Plant Growing Lectures From Krischan Photography

Learn About Plants

The following plant lectures are available for purchase by garden clubs, botanical gardens, and garden centers. Contact us for availablity of dates.

Lecture Rates $150 - $300 per class
$0.445 per round trip mile driven
overnight lodging and breakfast, if over 100 miles

Lecture #201: Introduction to Tropical Orchids

Learn how to grow tropical orchids in your home. Don't be intimidated. You too can successfully raise these exotic plants. This lecture cover such topics as what types of orchids are available, selection guidelines, growing conditions, light and watering, care and feeding, pest cures, and more.

Let Tom Krischan introduce you to the exciting world of growing orchids. Live homegrown orchid plants will be on display. There will be a special slideshow that demonstrates the beauty and variety of these plants. You will receive handouts and all of your questions will be answered. At the conclusion of the talk, there will be a drawing for a door prize. Perhaps you might be the lucky person that goes home with one of these plants.

Lecture #202: Carnivorous Plants

Learn how to grow carnivorous plants. This lecture will cover growing tropical carnivorous plants in your home and temperate carnivorous plants in your garden. Learn how to construct a container bog for growing carnivorous plants outdoors. The talk will discuss the types of carnivorous plants available, selection guidelines, growing conditions, light and watering, care and feeding, pest cures, and more.

Let Tom Krischan introduce you to carnivorous plants. Live homegrown plants will be on display. There will be a special slideshow that demonstrates the beauty and variety of these plants. You will receive handouts and all of your questions will be answered. At the conclusion of the talk, there will be a drawing for a door prize. Perhaps you might be the lucky person that goes home with one of these plants.

Lecture #203: Primitive Plants - Ferns

Learn how to grow ferns. This lecture will cover growing ferns as houseplants and growing ferns in your garden. Twelve native fern species and twelve exotic ferns for the garden will be featured. The talk will discuss the types of ferns available, selection guidelines, fern anatomy, growing conditions, light and watering, care and feeding, pest cures, and more.

Let Tom Krischan introduce you to growing ferns. Live homegrown ferns will be on display. There will be a special slideshow that demonstrates the kinds of ferns. You will receive handouts and all of your questions will be answered. At the conclusion of the talk, there will be a drawing for a door prize. Perhaps you might be the lucky person that goes home with one of these plants.

Lecture #204: Perennials for Shade Gardens

Shade gardens offer a wonderful area to escape the heat of summer. Learn about the large variety of plants that thrive in your shade garden environment. This lecture will cover growing both native and exotic perennials. Twelve native native species and twelve exotic species will be featured. The talk will discuss the types of perennials that are available, selection guidelines, growing conditions, light and watering, care and feeding, pest cures, and more.

Let Tom Krischan introduce you to growing shade plants. Live homegrown perennials will be on display. There will be a slideshow that covers the many kinds of shade perennials. You will receive handouts and all of your questions will be answered. At the conclusion of the talk, there will be a drawing for a door prize. Perhaps you might be the lucky person that goes home with one of these plants.

Lecture #205: Creating a Prairie in Your Backyard

Prairie once covered great expansive sections of the Midwest. Today, we are left with only a scattered number of prairie renmants. But if you have a full sun location, you can easily create a prairie in your backyard. My favorite prairie plants include Baptisia australis (Blue Wild Indigo), Echinacea purpurea (Eastern Purple Coneflower), Eupatorium maculatum (Spotted Joe-Pye-Weed), Ratibida pinnata (Pinnate Prairie Coneflower), Ruellia humilis (Fringeleaf Wild Petunia), Silphium terebinthinaceum (Prairie Dock), and many more. Learn to distinguish between local native species and other regional prairie species (native, but not local). This lecture will cover growing twenty native prairie forbs and five prairie grasses. The talk will examine the prairie species that are available, selection guidelines, growing conditions, light and watering, care and feeding, pest cures, and more.

Let Tom Krischan introduce you to growing prairie plants. Live homegrown prairie plants will be on display. There will be a slideshow that displays the beauty of prairies. You will receive handouts and all of your questions will be answered. At the conclusion of the talk, there will be a drawing for a door prize. Perhaps you might be the lucky person that goes home with one of these plants.

