Gardening | Smartest Woman In The Room: ‘Thursday Garden Talks With Lili Singer’
Aptonyms that amuse us–like the priest Father O’Pray, the dentist Dr. Payne or the meteorologist Dallas Raines–get us thinking. Are you destined to become a noted horticulturist if your name is Lili Singer?
For the lily is perennial, ubiquitous, adaptive, rooting in both earth and water environments, seemingly delicate but actually strong. And it’s not much of a stretch to apply many of these traits to garden expert extraordinaire Lili Singer.
A journeywoman plants expert, Singer is seemingly everywhere at once: the L.A. County Arboretum in Arcadia, Southern California Horticulture Society meetings in Griffith Park on the second Thursday of the month, the California Native Plant Society board.
This week, she popped into Internet mailboxes via the Arboretum’s fall class schedule. “Thursday Garden Talks With Lili Singer” is experiencing its seasonal registration stampede.
The Thursday morning lineup features special guests each week from 9:30 to noon. That’s swell and all, but die-hard Los Angeles gardeners come to listen particularly to Singer herself. S
he’s a horticultural Jackie-of-all-trades with, hard-to-believe but true, nearly 40 years of teaching, consulting, writing, broadcasting and nursery management under her belt.
As moderator of the Thursday series for nearly a decade, her vast knowledge of plants in Southern California is a boon to new, veteran and professional gardeners.
How long, exactly, has she been associated with the Arboretum? Patch asked just the other day.
“Eight years plus? Maybe going on nine years.” Singer thinks for a moment. “I’ll have to check the calendar.” She pauses, then adds, “But I’m sure about this: I’ve never missed a class. Well, once, when I had the flu. I left early.”
Nine Years of Lectures
The Arboretum’s ongoing lecture series offers 24 classes a year, fall, winter and spring. Nine years of lectures means Singer has hosted over 215 garden talks with horticulture experts.
“We offer a potpourri of topics each season,” Singer explained. “An eclectic mix, something for everyone: edibles, native plants, field trips, wonderful (garden) spots to visit that you might not normally have access to.”
The eight lectures series is a better value than attending on a drop-in basis, although that option is always available. September 6 is the last day to enroll in all eight classes for $100. After the series beings September 15, classes cost $20 each.
Bargain hunters, note: Anyone can transfer the admission ticket, sharing with a friend, in case of scheduling conflict. Plus the price of admission bestows knowledge to help become a better gardener. What’s not to like?
On tap each season is a wide array of garden authorities. Opening the series Sept. 15 is Los Angeles Times columnist and garden blogger Emily Green.
Garden preservation is one topic; another is Arts and Crafts historical landscape design with Laramee Haynes; plant propagation is presented by the accomplished Dave Lannom, former head of the Mt. SAC Horticulture Department. A tour of elegant gardens from San Marino and Pasadena requires pre-registration.
Edible Gardens
The current schedule, plus winter classes with Carol Bornstein of the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, and edible garden maven Rosalind Creasy, is available online at www.arboretum.org .
Singer says one of the main attractions of the Arboretum for
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