NPA lecture with Jim Fox

Hunting South African Wildflowers for Seattle Garden Microclimates

Sunday, January 20, 2008 - 1 pm

 

Jim Fox is a horticulturist, tour leader, and bulb buyer for Wells Medina Nursery.

Plants from South Africa are common in our Pacific Northwest gardens—lobelia, pelargoniums and gladiolas to name a few. Others are not so common but still quite worthy, such as kniphofia, eucomis and phygelius. During his slide presentation, Jim Fox will take us through the mountains and plains in the Drakenburgs and surrounding areas of South Africa. He will also show local gardens, where he hunts for these and other “new” plants. He will discuss how to evaluate new species for our gardens, note their failure or success rates, and how to obtain South African plants.

Ten years ago, Jim moved to Seattle from Alaska, where he was born and learned to garden. Alaska was a good place to learn: limited choices, unpredictable weather and plenty of enthusiastic gardeners. Now he considers the Seattle area to be just a block or two shy of Paradise! When Jim isn’t working full time at Wells Medina Nursery, he lectures and writes about horticulture; consults as a garden editor and designer; travels far and wide to further his study of plants and gardens; and now adds film production to his resume. With a production partner, he recently finished a documentary about the 1935 founding of his hometown of Palmer, Alaska.