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Grow your Garden with Help from the Experts! Nurture Nature. Nurture Yourself.

Cutting Edge Garden Education
for The Mountain West

Hi, I’m Eva Montane

My mission…

is to bring rain water harvesting, regenerative landscapes and Biophilia to your backyard and beyond. Read more about me here

Enjoy these resources as they widen the scope of what’s possible in our western landscape.

RAIN GARDENS

with Eva

Skip years of trial and error.
Save oodles of time, hundreds of dollars, lessen your carbon footprint and learn all about rainwater harvesting.

Smart and Clever Tips and Considerations for a Fabulous Western Garden

by Eva Montane

Learn More

10 Ways to Create a WaterWise Landscape

by Eva Montane

Learn More

Revolutionize Your Landscape
and
Hydrate Your Land

by Eva Montane

Learn More

Welcome to the Abundant Earth Gardens online education series.

Abundant Earth Gardens was the name carefully chosen to represent this educational production. The goal was to express an idea that nature has abundant reserves and capacity, if only we learn how to work gracefully with it, and in our Mountain West region, it takes a special knowledge set, which has been produced here.

As a landscape consultant and designer in the high and dry southwest since 2005, I have been asked many probing questions. These 19 presentations by the most accomplished gardeners in our region answer all of them as well as provide a deeper understanding of our conditions here in the West.

Learn to garden with more grace, less effort, and results in which you will find joy and take pride.

Learn from the Masters

Cheryl Moore-Gough

Zones
MORE INFO

Panayoti Kelaidis

Steppe
MORE INFO

Chris Heiler

Online Community
MORE INFO

Robert Littlepage

Design
MORE INFO

Sheila Schultz

Containers
MORE INFO

Mary Ann Newcomer

Heirlooms
MORE INFO

Robert Nold

Dryland Gardening
MORE INFO

Marcia Tatroe

No-Waste
MORE INFO

Lauren Springer Ogden

Natural Gardens
MORE INFO

Mike Bone

Seeds
MORE INFO

Tom Heald

Myth Busting
MORE INFO

Pat Hayward

Long Bloomers
MORE INFO

Eva Montane

Maintenance
MORE INFO

Bill Adams

Rock Gardening
MORE INFO

Mike Kintgen

Why Diversify
MORE INFO

Kathy Settevendemie

Natives
MORE INFO

Bob Pennington

Penstemons
MORE INFO

Jane Shellenberger

Vegetables
MORE INFO

Joan Franson

Roses
MORE INFO

ALL 19 PRESENTATIONS FOR
$97

  • Tom Heald's myth-busting presentation was wonderful. I loved the slide show too. I hope he writes a book with a chapter on this subject as so many could benefit from this information. A real eye-opener. I would buy several copies.

    Julia Ossa

  • What a marvelous contribution to horticulture you have made by creating this particular format for transmitting great information to a large number of people at one time. I look forward to more from Eva Montane in the future.



    Joan Franson. Arvada, CO

  • I've been enjoying the series. There will be some practices I will be changing in my personal and professional gardening.



    Mike Woods

  • These presentations are fantastic! I've been learning so much!!! Your choice of speakers is very inspirational.

    Karen

  • Just received this note: I am so happy I finally got to hear one of your talks since I missed the one in Fort Collins last spring.
I love this concept that Eva Montane has come up with. I watch the replay at home on my computer. I particularly like her incorporating a slide presentation. I enjoyed your talk today and the selection of plants that you featured. Great talk!

    Plant Select

  • First-thanks so much for putting this series together. It is WONDERFUL to finally have some support for some of the things I have found to be true in my gardening experience at 7500'! Thanks again for your work putting this together. It has energized my enthusiasm for finding solutions to the challenges we face!



    Penny Bieber

  • Just a note of appreciation to you for facilitating this series. I've thoroughly enjoyed it!! Awesome, competent speakers!!

    Marge

  • Thank you for presenting such a wonderful teleconference. I'll never look at soil, organic matter or fertilizer the same way again. Your questions were right on target and led the discussion in a direction that I believe was helpful to most listeners. Thanks again.

