Presentation Info

Cost

Presentation Rate: $165 per hour

Travel Time: Travel time is billed at $165 per hour, calculated from Amy’s home base in Arlington Heights, IL.

Availability
During the gardening season, March through November, Amy is only available for evening presentations.

In the off season, December through February, Amy is available during days and evenings for presentations.

Note: All of Amy’s presentations use PowerPoint slides. For in-person engagements, she brings her own laptop and HDMI cable, so the venue simply needs to provide a projector or large screen that she can connect to.

Presentation Topics

• Pruning
  • Pruning can feel intimidating, but this presentation breaks it down into clear, confidence-building guidance. Amy explains when, why, and how to prune trees, shrubs, and perennials to promote plant health, structure, and flowering.
• Spring Tasks and Pruning
  • Spring is busy—and timing matters. Amy outlines the most important spring gardening tasks, including bed cleanup, soil prep, and pruning, while explaining what should wait and why to avoid damaging plants or disrupting insects.
• Fall Cleanup
  • Fall cleanup isn’t one-size-fits-all, and this talk explains what actually needs to be done—and what should be left alone. Amy covers leaves, perennial beds, insects, and soil health so gardeners can balance a tidy garden with ecological benefits.
• Landscape Design 101
  • This beginner-friendly presentation introduces the foundational principles of landscape design, including balance, proportion, rhythm, focal points, unity, and simplicity. Amy helps gardeners learn how to apply these concepts to create cohesive, functional, and beautiful outdoor spaces.
• Designing A Pollinator Garden
  • In this presentation, Amy Powers explains how pollinators actually use plants throughout their life cycle. While adult insects often feed on nectar and pollen from flowers, their larvae typically depend on specific host plants instead. Amy shows how understanding this difference is essential to creating pollinator gardens that truly support insect populations—while also demonstrating how to design these gardens so they are both ecologically functional and visually beautifu
• Native Perennial Design
  • Discover how to design perennial gardens using native plants that thrive with less maintenance and support local ecosystems. Amy covers plant layering, bloom succession, spacing, and how to combine natives for both beauty and ecological function.
• Transitioning Your Home Garden to Native Plants (& Reduce Your Lawn!)
  • Are you looking to add more native plants and garden with a focus on ecology but aren’t sure where to start? This presentation offers a realistic, step-by-step approach to transitioning toward native plants. Amy discusses where to start adding to your existing landscaping and how to phase in changes over time. Amy will use her own aerial photographs of her own property to show you how she reduced her lawn footprint from more than 4,000 square feet to 1,500!
• Seed Starting 101
  • Perfect for beginners, this presentation walks through the basics of starting plants from seed successfully. Amy covers timing, light, soil, moisture, and common mistakes so gardeners can grow strong, healthy seedlings at home.
• Cut Flowers
  • Learn how to grow, harvest, and enjoy flowers specifically chosen for cutting. Amy covers plant selection, succession planting, harvesting techniques, and how to keep bouquets looking fresh longer—whether for home enjoyment or sharing with others.
• Beneficial Insects
  • This presentation focuses on the insects that quietly do the most work in our gardens—from pollination to natural pest control. Amy explains how to identify beneficial insects, why they matter, and how to support them with plant choices and simple garden practices.
• Tomatoes
  • From planting to harvest, this presentation focuses on growing productive, healthy tomato plants. Amy covers variety selection, proper support, watering, pruning, and common problems to help gardeners grow better tomatoes with fewer frustrations.
• Designing For Climate Change
  • In this presentation, Amy Powers explains the major climate and weather trends already affecting our landscapes—such as hotter summers, shifting precipitation patterns, and emerging pests—and the trends expected to continue in the future. She then explores practical landscape design strategies that help gardens adapt to these changes, including plant selection, biodiversity, and resilient design principles that support both long-term landscape health and ecological function.