2024 Winter Study Weekend

Event Details

Event Registration is closed.

Schedule

THURSDAY (March 7, 2024):

NARGS Board Meetings at the Waterfront Hotel, 10 Washington St, Oakland, California

1:00 PM Ad Comm. NARGS Meeting in Compass Room at the Waterfront Hotel

3:00 PM NARGS Board Meeting in Compass Room at the Waterfront Hotel

4:00 PM Chapter Reports Meeting in Compass Room at the Waterfront Hotel – OPEN TO ALL PARTICIPANTS

5:00 PM to 7:00 PM EVENT Registration for Winter Study Weekend in the Compass Room at the Waterfront Hotel

Buses leave for UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley from the Waterfront Hotel at 9am

FRIDAY (March 8, 2024):

8:00 AM to 9:00 AM Registration and Continental Breakfast at the Waterfront Hotel, 10 Washington St., Oakland

9:00 AM – Load buses and buses leave for UC Botanical Garden as filled; last bus leaves Waterfront Hotel at 9:30 AM.

Julia Morgan Building: 

10:00 to 10:15 Bart O’Brien – Intro and Welcome to the Western Winter Study Weekend

10:15 to 10:30 Andrew Doran, Director of Collections, University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley Intro to the the Garden and the day.

10:30 to 11:30 Mick Song, Cheilanthes Working Group, TALK : Cheilanthoid Ferns and Desiccation Tolerance

11:30 to 12:30 Mark Akimoff, Owner of Illahe Rare Plants, Salem, Oregon TALK: Growing beautiful and unusual bulbs from around the world

12:30 PM to 1:30 PM: Lunch 12:30 to 1:30 – Boxed Lunch (pick up on tables outside on the deck at the Julia Morgan Building). Eat on the move, or sit and eat in JM building or deck

GARDEN:

12:30 PM to 3:45 PM: Gift Shop and Plant Deck are open for sales.

1:15 PM to 3:45 PM: Tours of the Garden or wander on your own! 

Staff tours – all staff and docent tours will leave from the Julia Morgan Building.

Anthony Garza: Xerophytic Fern Collection

Basil Madeiros: Alpine Fell Field Collection

Bryann Gim: Desert Collections or Arid House

James Fong: Australasian Alpines

Jared Crawford: Mediterranean Collections

South African Collections

Docent-led General Garden Tours

3:30 PM to 4:00 PM: Leave the UC Botanical Garden

4:30 PM to 6:30 PM Social Time on your own (from the Hotel)

6:30 PM Dinner at Hotel

7:30 PM After Dinner Speaker at Hotel: Sean Hogan, Owner of Cistus Design Nursery, Sauvie Island, Oregon.

TALK: Flora of the Klamath-Siskiyou Region

SATURDAY (March 9, 2024):

Group Plants Sale on Patio 9:00am - 2:00

9:00 AM: Load buses at the Waterfront Hotel for the Gardens of Lake Merritt and buses leave as filled; last bus leaves at 9:15 AM SHARP.

9:15 AM Continental Breakfast at The Gardens of Lake Merritt

9:30 AM John Tsutakawa, Board Member, The Gardens of Lake Merritt, Oakland. TALK: “Gardens at Lake Merritt and the Creation of the Rock Garden”

10:00 AM Adam Harrower, Senior Botanical Horticulturist, South African National Biodiversity Institute, Kirstenbosch National Botanic Garden, South Africa TALK: "Living on the Edge - A New Vertical Crevice Garden at Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden"

11:15AM Karl du Toit, Detective Captain, Springbok Stock Theft and Endangered Species Unit, South African Police Service, Northern Cape Province, South Africa

TALK: "Cops, Robbers and Other Wild Flowers"

12:30 PM Lunch and Garden Tours

2:00 PM Buses leave the Gardens at Lake Merritt

3:00 PM Arrive Ruth Bancroft Garden and Nursery Tours by Garden Staff

5:30 PM Walker Young, Assistant Curator, Ruth Bancroft Garden, Walnut Creek: TALK

6:45 PM Dinner (Taco Bar) at Ruth Bancroft Garden

8:30 PM: Last Bus Leaves for Waterfront Hotel, Oakland

SUNDAY (March 10, 2024):

All Sunday talks and meals are at the Brazilian Room unless otherwise noted!

Group Plants sale on Patio at the Brazilian Room 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM

8:00 AM: Load buses for Tilden Regional Park (Brazilian Room) and buses leave as filled; Last bus leaves Waterfront Hotel at 8:30 AM SHARP.

9:15 AM Continental Breakfast at the Brazil Room (Tilden Regional Park – adjacent to the Botanic Garden).

