WVHPG Educational Speaker Program Tuesday, 13 January 2026
Schedule
Tue Jan 13 2026 at 07:00 pm to 09:00 pm
UTC-08:00Location
Unitarian Universalist Church in Eugene | Eugene, OR
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Join us on Tuesday, 13 January 2026 at 7:00 pm in the Unitarian Universalist Church in Eugene, 1685 W 13th Ave, Eugene OR 97402, to listen to Tamara Paulat of Chickadee Gardens. Tamara will be presenting "A Resilient Garden: What's Working Ten Years In".Tamara's talk will focus on tough, low-maintenance plants that have sailed through both record wet and cold and record hot and dry seasons in my two-acre Oregon garden, USDA zone 8a. As I worked for Joy Creek Nursery for several years and currently work for Cistus Nursery, the access to an amazing array of plant material with which to experiment is extensive. This talk aims to highlight what has worked well and is both beautiful and tough. I would also like to discuss winning strategies to cope with drought. As native plants are a passion of mine there will inevitably be selections from this category. As always, our aim is to garden not only for ourselves but for the chickadees, the butterflies, the bees, the frogs and all the critters that call our garden home
Gardening is an obsession for Tamara. The major impetus was in 2010 when the Backyard Habitat Certification Program caught her attention and her small Portland garden eventually gained platinum status. She began blogging about her garden at chickadeegardens.com to share what she was learning regarding sustainable practices, native plants, successes and failures. A year later, wishing to expand and challenge themselves, Tamara and her husband David purchased a home sited on two acres in Saint Helens.
Transforming what was field grass and blackberries into a thriving, diverse ecosystem these past ten years has been a labor of love for Tamara and David. The property is bordered on three sides by Douglas fir trees and mixed hedgerows, between these boundaries is a dry, sun-soaked garden with a heavy dose of West Coast native and summer-dry adapted plants. A half-acre of the property was cleared to plant a vegetable garden and orchard. Additionally, there are chickens, one turkey and mason bees loving their home, not to mention the native fauna.
She worked for Joy Creek Nursery in Scappoose for several years as the photographer, social media creator as well as helping customers choose that perfect plant, up until it closed its gates in late 2021. She currently works for Cistus Nursery part-time and is having a blast learning about a whole new plant palette. As a member of the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon she has written for that group’s magazine as well as for Pacific Horticulture. She is the newest member of the Great Plant Picks selection committee, a non-profit through the Elisabeth Miller Botanical Garden in Seattle. With access to so many fantastic plants and two acres to experiment with, sharing her passion at chickadeegardens.com is a joy.
Program Location: The in-person meetings and speaker programs take place at the Unitarian Universalist Church at 1685 W 13th Ave, Eugene OR 97402.
Entrance is on the east side of the building and there is ample parking in the parking lots, which can be accessed from both Chambers St or W 13th Ave, with additional parking in the adjacent Looking Glass Center parking lot. Please do not park under their covered entry way. Overflow parking is also available in the first 20 spaces on the east and south side of Redeemer Fellowship Church just across Chambers St to the west. For location and parking information see our website at: www.thehardyplantgroup.org/contact
Meetings begin at 7:00 PM, but the doors open at 6:30 PM for botanical sample browsing, refreshments, and socializing. We meet the second Tuesday of the month, September through November, and January through May. The public is invited to attend our meetings. Admission is free for members and $5 for non-members.
This program will also be broadcast live via a Zoom webinar, if you are unable to attend in person, to all members of WVHPG. If you are not a member and would like to view this webinar please see our "About" page on our website to learn how to join. www.thehardyplantgroup.org/about
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Where is it happening?
Unitarian Universalist Church in Eugene, 1685 W 13th Ave, Eugene, OR 97402-3743, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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