James Eckenwalder: “Trees on the Foreground”

Professor James Eckenwalder will present “Trees on the Foreground”: Trees often just constitute a background for the herbaceous and shrubby flower colours and foliage textures that make up the immediate visual fabric of our gardens. In this context, trees are generally part of the “big picture” for most of the year, their impressions deriving from their bulk shape and curtain of colour and leaf size or from their winter skeleton. A tree, of course, is much more than a homogeneous looming presence, with its solid-seeming appearance being made up of innumerable repeating flowers, fruits, leaves, twigs, and trunks combining together to make up the overall effect. To bring trees from the shadows back into the foreground, this presentation focuses on the frequently exquisite beauty or compelling interest of the individual features, drawing on seven decades of engagement with trees at all scales.

It is also the time of year when our members collect seeds for our yearly exchange, the SeedEx. Members will present pictures of this year’s most interesting plants available. Seeds will be distributed to members early in the new year, when we will organize a sowing workshop.

Admission is free to everyone, but we like to hear from you when you visit. Please tell where you found out about us! Check our website for updates on sales and exchanges of member’s plants, bulbs and seeds, which often become available close to the meeting date.