In March, the Southern California Horticultural Society welcomes Florence Nishida, M.S., a Research Associate at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, to present a program on growing Asian vegetables in Los Angeles. She will show us how gardeners and lovers of good food can expand their palette of home-grown vegetables beyond “peas and carrots” by growing Asian vegetables, which have a wide range of unusual shapes, textures, scents, and colors.

Nishida’s horticultural background includes the study of macro fungi, particularly of California, and she currently teaches a monthly class on mushroom identification for the Los Angeles Mycological Society. In 2008, she joined the Master Gardeners of Los Angeles County to help encourage L.A. residents, most notably in under-resourced communities, to become more self-sufficient by growing food at home. Nishida also started the first edible/teaching garden at the Natural History Museum where she has taught Beginning Vegetable Gardening classes. In 2010 she founded the non-profit L.A. Green Grounds (www.lagreengrounds.org) to further her teaching goals. With this group, she has created many front-yard, edible gardens to demonstrate that people can improve their diets, health and physical stamina through the home growing of food.

In this evening’s presentation, Nishida will discuss a variety of edible Asian vegetables that can be grown locally alongside the more familiar options we might typically elect to plant. She believes that simple deliciousness, as well as an attractive appearance, can make them desirable garden components. She also hopes to awaken our palates by describing their range of intriguing and sophisticated flavors, so we might choose to experiment with growing and eating Asian vegetables, especially as they are easy to grow!

We look forward to this delectable program, which will provide us with a variety of new choices for planting in our kitchen gardens. And, for the more adventurous, these new flavors may even broaden their culinary skills and introduce the use of both common and special seasonings in interesting combinations. Whatever our level of skill in the garden or the kitchen, this evening can only serve to whet our appetites for more out-of-the-ordinary vegetables, and we hope you will be able to attend.

WHEN: CLASS CANCELLED

Thursday, March 12, 2020

7:00 PM SOCIALIZING

7:30 PM MEETING BEINGS

COST: Members and Students: FREE / Guests $5

CLASS CANCELLED!