for the Mid-Atlantic region.

Find out how local public agencies making gardens and green spaces more accessible and equitable to local communities.

Learn how to create a harvest themed centerpiece floral arrangement for all your holiday gatherings

Learn design tips and tricks, recommended supplies, and a step-by-step tutorial for decorating a fresh-cut, evergreen wreath,.

Join Virginia Thaxton to learn why plant taxonomy is a very important science and how fun and useful it can be getting to know them on a first name basis! 

Learn to love the shade you’ve got. Sylvia Schmeichel, Smithsonian Gardens Horticulturist, will share tips and tricks for creating layered and dynamic plant combinations that result in an inviting space. 

Learn how to use color, texture and height to your seasonal container.

Who are our native bees and how do they interact and compare with the non-native honeybee.

Find out how to create a Monarch Waystation in your garden!

Join Amy Mawby for an ecological exploration of the season with a focus on its harbingers, our native spring ephemerals.

Get ready to flex your creative muscles whether you are stuck indoors or braving the elements.  Open to shutterbugs of all levels and ages.  

Learn more about vegetable planting schedules, cultivar selection, maintenance tips, and suggestions on how to make your vegetable garden productive and beautiful. 

Join Horticulturist Janet Draper as she looks back on her 20-plus years of learning and sharing in the Mary Livingston Ripley Garden.

Watch as Smithsonian Gardens’ extensive poinsettia crop makes its magical transition from small, green slips grown in our greenhouse facility to cheery, colorful holiday plants on display in the interiors of our museums.

Learn how to add another dimension to your tree and shrub pruning skillset.

Cindy Brown, Smithsonian Gardens’ Education and Collections Manager, will discuss the tedious, sometimes stinky, always mysterious, often frustrating art of seed saving.

Learn how to fold your own seed packet and the basics of seed collecting to get you out in the garden and saving seed for the future!

Learn tips and tricks about planting fall bulbs such as daffodils, tulips and hyacinths.

Discover how to grow 10 herbs to flavor your summer.

Are you inspired by the big showcase gardens, but don’t think you have space at home to make a showy impact? Learn more about how to create a small garden with big impact.

Examine the epidemic of tree and shrub health problems caused by our most basic garden maintenance practices.

Learn more about native shrubs to substitute for your non-native plants.

Suggestions on perennials that make excellent additions to gardens AND help support the habitat ecosystem.

Learn about the basic visual signals that plants show when they are under stress

This lecture will discuss both the divine and the challenging aspects of the terraced medieval garden at the Washington National Cathedral Gardens.

Learn about organic methods of soil preparation like lasagna layering, how to be strategic with watering, and where to get information on preemergent and post emergent applications.

Learn how to design and recognize the beauty in a winter garden.