Internationally Known Gardener Coming to Monticello

Felder Rushing is coming to Monticello Saturday, February 4 for a special "Slow Gardening" presentation.  The event sponsored by the http://www.uaex.edu/media-resources/images/logos/UA_MG_shirt.jpgDrew County Master Gardeners begins with registration at 9:30 in the Family Life Center of the First United Methodist Church.  Lunch is provided.  Tickets are $20 and are available at Union Bank, Commercial Bank, and from the Drew Country Extension Service.  Seating is limited and guaranteed by paid reservation.

Rushing is author or co-author of 18 gardening books, former Extension Service urban horticulture specialist who actually started the Master Gardener program in his home state of Mississippi.  He has written thousands of gardening columns in syndicated newspapers, and has had hundreds of articles and photographs published in regional and national garden magazines, including Garden Design, Horticulture, Garden Weekly (an English publication), Landscape Architecture, Better Homes and Gardens, Fine Gardening, Organic Gardening, and the National Geographic. He is the weekly online Q&A blogger for HGTV.com. Check out his website felderrushing.net.

Rushing is a 10th-generation American gardener whose colonial and pioneer ancestors settled across the Southeast, bringing many plants with them.  Rushing's overstuffed, quirky cottage garden has been featured in dozens of magazines and TV programs - including a cover of Southern Living and in the New York Times; the celebrated garden includes a huge variety of weather-hardy plants along with a collection of vernacular folk art.  There is no turfgrass, just plants, yard art, and "people places."

Felder is the international founder of Slow Gardening, a highly satisfying approach that focuses on finding and following personal garden bliss, using all senses through all seasons.  It is a guide towards paying better attention to and savoring what you do, and encourages the cultivation of locally-adapted plants grown sustainably and shared with others.
Believing that too many would-be gardeners are intimidated by a crush of "how-to" experts ("We are daunted, not dumb," he says), Felder uses an offbeat, "down home" approach rife with humorous anecdotes and garden-irreverent metaphors, zany observations, and stunning photography to help gardeners of all styles and skill levels get past his own beloved "stinkin' rules" of horticulture.

Drew County Master Gardeners will also be on hand to give information about becoming a Master Gardener.  A door prize drawing will be held at the end of the presentation.

For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Drew County Extension Service 870-460-6270. "The Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service offers its programs to all eligible persons regardless of race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer."