Grow Your Gardening Knowledge In The Off Season

By Phran Novelli

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Learn how to grow more with less - less work, less water and less money. Create a layered garden. Discover our helpful native bees. Understand the botanical background for land preservation. Get great advice about how to create a delicious and easy-to-care-for garden full of beautifully ornamental and edible native plants - including but not limited to our luscious native blueberries, pictured here.

Figure out how to create a no fuss pond for wildlife. Get the simple secrets to helping your plants survive and thrive in an urban landscape. Decide not to mow and turn part of your yard into a meadow. Or take an armchair journey of horticultural exploration from India to Zimbabwae.

All of these are topics of lectures you can attend this winter at area arboretums, from Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve, to the Morris Arboretum, the Jenkins Arboretum, and the Delaware Center for Horticulture.

For details visit GreaterPhiladelphiaGardens.org.