If you have friends who love gardening, you can probably skip the early morning Black Friday sales.
Instead, give your green-thumb friends gifts that are experiences: Our top picks include a free pass to the Snohomish County Master Gardener Foundation’s 9th-annual sustainable gardening lecture series in Mukilteo or an all-access pass to the Northwest Flower &Garden Show in Seattle.
Here are the details on both events.
Lecture series: The Snohomish County Master Gardener Foundation’s 2012 sustainable gardening lecture series will be from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. every other Friday, Jan. 6 through April 13, at Mukilteo Presbyterian Church, 4515 84th St. SW, Mukilteo.
Organizer and longtime master gardener Jeff Thompson of Edmonds said gift givers should buy passes for themselves as well as friends and family. You can turn each lecture into an excuse to get together and socialize.
Free coffee and refreshments are provided at each lecture.
“Bring your mother with you. Make it an outing,” he said, adding that some attendees like to go out to lunch afterward.
“People who have done that enjoy it. They come back year after year.”
Here’s a look at the stellar schedule, open to all.
It’s a steal if you attend them all and a way to support the local master gardener foundation.
• Jan. 6: “Great Plants for the Shade Garden” with Richie Steffen, curator for the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden.
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• Feb. 3: “An Annual Calendar of Predictable Garden Problems” with Don Tapio, county extension agent, author, garden talk-show host.
• Feb. 17: “Foliage First! A Plant’s Finest Attribute” with Dan Hinkley, plant collector, design expert.
• March 2: “Gardens through Geography and Time” with Jane Billinghurst, world-traveling gardener and author.
• March 16: “Adding the Spring Layer to Your Garden” with Bob Lilly, a Wells Medina Nursery veteran and co-author of “Perennials: A Gardeners Reference.”
• March 30: “Travels of a Young Gardener” with Riz Reyes, Seattle P-I blogger and owner of RHR Horticulture and Landwave Gardens.
• April 13: “Designing the Landscape with Low Maintenance in Mind” with Polly Hankin, landscape architect.
Tickets to the full eight-lecture series are $85 in advance.
If there are any unsold seats, a limited number of single-lecture tickets may be available for $20 at the door on a first come, first served basis. See www.gardenlectures.com speaker biographies. Call 425-357-6010 with questions.
Send a check (made out to SCMGF) for $85 per ticket to SCMGF, P.O. Box 3126, Arlington, WA 98223. Please include an email address for a confirmation receipt. For a paper confirmation, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
The Northwest Flower &Garden Show: This year’s theme is “A Floral Symphony: Gardens Take Note.” See large display gardens by local designers and landscapers, plus celebrity speakers, educational seminars, floral displays, retail booths and activities for kids.
Hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Feb. 8 to 11 and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Feb. 12 at the Washington State Convention &Trade Center, 800 Convention Place, downtown Seattle.
Tickets are $16 in advance through Feb. 6. After that, they’re $20 at the door. Two-day passes are $29. Five-day passes are $65.
See www.gardenshow.com or call 800-343-6973 or 253-756-2121 for tickets.
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