Sept. 23 Column: Fall Banquet

There is a fantastic event coming up that you really need to know about! It’s the Fall Banquet, which is a fundraiser for the Spokane County Master Gardener program. Wait until you hear who the keynote speaker will be:

New York Times bestselling author, Andrea Wulf (pictured at left), will give a presentation on Alexander von Humboldt. He is the subject of her latest book, The Invention of Nature (Alfred A. Knopf, 473 pp.). What, you’ve never heard of him?

Well, you’ve probably heard of Humboldt County in California, and the Humboldt current, right? And there are many more references throughout our daily lives (such as plant names) that give hints to the importance of this man. Yet most Americans know very little about this famous and groundbreaking naturalist and early environmentalist.

All of this is in my column in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review. Here’s a link to it: Master Gardeners feature best-selling author Andrea Wulf at banquet.

Andrea lives in London but is currently on a U.S. book tour, which made it easier to bring her to Spokane. Her presentation promises to be fascinating. I’m currently reading The Invention of Nature and am completely enthralled with what Humboldt accomplished in the early 19th century. Another of Andrea’s books is The Founding Gardeners (Vintage Books, 368 pp.) and I intend to read it next.

The fall banquet is open to everyone, not just Master Gardeners. It will be held on Thursday, Oct. 11, from 4 p.m. to about 9 p.m. at CenterPlace in Spokane Valley. Here’s the event line-up:

4 p.m. – Meet and greet with Andrea Wulf (book purchasing and book signings are an option). There will also be a silent auction going on at this time (view auction catalog here)

6 p.m. – Catered dinner, followed by a dessert dash.

7 p.m. – Andrea’s presentation.

For more information, visit The Master Gardener Foundation of Spokane County website. Tickets cost $45 and can be purchased from Brown Paper Tickets either online at brownpapertickets.com/event/3526206 or by calling (800) 838-3006.

And now it’s time for this week’s “Everyone Can Grow a Garden” video! It’s about the big front flower bed re-do that I’ve been working on. In it, I share tips for creating a stunning flower garden: