Hypertufa Trough-Making: A Hands-On Workshop with Louise Clarke

Join HPS member Louise Clarke for a delightfully messy, hands-on, outdoor hypertufa trough-making workshop. Hypertufa was developed by rock gardeners as an alternative to tufa rock, which is not locally available, and therefore expensive. Hypertufa (pronounced hyper-toofa) is a lightweight, porous concrete mixture made from Portland cement, peat, and perlite.

Your small, weatherproof hypertufa container will welcome plants that like well-drained conditions such as sedums, hens and chicks, and rock garden plants. Ideal for those with limited space, troughs can be planted as miniature gardens or to display choice specimens.

Participants will mix the ingredients, form the trough within a mold, and learn how to release a trough from its mold and finish it. Your instructor will provide individual attention and step-by-step instructions from mixing and molding to aftercare. You will receive full written instructions to take home so you can make more.

Dress for messy fun!

Louise Clarke is co-principal of Verdant Earth Educators, a green industry consulting and education firm. A former horticulturist from the Morris Arboretum in Philadelphia, she is a certified arborist, as well as a certified green roof professional. She is a graduate of Temple University’s College of Environmental Design.

Louise currently teaches classes at the Barnes Arboretum School of Horticulture, as well as workshops and lectures at Longwood Gardens, Mt. Cuba Center, Tyler Arboretum, and other venues. She is active in Garden Communicators International and the North American Rock Garden Society.

Workshop Details & Registration