9:30 AM Bart O’Brien, Director of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Regional Park, Berkeley

TALK: Introduction and Conservation Role

10:00 AM Michael Uhler, Sierra Section Gardener/Curator, Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Berkeley: TALK: Sierra Nevada field season, in search of rare alpines for Tilden's rockery" 

11:00 AM Emily Griffoul, Conservation Scientist, Betty Ford Alpine Garden, Vail, Colorado:

TALK: "The Alpine Strategy: A Blueprint for the Conservation of North America's High Elevation Flora".

Lunch East Bay Regional Park Botanic Garden Volunteer Propagators Plant Sale 12:00 PM - 3:30 PM - Crevice Garden Area

Explore the Regional Parks Botanic Garden on your own OR take a guided staff or docent tour. ALL tours will begin at the Botanic Garden Visitor Center overlook bench

12:30 PM Docent-led general tour of the Botanic Garden.

12:45 PM Bryophyte Tour of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden (RPBG) Susan Tremblay, PhD, bryologist and paleobotanist. UC Berkeley

1:00 PM Tour of the award-winning Sierran Crevice Garden with its creator, Michael Uhler, RPBG Gardener/Curator of the Sierran and Seabluff sections of the Botanic Garden.

1:15 PM Tour the world’s best collection of Manzanitas (Arctostaphylos species) with Paula Urtecho, EBRPD Naturalist.

1:30 PM Docent-led general tour of the Botanic Garden.

1:45 PM TBA

2:00 PM Demonstration of Propagating Ferns From Spore by Kiamara Ludwig, notable fern propagator and grower, and Diana Wahl, Interpretive Student Aide at the RPBG. For this demonstration, meet in the Visitor Center Auditorium.

2:15 PM Docent-led general tour of the Botanic Garden.

2:30 PM Docent-led general tour of the Botanic Garden.

3:45 PM EVERYONE RETURNS TO THE BRAZILIAN ROOM!

4:00 to 4:30 PM Bobby Ward, NARGS Executive Secretary: NARGS Awards

4:30 to 5:30 PM Rebecca Lance: NARGS Sierran Rock Garden Society

Talk: Encounters with California Eriogonums:  From slopes and steppes to a foothill garden

5:45 to 6:50 PM Dinner

6:50 to 7:00 PM Isaiah Smith : 2025 Cheyenne Wyoming NARGS National Meeting

7:00 to 8:00 PM Marcela Ferreyra, Emeritus Professor of Vascular Plant Systematics at the National University of Rio Negro in San Carlos de Bariloche and Botanical Tour Guide, San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina

8:30 PM LAST bus leaves for Waterfront Hotel

 

MONDAY (March 11, 2024) Choose One of the Two Options:

OPTION ONE: Monday Visits to Private Gardens

8:00 AM: Continental Breakfast at the Waterfront Hotel

8:30 AM: Buses Leave for Keeyla Meadows Garden from the Waterfront Hotel

Keeyla Meadows, Berkeley

Kipp McMichaels, Berkeley

Marcia Donohue, Berkeley

2 HOUR LUNCH at Jon Kaplan’s Garden

Walker Young, Piedmont

Ann Nichols, Oakland

Dinner on your own!!

View photos of the Private Gardens we will visit

OPTION TWO: Monday Field Trips

8:00 AM: Continental Breakfast at the Waterfront Hotel

8:30 AM: Buses Leave for Tsutakawa Garden from the Waterfront Hotel, 10 Washington St., Oakland.

Box Lunches will be on the Bus

John Tsutakawa garden, San Francisco

San Bruno Mountain State & County Park, Brisbane

San Pedro Valley Park, Pacifica

Dinner on your own!

View photos of the Field Trips

Specialty Growers rarely selling under the same roof (Saturday and/or Sunday):

(Timing and venue for plant sales TBA)

Brian and Walker Nursery, Richmond

California Flora Nursery, Fulton

Carl Frederick Nursery, Mill Valley

Carman’s Nursery, Gilroy

Dancing Oaks Nursery, Monmouth, Oregon

Illahe Rare Plants, Salem, Oregon

Paul Leondis, Berkeley

Pollen8 Nursery, Oakland

Reve Nursery, Oakland

Western Chapter, NARGS, Oakland

Event Registration Has Closed.

Travel Information:

Accommodations for Winter Study Weekend guests are available at the Waterfront Hotel in Jack London Square, Oakland.

Our group code is active for a few days before and after the event so you can enjoy the Bay Area.

