Gardening and Garden Arts

As Monet recognized in his paintings, art is all around us --- and especially in our gardens! The purpose of Ark Angels, LLC, is to work along with you to create beauty, whimsy, and fun in your garden and to allow the beauty to continue year after year.

Jeanne enjoys her time as a professional speaker and provides information in a fun and interesting way. Contact her regarding fees.  Her topics include:

1.Winter Sowing:

Have the dreary days of winter become your non-gardening months?  Get ready for some wintertime fun! With winter sowing, you plant seeds as early as right after Christmas and all you need are seeds, soil, a recycled  milk jug (or something similar) for a container. You do all of this outside. No need for grow lights and heating coils. No worries about dampening off or hardening off the seedlings to the outdoors. Whoever heard of such a thing?  Lots of people! Jeanne will tell you which seeds are likely to bring success, how to save seeds from year to year, and how to prepare your containers.  Flowers, shrubs, herbs, afd vegetables – many can be winter sown.

2.The Wonderful World of Miniatures:

We can never say enough about miniatures – they are space saving, economical, easy to grow, easy on our back, and adorable! The whole range of gardening is here – from bonsai techniques that date back about 1,000 years to varieties that are being miniaturized as we speak. Jeanne has become especially interested in miniature vegetables, miniature roses, fairy gardens, and even teacup gardens. Find out more about these fascinating plants and methods for growing them.

3. History in the Garden:

Gardening has a long history. Jeanne presents information on mankind’s first cultivation of plants for food, fibers, medicine, and other uses as well as medieval gardens in monasteries, mazes and labyrinths, colonial gardens, frontier development, the Victorian era, and the Victory Gardens of World War II. What plants grow in your area naturally? Are you interested in heirlooms?

4.Take a Look at Me - Wow:

You can’t help but notice plants with variegated flowers, fruit, and foliage. Think about coleus, roses with variegated petals, candy cane stripped zinnias, zebra grass, the striped fruit of heirloom tomatoes, and even “fish” peppers. Jeanne loves these plants in the garden and can tell you more about what is available, when they bloom, and how to make use of them in the landscape. She will speak about how the variegation came to be, whether it will continue to be true if more plants are grown from seed or cuttings, and will caution you about copyright and trademark issues if you want to propagate these beauties.

5. Photography And Your Computer:

Digital photography along with software on your computer have opened new avenues for enjoying your garden. This lecture will begin with how to set yourself up for success in taking the photo and will continue with the magic of photographic software – correcting for overexposure or underexposure, correcting color, cropping the image resulting in better photo composition, how to remove your thumb from the picture “after the fact,” how to create a photo montage, even how to use software to create jigsaw puzzles. We can begin with basics, if needed - how to download your pictures onto your computer and set up your files in an easy to use format and go on to more advanced aspects of digital photography. Digital cameras and software vary so this lecture may not address the specific products you use, but will be helpful regardless of your choices.                                                                                                                                                                                                               Workshops and Sales:

Ark Angels will offer workshops on making items from and for the garden (geared towards small groups) beginning in 2010. Although sales are not our primary focus - seeds, plants, and other items will often be available, especially as they relate to our lecture and workshop topics.  Right now I have plants and seeds for sale.  If you would like a list of what is available, let me know.  I have several varieties of heirloom tomatoes, several types of peppers, and other types of plants as well.  What I have available will differ according to the time of the year. 

Best of the Best:

Finally, we offer one of our most cherished items making use of photography! Jeanne‘s intent is for you to be your own photographer; however, if you are unsure of your picture taking abilities, we can come to your garden and photograph it for you – or better still, work with you so you can take those breath-taking pictures. Our top of the line professional software creates special effects and corrects many of those “not so perfect” pictures. Your photos can become Christmas cards, note cards, mouse pads, a design on a coffee mug, a calendar, or any number of unique and wonderful gifts. They can even be made into useable postage stamps! Jeanne’s choice of “the best of the best” is a photo slideshow that highlights your garden. The images will be set to music and will dance across the screen with varying transitions, panning, zooming, and other special effects.

We are a business that finds your total satisfaction to be very important! Take a look under our “Photo Arts” tab for more information.  For a quick example of the work we can do, check out the example below.

Gift certificates are available.

Here is an example of the type of slideshow that we can create featuring your garden.  Come to visit mine here online.