5 Senses in the Natural Garden
Saturday January 5, 2019
9:30am-12:00pm
Join us for a special
mid-winter workshop/conference with lively discussion about the way California
natural gardens provide unique opportunities for us to use our five senses;
sight, sound, taste, smell, and feel. We also will focus on that sixth sense, the
one called “wonder,” which we experience when we engage with nature. On a
practical note, we will review the basics of making a reciprocal sensory garden
with demonstrations of concrete examples, including design principles and plant
combinations.
Our panel of instructors includes the
following TOLN amigos that regularly present on the topics of their expertise.
Schedule and Overview:
9:30am Introduction
Mike Evans
Why is an awareness of the 5 senses important in our relationship
to natural garden?
9:35am Sight
Mike Evans, President Tree of Life Nursery
What are the basic principles of art and design including nature’s
best one… surprise!?
Mike will show us how to
“see” beyond the obvious, and to design to highlight nature’s subtle beauty, as
opposed to a more conventional, exotic, hyper-conspicuous, ornamental “look.”
Besides the obvious, we
can learn how to see (almost feel) the subtle. Shadows, translucent leaves, dew
drops, spider web patterns, fallen leaves, moonlight shimmer on quartz rocks,
the details in the earth when you dig a hole – examples of a few intimate
sights we do not want to miss. And of course the obvious – big bold plants,
bright flowers, grasses swaying in the wind. We will explore how to incorporate
all the art principles in natural garden design to make them visually pleasing
distant and up close, patterns, repetition, surprise, movement, shadows, color,
shape, texture, line, absence of line, depth, horizons, and all the elements of
design; practical information on how to use them in planning a garden.
10:00am Sound
Cat Waters, Expert horticulturist and acclaimed ornithologist
What’s that bird and what’s she trying to say? (and other sounds
as well.)
Cat will give us general
tips on how and when to listen for bird songs, how to recognize some species,
and how to distinguish the message: alarm, communication, mating, young that
are hungry, scolding, including birds who change their songs for different
occasions and time of day.
Can you hear your
garden? You do not have to have “good ears.” It is as easy as listening
to it. Birds sing and call, the wind stirs, the hum of insects, the urban
background, and the sounds you generate as you work and walk in it are all
there for you to hear and enjoy. It is a rare thing that there is only
silence around us. In our gardens, birds, especially, are very communicative.
And, so are the sounds spawned by the plants you’ve worked so hard to bring to
into the garden of our lives. Come join us and take a short journey into
considering the sounds your garden brings to you and the background sounds all
of us live among, but may not pay attention to, and consider how listening to
these sounds can expand our enjoyment of our gardens.
10:20am Taste
Abe Sanchez, Native Food Author and Expert
How can I grow, gather, prepare, and enjoy native foods,
sustainably from my own natural garden?..
Abe will talk about tea,
juice, syrup, and appetizers, as well as main course and even dessert – all
from native species grown in your natural garden. He will emphasize traditional
practices, local plants and their uses, and how to sustainably harvest and
prepare native foods. A few samples will be available.
California’s incredibly
diverse vegetation and abundant land have provided the basis for all aspects of
a life for California’s people. Before contact with the European world, native
people utilized native plants for food, medicine, and ceremony, as well as for
making shelter, tools, clothing, and baskets. Indigenous use of native plants
is not simply a topic of history. An ever growing community of enthusiastic
learners and teachers are involved in keeping ancient traditions alive. Engage
your taste buds by learning the edible plants and their uses.
10:40am Smell
Melissa Adylia Calasanz (C-IAYT), Certified Yoga Therapist, and
California Native Plant Education and Outreach Specialist
What is aromatherapy in the natural garden, does it work, and if
so, how does it work?
Melissa will teach us
how to incorporate mindfulness, reciprocity and healing in this session on the
sense of smell and the numerous native species that will work in a sensory
garden.
For centuries,
aromatherapy has been used to enhance health and well-being. Modern research
recognizes the benefits of aromatherapy for stress reduction, sleep and mood
management, improved memory and cognition, as well as easing discomforts
associated with anxiety and chronic pain. Our sense of smell has the power to
recollect, therefore reconnect, to a space or place in time. And even if
someone has lost their sense of smell, there are ways to tap into the healing
properties of scent. California’s natural flora includes numerous aromatic
plants.
11:00am Touch
Leon Baginski M.D., practitioner of OB/GYN with
functional/integrative medicine, horticulturist, naturalist, entomologist,
wellness and longevity expert.
What are the tactile senses, and what are the benefits of using
them? How can you engage them in the natural garden? And can you use them to
promote health and healing?
Dr. B will discuss how
the sensations of touch, heat, cold, soft, rough, thorny, smooth, insects
walking on your hand, holding a snake (or even a frog) all relate to the other
senses and why this important sense is so often taken for granted or neglected
entirely.
The skin is a major
organ and often overlooked and forgotten yet has many functions in health and
disease. Learn to understand how you are uniquely positioned to take advantage
of this in your native garden to improve the balance of health and fight
disease through tactile input.
11:30AM Summary
Panel Discussion, questions and answers, moderated by Mike Evans
Workshop officially
finished. You will be welcome to stay for an additional discussion period or
proceed to Casa ‘La Paz’ where plenty of plants to engage your 5 senses will be
available.
12:00PM – Finish
33201 Ortega Highway
San Juan Capistrano
92675
PHONE
949.728.0685
COST: Free. No Charge. No Reservations Necessary
NOTE: Workshop will be held rain or shine.
Refreshments will be
provided.