To make your reservations for this event, please click here to choose your dates and book:  

   

If you need additional assistance, please contact us at 877-803-7534 or click here to find contact information by Region.     

If the group rate is no longer available, prevailing rates may be offered for some or all of your dates.   

Speakers

  • Karel Du Toit

    Conservation Police Officer Karel Du Toit leads a team that investigates plant poaching crimes in South Africa.

  • Marcela Ferreyra

    Biology Sciences Professor, Patagonia, Argentina

    Marcela is a biologist, teacher and botanical tour guide, who specializes in the flora of Patagonia and environmental education. She was professor of Vascular Plant Systematic at the National University of Río Negro in Bariloche, and has taught Flora of Patagonia in Tourism and Mountain Guide training courses. Today she is retired from formal education.
    For almost 20 years she has worked as a botanical guide for visitors who travel through Patagonia to photograph its flora.
    She has carried out floristic surveys for the Administration of National Parks of Argentina, and for protected areas of several provinces, and has published scientific and outreach papers on high mountain flora. She is the author of several field guides to identify the flora of different environments in Patagonia.

  • Emily Griffoul

    Conservation Scientist, Betty Ford Alpine Gardens, Vail, Colorado

    Emily is leading the implementation of the North American Botanic Garden Strategy for Alpine Plant Conservation, a blueprint developed by the Gardens to promote understanding and protection of vulnerable alpine species and habitats through ex-situ collections, surveys and mapping of alpine areas and rare plants, collaborations with partners in other gardens and federal agencies, and public engagement. She received a Master’s degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from University of California, Irvine, and previously worked for The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL, where she worked to build a Tree Observatory with the Center for Tree Science.

  • Adam Harrower

    Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Cape Town South Africa

  • Sean Hogan

    Sean Hogan was one of the founders of the famous Cistus Nursery in Oregon, with 10,000 taxa on site. He was former Director of Collections for Portland’s Hoyt Arboretum as well as the Curator at the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley. While still associated with Cistus as their principal designer, he travels the globe in search of interesting species as well as sharing his vast horticultural knowledge.

  • Panayoti Kelaidis

    Panayoti Kelaidis is the Senior Curator and Director of Outreach at Denver Botanic Gardens. In the 1990s, Panayoti helped to create Plant Select®, a partnership between Denver Botanic Gardens, Colorado State University, horticulturists, and participants from the landscape and nursery industries.

  • Rebecca Lance

    Sierra Rock Garden Society

    Rebecca Lance became interested in native plants of the desert and montane regions while suffering from a hang gliding habit that led her through many wild regions of the western United States. Through a convoluted series of events, this led to her becoming one of the founding members of the Sierra Rock Garden Society, a NARGS Chapter in the Sierra Foothills. She gardens on a hot dry exposed slope in the Sierra Foothills of California where she battles blazing heat, drought, voles, gophers, and other vermin. She has a special fondness for Eriogonums, which do well in the Foothills, and Penstemons, which really do not.

  • Bart O'Brien

    CNPS Fellow Bart O’Brien is one of California’s leading experts in native plant horticulture. A long-time member and former president of the CNPS Santa Clara Valley Chapter, he is the current director of the the Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Berkeley. He served as the director of special projects for Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, during which time the Southern California Horticultural Society named him the 2005 Horticulturist of the Year. Among his many accomplishments, he is credited with compiling a list of more than 7,000 California native cultivars, helping to save the Edgewood Park serpentine grasslands, and co-authoring multiple books, including Care and Maintenance of Southern California Gardens.

  • Mike Uhler

    Alpine Horticulture Specialist Regional Parks Botanic Garden

    For over fifteen years, Michael Uhler has been the curator and horticulturist of the Sierra Nevada section at the Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Regional Park. He recently completed a crevice rock garden at the botanic garden to grow and display plants found in the alpine zone. With special permission from the Inyo National Forest, propagules from many species described in Michael’s talk are now being cultivated in the botanic garden.

  • Walker Young

    Assistant Curator, Ruth Bancroft Garden California

    Walker joined the staff at RBG in January 2012 and since then has come to function as custodian of the Garden’s aesthetic. He acts as point person in the collaborative process of preserving, renovating, and rejuvenating Mrs. Bancroft’s beds, taking particular joy in sculpting undulating mounds and arranging rocks in the Garden to form a unifying backdrop.

Become a sponsor of this important event today! 

Your support will help us: sponsor student registrations, cover the travel costs for our internationally known conservationists, invite international speakers to the public at the Gardens at Lake Merritt in Oakland, California, and support our goal of recording every presentation for free access online through the NARGS, SF Cactus and Succulent Society, and NARGS Western Chapters websites.