There’s nothing Ann enjoys more than sharing her experience with audiences. She’s spoken as a garden speaker to small garden groups, given seed saving/starting workshops, and has addressed large audiences. She has presented in person (as well as online) at Heronswood Gardens. She’s presented demonstrations for several years at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show, as well as through the Great Grow Along at the Philadelphia Flower Show. Other online presentations have been given through both the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon and the Northwest Horticultural Society. She’s also been included in the lineup at the Point Defiance Flower & Garden Festival, and has been the Keynote Speaker at the Women in Horticulture Event at Chemeketa Community College.
Ann loves to give informative and humorous talks always focussing on the more lighthearted fun of what she has been doing personally and professionally for over two decades.
For inquiries, please contact her at: ann@annlovesplants.com. Please include information about what type of topic you’re interested in, and when you’d like to hold the event. (Houseplant talks are currently on hold as of Winter 2025. Other topics related to greenhouse work and home gardening are being developed.)
I have a general set minimum fee—but there is also some wiggle room and cost can be negotiated.
Presentations Given Over the Years
A Garden and Career Grown from Seed
Before she was a horticulturist, Ann was a first-time homeowner and avid gardener. In order to save money, she purchased seeds online, traded seeds, and had seeds sent to her, from all over the United States. Seeds changed her life in many ways, and years later, she continues to work with them. Ann started a seed conversation last year at this event, and this year she’ll continue to share more about her life with seeds. Focussing more on growing FOR seeds this time around—and how she collects them—come ready with your questions, and be prepared for an enthusiastic conversation with a former Nursery Production Manager about where your plants come from and why this matters.
A Horticulturist Visits Plant Delights Nursery
Join horticulturist Ann Amato as she walks us through her visit to Plant Delights Nursery last fall. While she was there to see as much as she could, the crevice garden was of special interest. Join us as she walks us through her time there, wandering through the gardens and greenhouses. See the nursery through the eyes of both a plant lover and a plant professional.
Begonias: An Introduction to the Different Groups
Bringing Nature Indoors: Houseplants and Our Health
Houseplants are not new indoor companions; they’ve only just experienced a dramatic resurgence during a global pandemic. In this session, you’ll learn more about our history with them, and the important ways in which they help alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety, while also building emotional health. Partaking in indoor plant care helps individuals to build confidence, pride, social connections, and a type of satisfaction in accomplishing goals. Growing plants indoors boosts creativity, it can help to improve mood, while at the same time, reducing stress. In addition to tips on care, and different and unusual types of plants, this session will cover how to deal with pests, disease and other problems that can come your way. With more renters and homeowners living in smaller urban spaces as our cities grow and property values increase, it’s important to include indoor gardening as more of a priority for healthy well-being.
Columnea: An Introduction
Creating a Happy Home for Houseplants
Creating a Happy Home for Houseplants: Come prepared to learn how to grow beautiful indoor plants from a horticulturist who has grown a wide variety of different kinds over the last 2 decades. From the initial purchase, to years down the road, Ann can help you to better understand how to grow more beautiful plants. Bring your questions too for on-the-spot advice.
Flowering Houseplants
Learn about the care and cultivation of both common and less common houseplants. Plants will be ranked in terms of their ease of care. Tips will be included on how to better grow the more fussy ones. Included will also be a basic introduction to growing plants under lights. Bring your questions too!
Growing a Living Tree Arbor
Come listen to horticulturist Ann Amato as she describes planning, growing, and maintaining a living tree arbor. Created over a period of 20 years, the center of Ann’s garden Campiello Maurizio is a living willow arbor where she hosts dinners with friends when the space is not being used for her cozy hammock. Additionally, she’ll go over the advantages and disadvantages to using other trees, as well as the importance of learning how to properly train them. A living tree arbor takes a lot of patience to grow and train, but will offer a romantic and cosy framework to your garden that’s difficult to replicate with any other material.
Growing and Propagating a Bevy of Begonias & Gesneriads
Begonias are one of the most beautiful plants in our homes and gardens. From the huge blooms that last all summer in the tuberous group, to the luscious leaves of the indoor and conservatory types. Fibrous-rooted, tuberous, hardy, rhizomatous, and rex begonias, where should a beginner begin? From the easiest begonias to the fussiest, care, propagation, and
cultivation tips will be shared for both beginners and advanced growers. Gesneriads are members of a large family of flowers with pretty blooms. They deserve to be known and grown and there is no person better than Ann Amato, president of the Mount Hood
Gesneriad Society, to tell us about them.
