Experience Bloom with a View
at a whole different level!
Register for these classes and talks inspired by Bloom with a View, offered through the Arboretum’s Adult and Continuing Education Programs.
Unleashing Your Inner Garden
Designer: Tips and Tricks from the
Field Guide to Outside Style
ONSITE | Monday, May 1, 2 – 3:30 p.m.
Book Talk & Signing with Author Ryan McEnaney
Free, Suggested Donation $10
BREG Elective – 1 hour, Design & Botanical Illustration
Limit: 30
Get ready to dig in the dirt and unleash your creativity with garden designer and author Ryan McEnaney! In this fun and approachable presentation, Ryan shares his unique approach to creating a personalized landscape that reflects your unique style, goals, and resources. Starting with the basics of sun exposure, soil type, light, color, texture, and more, Ryan shows you how to set up dates at home to get to know your landscape better. With this foundation in place, he provides practical tips and tricks for designing a garden that perfectly matches your personality and lifestyle. Using three design archetypes, Ryan helps you discover your inner garden designer and create a space that’s uniquely yours. Finally, he’ll reveal some of the hottest new plants for 2023, giving you plenty of inspiration for your next gardening adventure. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or a first-time gardener, this session is sure to leave you feeling inspired and empowered to create your dream garden!
Ryan McEnaney is a plantsman, designer and communicator for all things green and gardening. He serves as a resource for, and has been seen in, Real Simple, HGTV Magazine, Better Homes & Gardens, Martha Stewart Living, The Wall Street Journal, and more. He has also appeared as an outdoor lifestyle and gardening expert on television and radio stations across the United States. A fifth-generation family member and owner at Bailey Nurseries, one of the country’s oldest and largest growers of shrubs and trees, he also serves as spokesperson for the company’s consumer plant brands. Along with this role, he hosts a digital series “Garden Gab” to continue his efforts of supporting home gardeners to have success with plants.
Growing Innovation: The Pathway to
New Plant Introductions
ONSITE | Monday, May 1, 4 – 5:30 pm
Instructors: Ryan McEnaney & David Roberts
Free, Suggested Donation $10
BREG Elective -1 hour, Plant Studies
Limit: 30
Join us for a fascinating conversation with Bailey Nurseries David Roberts and Ryan McEnaney as they take us on a journey through the colorful world of plant breeding and marketing! From the earliest stages of breeding and trialing to the all-important process marketing and producing enough plants for sales, they’ll provide an insider’s look at the pathway to introducing new plant varieties. With their combined expertise and enthusiasm, they’ll also be sharing some of their favorite new introductions, so be sure to bring your green thumbs and your sense of adventure!
David Roberts is the director of Plant Breeding with Bailey Nurseries in Athens, Georgia. He is a horticultural enthusiast whose interests include plant breeding, tissue culture and flow cytometry. Areas of study include plant genetics, ploidy determination and morphological trait segregation. He earned the master’s degree in horticultural science and plant breeding from North Carolina State University.
Ryan McEnaney is a plantsman, designer and communicator for all things green and gardening. He serves as a resource for, and has been seen in, Real Simple, HGTV Magazine, Better Homes & Gardens, Martha Stewart Living, The Wall Street Journal, and more. He has also appeared as an outdoor lifestyle and gardening expert on television and radio stations across the United States. A fifth-generation family member and owner at Bailey Nurseries, one of the country’s oldest and largest growers of shrubs and trees, he also serves as spokesperson for the company’s consumer plant brands. Along with this role, he hosts a digital series “Garden Gab” to continue his efforts of supporting home gardeners to have success with plants.
The following two classes are also thematically related to An Abundance of Riches in medium/printmaking. They are scheduled in connection with World Print Day celebrated on Saturday, May 6, this year, when printmakers the world over practice their art and show the results on social media to bring attention to an ancient art in the modern day.
Inspired by Bloom with a View:
Eco Printing on Paper
ONSITE | Friday, May 5, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Instructors: Penelope Reed & Barb Kotts
$95 Non-member Adult
BRN, BREG – Elective, 3 hours – Growing in Place, Special Topics
Limit: 10
Borrow inspiration from nature and make what seems like magic in this workshop that features eco printing on paper using plants! No artistic experience is necessary – just a willingness to experiment and enjoy a fun day with two engaging teachers. Eco printing is the process of making direct contact botanical prints from the natural pigment found in plants. Instructors Barb Kotts and Penelope Reed will guide you through preparing your paper and choosing the leaves and blooms that provide the best results. You will also be introduced to the art of using natural dyes and will learn how to bundle and transfer plant material to paper via steam – where the magic of pigment to paper transfer happens! Your finished eco prints on paper can be used in making books, journals and cards, and can be embellished with items such as small twigs, shells, stones, or small pieces of metal. So join us in magical surroundings while our Bloom with a View festival is underway and create some magic of your own.
Barb Kotts and Penelope Reed are makers who incorporate natural elements in their eco printing, book making and photography. Both Blue Ridge Naturalists and Arboretum volunteers, they find endless sources of inspiration in the natural world for what they create.
Inspired by Bloom with a View:
Botanical Block Prints
ONSITE | Saturday, May 6, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Instructor: Jessica C. White
$225 Non-member Adult
BRN, BREG – Elective, 3 hours – Growing in Place, Special Topics
Limit: 16
We’ll draw inspiration from the Arboretum’s Bloom with a View event in the gardens and from our current exhibition An Abundance of Riches, featuring the stunning prints of birds and botanicals created by Andrea Rich. This day-long workshop on multi-color block printing taught by Jessica C. White, professor of art at Warren Wilson College encourages us to train our eyes observing the season’s flora and fauna, and appreciate the infinite variety of colors, textures and patterns in nature. Then we can translate inspiration into creation – making multi-color block prints! Participants will learn how to carve rubber blocks and print in several colors and layers made from a single block as well as how to combine blocks in a composition. We’ll use these blocks to create our own printed textures and patterns, then blocks can be reused after the workshop to print personal stationery, on fabric, journal covers, and even as wall patterns.
Open to individuals of all skill levels. Participants should be able to hold and safely handle a sharp cutting tool and hand skills are involved with the printing process. All materials are included in the registration.
As if the meditative flow of learning new skills and making beautiful art aren’t inspiring enough, participants in the class can join in a global celebration of printmaking – Print Day in May – dedicated to making and sharing prints! Over the course of the day, we’ll share our work on social media, creating in community with tens of thousands of other printmakers the world over.
Jessica C. White grew up in Taiwan where she learned to love storybooks and traditional folk crafts, and now lives in Asheville, N.C.. where she continues her studio practice and also teaches printmaking, drawing, book arts, and paper making at Warren Wilson College. Her practice revolves around narrative relief prints, wood engravings, letterpress printing, and crankies. She draws inspiration from folk tales, ghost stories, children’s books, and the nature she sees while hiking in the Blue Ridge mountains.