Yes, it’s that time again! Time to organize your May calendar and make sure that important garden events are prioritized accordingly with everything else in your life. Here are some:

San Francisco Botanical Garden Library is featuring garden watercolors by Catherine M. Watters and her students from April 1-June 30. Catherine is one of two core instructors for the Filoli Botanical Art Certificate program in Woodside. She shows her paintings in several juried exhibits each year and her illustrations are featured in five books. Library hours: 10 am - 4 pm, seven days a week (closed on major holidays), free of charge.

California Native Plant Society presents Off the Beaten Path in the Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area: Shrubs and Endemics May 1-4 with John O. Sawyer. Location: Shasta-Trinity National Forest. Lake Shasta and Mount Shasta dominate the list of destination points for myriad recreational pursuits in northern California. This workshop will visit botanically interesting, less-traveled sites around Lake Shasta checking out the plants growing on limestone. The focus will be on shrub identification and seeing the endemic Shasta snow-wreath (Neviusia cliftonii) in bloom. Course fee ($450/$475) includes campground fees, meals, and transportation for the duration of the workshop. Camping will be at a developed campground with pit-toilets and running water.

California Native Plant Society presents The Rugged Mendocino Coast Friday evening, May 2, through Sunday, May 4. Explore the dramatically varied coastal vegetation of the Mendocino area: redwood forests in deep canyons, wind-pruned pines and cypresses on cliffs, gardenlike coastal bluffs, sphagnum bogs with insectivorous plants, and stunted forests of pygmy cypress on ancient podzols. Instructor: Glenn Keator. Location: Mendocino County. Cost: $80 members/$85 non-members (trip fee does not include lodging, food, or transportation)

Quarryhill Botanical Garden presents Ikebana Demonstration with Sogetsu Master Soho Sakai, RIJI, AIFD on May 3^rd, 11:00 am-noon.  Cost $30.00 (members receive 10% discount) and reservations are required. Refreshments will be served.

Mother’s Day Tea & Tours, Sunday May 11^th at the Ruth Bancroft Garden. Plan on tea in the garden at 12 noon and 1:30 PM and self-guided tours from 10:00am-4:00pm. Celebrate Mothers’ Day by bringing Mom to The Ruth Bancroft Garden for a wonderful garden Tea. Enjoy your tea outdoors among the many rare and beautiful plants. The Tea includes a gourmet box lunch of sweet and savory treats and tea served in China tea cups. End the day with a self-guided tour included as part of the Mother’s Day Tea package. Reservations are required. Plants, dish gardens, artworks and gardening gifts will be available for sale.

San Francisco Rose Society presents a MOTHER’S DAY SHOW on MAY 11^th from 12:30-4:00. For additional information please call 415/647-4486.

Basic Sketching in the Garden, Saturday, May 17, 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Learn how to draw! By the end of this class, you’ll be able to make a quick sketch while on a hike and a longer sketch when you have the time to sit. Instructor: Gretchen McCondochie. Location: Botanic Garden Visitor Center. Cost: $35 members/$40 nonmembers.

Medicinal Plants of Northern California with Christopher Hobbs on May 17-18. Location: Valley Life Sciences Building and the UC Botanical Garden. California is a treasure-trove of medicinal plant species. Many famous medicinal species from cultures around the world grow wild in California, and others are commonly cultivated as ornamentals. Many species of European herbs such as Arnica, valerian, Angelica, and gentian are common and native to the Sierra Nevada. The herbs Grindelia (gum plant), yerba santa, and coffeeberry were official drugs in the U.S. Pharmacopeia in the early 20th century. About 60% of the major herbs in the Chinese medica are available in nurseries and are commonly grown as garden plants and street trees, such as privet, jujube, star jasmine, and honeysuckle.

California Horticultural Society presents a Philadelphia Field Trip from May 28 to Monday June 2, 2008. This field trip will include visits to private gardens, nurseries, botanical gardens, and Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. Gardens: We will visit the gardens of Wayne & Doris Guymon, Inta Krumbolz, Jenny Rose Carey, Charles Crescent, Renny Reynolds, David Culp, Queenie & Dixie Northrup, and others. Botanical Gardens: There will be docent led tours at Mt Cuba, Longwood, Winterthur, Grounds for Sculpture, Morris Arboretum, Chanticleer, Bartram’s Garden, and Temple University. Nurseries : Hortulus, and Russel Nuseries.  

Flora of the Sierra Valley with Bill and Nancy Harnach, May 29-June 1. Location: Sierra Nevada Field Campus, Sierra Valley. During this workshop, we will focus on the identification of both common and rare species. Although most of Sierra Valley is private land, we will access a number of sites that highlight the habitat diversity in order to visit botanical treasures like Ivesia aperta var. aperta. Course fee ($450/$475) includes camping fees, meals, and transportation for the duration of the workshop. Camping fees include the use of double occupancy tents with platform twin beds and mattresses and bathrooms with running water and flush toilets. Participants may choose to bring their own tents.

Pacific Horticulture Magazine presents A Weekend in Santa Barbara: Plein-air Sketching and Painting from May 30-June 1, 2008. Co-sponsored by Western Horticultural Society. Led by Professor Chip Sullivan and escorted by Leslie Dean.