Lecture #206: Butterfly Gardens

There is nothing more fascinating, for both children and adults, then the flutter of butterfly wings in the garden. Hot summer days are the peak time for seeing butterflies. Learn how to build a special butterfly garden and how to grow the top necture plant. You will learn about favorite plants to attract butterflies, such as, Buddleja davidii (Butterfly Bush), Echinacea purpurea (Eastern Purple Coneflower), Asclepias curassavica (Tropical Milkweed), Liatris ligulistylis (Rocky Mountain Blazing Star), Monarda fistulosa (Wild Bergamot), Zinnia elegans (Zinnia), and many more. This lecture will cover growing twelve necture plants and three host plants. The talk will discuss which butterfly plants that are available as seedlings or seeds, selection guidelines, growing conditions, light and watering, care and feeding, pest cures, and more.

Let Tom Krischan introduce you to building yourself a butterfly garden. Live homegrown butterfly plants will be on display. There will be a slideshow that displays the beauty of butterflies in the garden. You will receive handouts and all of your questions will be answered. At the conclusion of the talk, there will be a drawing for a door prize. Perhaps you might be the lucky person that goes home with one of these plants.

About The Speaker: Tom Krischan
- Garden Writer and Botanist

Milwaukee Home Magazine
Northern Gardener Magazine
Chicagoland Gardening Magazine
Birds & Blooms Magazine
Chicago Wilderness Magazine
Ponds Magazine
Flower Gardens Magazine

Read Tom Krischan's article, "Woodland Wildflowers", in the June 2008 issue of Milwaukee Home Magazine.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "The Lesser Astilbes", in the March/April 2008 issue of Northern Gardener Magazine.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "Orchids A to Zedd", in the March/April 2008 issue of Milwaukee Home Magazine.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "Orchids", in the February/March 2008 issue of Birds & Blooms Magazine.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "Windowsill Carnivores", in the January/February 2008 issue of Chicagoland Gardening Magazine.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "Butterfly Gardens", in the August 2007 issue of Milwaukee Home Magazine.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "Space Invaders" (Garden Weeds), in the August 2007 issue of Milwaukee Home Magazine.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "Garden Carnivores", in the Summer 2007 issue of Ponds Magazine.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "Fertile Ferns", in the January/February 2007 issue of Milwaukee Home Magazine.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "Advanced Orchids", in the November/December 2006 issue of Northern Gardener Magazine.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "Orchid Obsession", in the September/October 2006 issue of Northern Gardener Magazine.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "Botanist With The Blues", in the July/August 2006 issue of Milwaukee Home Magazine.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "Butterfly Weed", in the Summer 2006 issue of Chicago Wilderness Magazine.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "If At First You Don't Succeed", in the May/June 2006 issue of Chicagoland Gardening Magazine. An interview with intersectional peony expert Roger Anderson.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "Blooming Large", in the February 2006 issue of Milwaukee Home Magazine.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "Nonstop Border Color For Midwest Climates", in the 2005 issue of Flower Gardens Magazine.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "Corkscrew Lady Slippers", in the January/February 2005 issue of Chicagoland Gardening Magazine.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "The Enchanting Orchid", in the January/February 2005 issue of Milwaukee Home Magazine.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "Poinsettia Power", in the November/December 2004 issue of Chicagoland Gardening Magazine.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "Plant Posturing", in the November/December 2004 issue of Milwaukee Home Magazine.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "For The People", in the September/October 2004 issue of Chicagoland Gardening Magazine.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "You Can't Grow Bananas Here", in the July/August 2004 issue of Chicagoland Gardening Magazine.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "Bill Radler Scores a Knock Out", in the May/June 2004 issue of Chicagoland Gardening Magazine. An interview with rose expert Bill Radler.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "The Trillium Sanctuary", in the May/June 2003 issue of Chicagoland Gardening Magazine.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "Zedd the Vizsla Chomped his First Orchid", in the March/April 2003 issue of Chicagoland Gardening Magazine.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "Let There Be Light", in the November/December 2002 issue of Chicagoland Gardening Magazine.
Read Tom Krischan's article, "Perennial Favorites", in the 2001 issue of Flower Gardens Magazine.

Tom Krischan is a garden writer and botanist. His garden articles have appeared in dozens of publications and span topics such as newly introduced garden and houseplants, research about optimal growing conditions for your home or garden, and suggestions for improving your plant collection. Tom grows tropical orchids as houseplants and tends a 1 acre flower garden in Big Bend, Wisconsin. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Natural Resource Conservation and a Master's Degree in Botany.

Tom is a wandering botanist who writes stories about plants and plant people. Read his articles in Milwaukee Home Magazine, Northern Gardener Magazine, Chicagoland Gardening Magazine, Chicago Wilderness Magazine, Ponds Magazine, and Flower Gardens Magazine.

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Wautoma Newspaper 10-23-2006