For the first meeting of the new garden year, the Orcas Island Garden Club will present “Creating the Perfect Woodland.”

On Wednesday, Sept.16 at 10 a.m, in the Madrona Room at the Orcas Center, all interested gardeners are invited to attend the Garden Club meeting to learn how to plant the perfect woodland garden with the help of Richie Steffen, curator of the Elisabeth Miller Botanical Garden in Seattle.

The first part of the program is entitled “Ferns for the Northwest.” If you are looking for a few interesting additions to liven up a dull garden, Steffen has the solutions for you with reliable performers for the woodland setting. Complete with color photos, he will describe interesting combinations of ferns with other woodland companions. Following this part of the program there will be a brief break.

Then the program continues with “Gardening in the Shade.” See creative solutions to gardening under our domineering conifer forest. Steffen will highlight the wide array of trees, shrubs, perennials and groundcovers that will thrive in less than ideal light. A special emphasis will be given to plants that will tolerate dry shade.

Steffen is curator for the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden, where he manages the rare plant collections and heads acquisition of new plants for the garden. He has been actively involved in the horticultural community, currently serving as a committee member of the Great Plant Picks program and as a board member of the Hardy Fern Foundation, Northwest Horticultural Society and the Rhododendron Species Foundation.