Growing Pollinator Friendly Xeric Gardens
Hardy Begonias
While there’s the hardy begonia, Begonia grandis, there are others in the Begoniaceae family that are borderline hardy in our region that are worth growing more. Key to success with them is understanding how to grow them, knowing microclimates, and patience. Years ago, while working at Cistus Nursery in Portland, Ann discovered their Begonia collection in the back corner of a stock greenhouse. By then she’d already attempted to grow several of the plants outdoors—but she’d not yet had success with them. During the ensuing years she propagated what was there, slowly getting to know the plants little by little. Along the way, she met experts from around the US who’ve work collecting them overseas, or hybridizing them here. During this presentation she will walk you through the steps to have greater success with the hardy begonias. Several of her favorites will be discussed, and she’ll share stories from professionals and collectors around the region. Propagation will also be discussed since there’s nothing worse than NOT backing up a plant before the uncertainty of winter may or may not snatch it from you.
How to Grow and Overwinter Patio Plants
Gardeners often have plants that need protection during the cooler months. Sometimes this means letting things go dormant in a cool garage or shed, but other times it means keeping a plant in your home. Some folks might call these houseplants, and they’d be correct, but calling them patio plants helps to create a category just for this group and their care. They truly get to experience the best of both worlds and deserve more of our attention in our personal garden designs and in our homes.
During the warmer months, many houseplants can benefit from going on a vacation to the garden—but not all. Some plants will likely grow better indoors if you can master this migration back and forth. While this process is a lot of work, it can be a lot of fun, and if you can bring the outdoors in, why not admit that you’re already bringing the indoors out and push the process and the plants to master it! Talk about a whole new twist on the topic of houseplants!
This presentation will include advice based on professional and personal experience and will also show collector plants that are great alternatives to plants commonly found in the marketplace.
How To Save and Store Seeds
Collecting, cleaning, labeling, sorting, and sowing seeds can be a lot of fun with some simple organization and space to sort, store, and grow them. Learn more during this presentation from a professional “seedstress” who’s been working with seeds for decades. From veggies to annual flowers, to perennials and trees, even ferns and some light plant breeding will be included too.
Houseplant Ideas for Horticulturists
Houseplants: Gardening Indoors, a History
Let’s Talk About Houseplants: The Basics
While Ann is better known as a horticulturist who loves to propagate plants from seed, in her free time at home she cultivates a home garden, a community garden plot, as well as a large collection of houseplants. In this presentation she’ll discuss indoor gardening basics, lighting ideas, and of course, she’ll show us a wide array of plants. It won’t matter if you’re a beginner or an advanced indoor gardener, she promises to cover something for everyone and will help to answer your questions as well.
Mounting Epiphytic Plants
When you run out of shelf space for all your beloved houseplants, go vertical and use your walls! Join a horticulturist and houseplant geek to discover easy techniques to mount your epiphytic plants. From bromeliads to huperzias (club mosses), orchids to gesneriads (African Violet relatives), each has its specific requirements needed to grow into the best possible specimen plant. Sometimes doing so in a small terrarium is best. Always doing so with adequate light is key to your success. Ann will walk you through the process and teach you some propagation tips along the way.
Propagation Basics
Much like cooking, the craft of propagation can be engaging, perforative AND recipes are often altered. Come watch and learn more about this green thumb skillset from a professional propagator who’s propagated thousands of plants for regional nurseries we all know and love. From seeds to cuttings, spores to simple grafts, air layering to division—to answering questions about tissue culture—she has seen it all! Please bring your questions too. Tools and techniques will be included as well.
Propagating Begonias
Seeds!! From Sowing to Saving
Soil Mixes and Amendments for Houseplants
Succeeding with Xeric Plants
Learn the basic principles about adapting your landscape to be more xeric. Hear about the basic pros and cons, and find out which garden plants you already own that require less water. Additionally, tips on how to contribute to pollinator conservation in your garden will be given throughout the talk. Big and small projects will be considered.
Vermicomposting
Composting with worms turns household food and paper waste into something far more valuable for your garden. In addition to being a soil amendment that improves your soil, it’s also a rich fertilizer. This presentation will present the differences between traditional compost and vermicompost, as well as different ways to incorporate vermicomposting systems into your living spaces. This can be a great way to produce less waste, and it may even inspire some to eat better so you’ll be better able to provide your worm bin with the best possible scraps to keep it productive and healthy. We’ll also discuss common mistakes to avoid losing worm colonies.
The Wide World of Seeds
Women in Horticulture: My Story (Keynote)
New Speaking Topics
Forget Pretty—Embracing Ecological Design after Fine Garden Design
Gardening and Wellness: Grow Your Own Happiness
The Process of Cultivation: Where Do Plants Come From?
Ann Loves Plants 
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