    Edith. Pueblo, CO

  • Thanks so much! My husband and I are listening to the series, learning so much (we are novices for sure!) and enjoying! Thanks!

    Belton

  • Fantastic presentation, you have done an exceptional job of these presentations. If you have another, please advise.

    Janice Nicholl

  • I just wanted to thank you so much for the wonderful series of talks... I enjoyed them very much, learned lots, and even discussed them with other gardeners who also had listened to them.


    Kate

Eva’s Top 5 Considerations for passively using rainwater that lands on your site.  No barrels needed!

GROWING HEALTHY LANDSCAPES MAKES FOR HEALTHY HAPPY PEOPLE

We have seen the power of rain gardens to transform even the most challenging landscapes.

Our four core pillars serve as our compass for all we do and why we offer these educational resources.

Well-Being

Flourishing landscapes influence human beings.  Gardening delivers peace and balance. When our environment is full of peace and balance we can experience that within ourselves.  It’s all connected!

Rain Gardens

Regenerative Landscapes – Work WITH nature for the most successful results. Low maintenance landscapes that are beautiful and fit with the natural environment experience success.

Education

The more we continue to learn the more capacity we have to thrive.  These educational products are specialized and a result of two decades of training and real life application.

Community

We support local businesses and partnerships in all we do.  From partnerships with 4CORE to Plant Select in Denver, we cultivate our relationships and in turn, we share the benefits with our community.

I invite you to explore these resources and the power
of your home and your backyard.

Opportunity is at your fingertips!

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Learn from the masters!

  • Learn what USDA Hardiness Zones mean
  • Learn what USDA Hardiness Zones don’t mean
  • Learn what else you need to know regarding your growing conditions to be successful

Cheryl Moore-Gough was the Technical Editor for Horticulture for Zone 4 Magazine from it’s inception in 2008. She has also been an Adjunct Assistant Professor for Montana State University, and a prolific writer on many plant and garden related topics including vegetable growing, seed saving, and ornamental gardening.

Learn from the masters!

  • Steppe climate: We have much to gain by looking at gardening from a global perspective
  • Alpine gardens offer us an appropriate model of working with our environment
  • How do we embrace a Western Aesthetic?

Panayoti Kelaidis is Senior Curator and Director of Outreach at the Denver Botanic Gardens. He is a world-renowned plantsman and explorer who has revolutionized Rocky Mountain horticulture, with his countless introductions to horticulture and his avant garde approach to gardening in the West.

Learn from the masters!

How Participating in a Discussion Forum Can Benefit Your Garden

  • Introduction to a simple and free platform for establishing helpful connections
  • Get support and answers quickly from fellow gardeners working with similar conditions
  • Learn with others; share ideas and useful resources


Chris Heiler is a green industry social media consultant. Chris regularly speaks at landscape industry events across the country, writes for industry publications, and also shares his social media expertise with hundreds of landscape professionals through his site at LandscapeLeadership.com.

Learn from the masters!

  • Know your site
  • Good Design is Low Maintenance
  • Think Local


Robert Littlepage APLD; RLA is a licensed landscape architect in both California and Louisiana. Since 1985 he has designed gardens throughout the western United States. He has also consulted on gardens in Louisiana, France and England. In addition to his architecture practice, he is the Founder/Director of the California School of Garden Design, former instructor of design and irrigation at Sierra College, and has an online course to explore.

Learn from the masters!

  • How to make container gardening in the West easy
  • Creative ideas for interesting flare
  • Using perennials in containers for less maintenance


Sheila Schultz is a celebrated garden designer with a zeal for containers. Recognized by Fine Gardening she has been the winner of their container contest for multiple years and she has been featured many other renowned publications. Sheila’s style is unique in that the textural beauty of the foliage – be it from a perennial, succulent, cactus or grass – takes center stage in her designs.

Learn from the masters!

