Right plant, pot, spot

Nicholas Staddon is a plant expert by trade, a charmer by nature. Says the native of Britain in a telephone interview: 'Life is so much of other people telling you what to do. In your garden you can do whatever you want, whether it's an edibles or an ornamental garden.

'I'm just tickled to death to come to the Midwest,' Staddon continues, describing his upcoming May 13 appearance as keynote speaker for a Cedar Rapids Garden Club fundraiser, 'The Day of the Garden.' 'I'm in love with it. It's fun to come back to see the communities, the people, and learn what they're doing in their gardens — to some degree everyone is doing something different.

'In Cedar Rapids you have a great change of seasons, which I just love.'

Staddon, who speaks with a British accent only softened at the edges by years of living in the United States, is now settled in Brea, Calif. He told about the garden club's daylong fundraiser: The keynote address, luncheon and a series of three workshops open to the public in the Whipple Auditorium at the Cedar Rapids Public Library, 450 Fifth Ave. SE.

'We're going to cover an absolute cornucopia,' Staddon says enthusiastically. 'Trends, the Chelsea Garden Show, and we'll talk of any number of plants — older, newer, shade. There will be an exciting exchange of ideas and something for everyone ... the whole opportunity is to create one or two positive things of change that will help enrich somebody's life and help them garden a little bit better.'

Staddon's credentials are impressive. At 16, he began studying at Otley Agricultural College 'in the heart of Suffolk County farmland (in England). That is where my passion for plants started,' he says. 'All the (farms) and large country estates had the care and attention of the woodlands, the indigenous plants.

'I had done some gardening with my own family but the passion started at agricultural college.' Otley is where he earned his degree in agricultural science.

Staddon then went on to a checkered work life, but ended up in sales at retail garden centers in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, N.M., before Monrovia Growers of Azusa, Calif., approached him. This led to a 25-year alliance, and he is now director of New Plant Introductions for the company, a leading grower of ornamental and edible plants with nurseries in California, Oregon and Georgia.

Numerous area nurseries and garden retailers carry Monrovia plant materials including, in Cedar Rapids, Earl May Garden Center; Lowe's (also Coralville); Peck's Green Thumb Nursery; Culver's Garden Center, and Iowa City Landscaping. Additional centers may be found at.

Staddon has been visiting expert at flower/garden shows in San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, besides the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. He's also participated in the Pots and Plants' Distinguished Speaker Series.

'We are thrilled that Nicholas Staddon will be coming to Cedar Rapids to share his vast knowledge of plant materials and gardening trends — and also helping the Cedar Rapids Garden Club support two important civic initiatives,' says club president Melanie O'Donnell Olson. 'Nicholas' enthusiasm and deep passion for gardening guarantee a charming and informative day.'

The group has pledged $20,000 to the renovation of Greene Square and $10,000 to the new building project at Indian Creek Nature Center.

Staddon will present three sessions: 'Right Plant, Right Pot and the Introduction of New Plants for 2015,' from 10 to 11:30 a.m.; 'Plant Variety in Shade Gardening,' noon to 1:30 p.m., including box lunch, and 'International Trends in Gardening and How These Relate to Gardening in Iowa,' from 1:45 to 3:15 p.m.

'If there's one big trend,' Staddon says, 'it's that gardening is at the precipice of opportunity; there's more interest today than ever.

'People are becoming more and more concerned with the environment they live in, and one of the ways they can have an emotionally rewarding experience is having a plot of land where they can do whatever they want to do.'

Staddon says vegetable gardening 'is going hot and heavy,' but Americans also are having a love affair with cutting gardens, where there's foliage interest in flowers, bushes and shrubs. People then use their harvest indoors for flower arrangements, which can be done for all four seasons, he says.

He adds that 'Container gardening is important because not everyone has space for a garden. In containers you can do edibles, perennials, annuals. There are lots of opportunity even in a matchbox setting.'

If You Go

What: 'The Day in the Garden,' annual fundraiser, Cedar Rapids Garden Club

When: 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. May 13

Where: Cedar Rapids Public Library, 450 Fifth Ave. SE.

Registration: Register and pay online at cedarrapidsgardenclub.com. Or on day of (on space-available basis): Register/check in from 9 to 10 a.m.

Cost: $35 each for two workshop sessions; $50 for luncheon session, $100 for all day.

More information: Email cedarrapidsgardenclub@gmail.com

Workshops

• Right Pot, Right Plant, New Plants for 2015 —

10 to 11:30 a.m.: How to create dazzling containers in your own space by matching plants to the right shape, color and size of container. How new varieties are discovered.

• Plant Variety in Shade Gardening — Noon to 1:30 p.m., with box lunch: Focus: Easy-to-grow favorite plants guaranteed to give a boost to Iowa shade gardens. Ideas for perennial plants that give big impact with minimal care. Maintenance tips for keeping shade gardens looking good year-round.

• International Trends in Gardening and How These Relate to Gardening in Iowa — 1:45 to 3:15 p.m.