The city’s Amanda Thompson forwards this note about a really interesting sounding Saturday class near Avondale on April 18th from 9a-10:30a.

The Georgia Urban Forest Council is sponsoring a program on restoring your backyard ecosystem at the Georgia Extension office near Avondale. A friend of mine is teaching it and it will be excellent and inspiring. More info below. It will cost $25 and includes a complimentary membership to GUFC. It will be Saturday, April 18th. Hope to see you there, register HERE.

Class Description

Learn how to transition your backyard to a natural landscape. A natural home landscape offers advantages over a traditional high maintenance yard in several ways: 1) Natural plantings of trees can reduce energy consumption in summer by better shading the home; 2) natural plantings require less time and energy to maintain; and 3) natural landscapes provide a virtual outdoor classroom. The challenge in moving from a high maintenance landscape to a more natural and sustainable one is to understand how your yard functions as its own ecosystem and then work with nature to restore the natural processes.

Eric King, ASLA has been designing gardens in Georgia for decades and has appeared on numerous TV/radio programs and in garden magazines throughout the country, and he will demystify the process of natural succession and offer a better path to creating a more natural home landscape.