  • Why heirloom plants are perfect for the intermountain West
  • Who’s who in this gorgeous “scentimental” palette
  • Design tips for using these oldies but goodies


Mary Ann Newcomer, is a self-proclaimed “garden scribe, scout and speaker.” Garden junkie. Native Idahoan. High and dry in the Intermountain West. Two books: one for Timber Press – Vegetable Gardening in the Mountain States, & The Rocky Mountain Gardener’s Handbook. Encouraging gardeners to get down and dirty.

Learn from the masters!

  • Who’s who in this gorgeous “scentimental” palette
  • Why Western gardeners should ignore most everything they read
  • The art of growing plants in heavy clay soil

Robert Nold is an avid gardener constantly exploring how best to garden within the parameters he’s inherited living in the West. His conclusions and discoveries have been published in a host of noteworthy publications including several books he’s authored.

Learn from the masters!

  • Mulch and permaculture
  • Garden art
  • Reducing, reusing, and recycling in the Western garden for smarter ecology and lower bills

Marcia Tatroe is author of Cutting Edge Gardening in the Intermountain West, described as the first complete gardening book to cover the hot, dry, desert and plains areas of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming, Idaho, Montana. It features how to create your own regional aesthetic, as well as hundreds of practical suggestions to overcome the challenges of gardening in the Intermountain West. Marcia is also a regular contributor to Fine Gardening and a columnist for Denver Post, and Sunset.

Learn from the masters!

  • What is a natural garden and why have one?
  • Aesthetics and design concepts of a natural garden
  • Practical aspects of creating and stewarding a natural garden

Lauren Springer Ogden worked in public gardens on both sides of the Atlantic before receiving her master’s degree in horticulture. At Denver Botanic Gardens, she designed the Watersmart and Romantic Gardens. An award-winning writer and photographer, she is author of The Undaunted Garden, named one of the 75 best American gardening books of the last century by the American Horticultural Society. Lauren and her work have been featured on television and in many publications and books. She is a popular speaker in the United States and Canada.

Learn from the masters!

  • Going from container soil to garden; why they are different and how to bridge the gap
  • Great benefits of plants from seed
  • Tips on successful in-situ seed growing

Mike Bone, plant propagator extraordinaire for the Denver Botanic Gardens, he also is their Curator of Steppe Collection where he has focused his work on seed collection and the study of steppe plants and ecology. Most of his work is done in Western North America but he has traveled to Central Asia to study plants from the steppes and mountains there. He is also actively involved in the Plant Select program as well as the IPPS (International Plant Propagators’ Society).

Learn from the masters!

  • Plants for windbreaks and visual screens
  • Soil strategies to improve successful plantings
  • Common myths explored and debunked

Tom Heald is the managing partner for the Wyoming Plant Company, specializing in hardy native and adapted plants for local conditions. Previously, Tom was a Wyoming Horticultural Extension Educator where he worked with thousands of homeowners who struggled to grow plants in the challenging Wyoming environment. Many times it was not the homeowner at fault, but the fact that retail outlets were offering inappropriate plant choices for the environment.

Learn from the masters!

  • How Plant Select is forging a truly American style of horticulture
  • A bold, new plant palette revolutionizing the way we garden
  • Plants that thrive in both our variable winters and our hot summers

Pat Hayward served many years as the Executive Director of Plant Select®, a collaboration of Colorado State University, Denver Botanic Gardens, and regional horticulturists seeking out and distributing the best plants for western gardens. Pat has worked in all facets of Rocky Mountain regional horticulture since 1979. A lecturer, writer and photographer, she has written for numerous national publications, co-authored two books, and her gardens have been featured in regional and national publications.

Learn from the masters!

  • Minimal maintenance is required
  • When to prune and cut back
  • How to know what to deadhead, when, and why

Eva Montane got her start in ornamental horticulture doing fine perennial maintenance with Genevieve Schmidt of northcoastgardening.com blogging fame. Eva holds a certificate from the California School of Garden Design, is a designer, writer, and educator, and has been published in Colorado Gardener and Zone 4 among other publications. She served as her local Colorado Native Plant Society chapter’s VP for 3 years and guided for the Crested Butte Wildflower Festival 10 years, running. Eva has been running Columbine Landscapes Co in Durango, Colorado since 2015.

Learn from the masters!

  • The huge diversity of plants: the more you look the more you will find
  • Where in the world do you find plants that adapt to our gardens in the Interior West?
  • PowerPoint Presentation – My favorite plants for rock gardens and native landscapes

Bill Adams owns and operates Sunscapes Rare Plant Nursery, a small specialty nursery growing choice rock garden, hardy native and unusual dryland plants from around the world. He is a leader in the current effort to promote Western Water Wise Landscaping in the City of Pueblo, where he has been instrumental in the designing, planting and maintenance of numerous Water Wise gardens.

Learn from the masters!

  • There are so many great plant species and varieties
  • There are many benefits to growing a greater diversity of plants
  • How and where to find less common selections

Mike Kintgen, Senior Horticulturist at Denver Botanic Gardens. Mike is a remarkable horticulturist who began volunteering at Denver Botanic Gardens when he was just 11 years old and has been there ever since minus a three year hiatus from DBG to intern at Chicago Botanic Garden. Mike holds a degree in Landscape Horticulture from Colorado State University. Mike has since taken over charge of the rock gardens at DBG from Panayoti Kelaidis. Mike’s passion for his subject is clear when seeing him in his garden surrounded by a unique and lovely diversity of plants from around the world; many of which came from his own collecting trips.

Learn from the masters!

  • Where did that plant come from and why does it matter?
  • Native plants that make great alternatives to standard garden species
  • Creating native plant communities in your garden

Kathy Settevendemie is the Owner-Operator of Blackfoot Native Plant Nursery, a wholesale nursery selling Montana native plants since 2003. She is a board member of the Montana Native Plant Society and conducts workshops on landscaping with native plants throughout western Montana in addition to providing consultations to landowners. Madeline Mazurski will be joining her.

Learn from the masters!

  • Penstemon is a huge genus of native American plants, with over 280 species
  • There is a species for almost every garden niche:
    tall, short, arid, moist, hot cold, anything but deep shade
  • Penstemons are inherit survivors, and require very little effort to grow

Bob Pennington. Together with his family, Bob bought and revived a defunct plant nursery in 1975, knowing very little about business or growing plants commercially when they started (probably a key to their success he says). Agua Fria Nursery continues to thrive today. Bob is a past president of the American Penstemon Society (APSDEV.org), a founding member and past president of the Santa Fe Botanical Garden, a current board member of the Eriogonum Society (Eriogonum.org), a plant geek, with no formal plant education, and a husband, father, and grandfather.

Learn from the masters!

  • What crops grow best in the West
  • How to support pollinators & other beneficial insects while decreasing pests
  • Building great soil by supporting the soil life

Jane Shellenberger is the publisher and editor of the independent newsmagazine, Colorado Gardener, “A Thinking Gardener’s Companion”, which she founded in 1996. An eclectic gardener she learned about plants from her botanist mother. She is also the author of the new book Organic Gardener’s Companion, Growing Vegetables in the West.

Learn from the masters!

  • The toughest, easiest roses for the Interior West
  • The creme de la creme and where to get them
  • Why our region is ideal for growing roses

 

Joan Franson served as President of Denver Rose Society; Rocky Mountain District Director. She was awarded the Rocky Mountain District Silver Honor Medal in 1978 and the Denver Rose Society Bronze Medal in 2000. A long standing Master Rosarian (Rocky Mountain District Outstanding Consulting Rosarian in 2001), Joan frequently wrote lively and entertaining articles and educational material on roses. At any given time, she grew about 125 roses of all types at home – Hybrid Teas, Grandifloras, Floribundas, Polyanthas, Miniatures, Climbers, Old Garden Roses, Canadian Hardy roses, English or Austin roses, Shrubs and Species. It is even more precious to hear Joan’s wisdom, shared in her own voice here, since she is now departed. Read Joan’s article about miniature roses here.