October 4, 2008
OCT. 4

Native plants:

Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers and Native Plants hosts its annual Fall Festival featuring discounts on hundreds of California native trees, shrubs, ground covers, flowering perennials and shade plants. 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 10459 Tuxford Street, Sun Valley. Free. Silent auction will be held at 5:30 p.m. followed by Greg Rubin's lecture, "The Secrets of Landscaping With Native Plants," at 6:30 p.m. North Valley City Hall Auditorium, 7747 Foothill Blvd., Tujunga. (818) 768-1802.

Plant sale:

Descanso Gardens' autumn plant sale will feature a wide selection of plants, many propagated by Descanso volunteers. Fruit-bearing olive trees from Italy and Spain are available in limited quantities. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. 1418 Descanso Drive, La Cañada Flintridge. Free. (818) 949-7980.

LA Mart sample sale:

Furnishings by Alu-Mont, Henredon, American Leather, Bernhardt Furniture, Drexel Heritage and others will be discounted up to 70% off when the design center opens to the public. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 1933 S. Broadway, Los Angeles. $10. (213) 763-5800.

Global warming:

John Zavalney discusses the scientific causes and effects of global warming, as well as possible consequences of inaction. Zavalney is one of 1,000 trained lecturers who present concepts in former Vice President Al Gore's film, "An Inconvenient Truth." 10 a.m. to noon. Descanso Gardens, 1418 Descanso Drive, La Cañada Flintridge. $5 to $12. Reservations recommended: (818) 949-7980.

Gardening classes:

Horticultural consultant Marta Teegen leads a class on fall kitchen gardens from 10 a.m. to noon and container gardening from 1 to 3 p.m. $50. To register, e-mail marta@homegrownlosangeles.com.

Architecture bus tour:

Esotouric hosts a tour of five iconic religious buildings: the Aetherius Society, Krotona Apartments, Sister Aimee Semple McPherson's Parsonage, the Philosophical Research Society and the Vedanta Society of Southern California. 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Departs from Bodhi Tree Bookstore, 8585 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood. $64. (323) 223-2767, www.esotouric.com.

Schindler House:

Architect Judith Sheine, chairwoman of the Cal Poly Pomona architecture department and author of "R.M. Schindler," will give a tour of the Schindler House and lecture at 11 a.m. MAK Center for Art and Architecture, 835 N. Kings Road, West Hollywood. $7. (323) 651-1510, www.makcenter.org.

OCT. 5

Lawn alternatives:

Landscape designer Steve Gerischer will discuss ways to replace or reduce your lawn, plus drought-tolerant plants to put in its place. 1:30 to 4 p.m. Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden, 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia. $22 to $25. (626) 821-4623.

Designers tour:

Pasadena chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers' self-guided Home & Kitchen Tour includes six remodels in Pasadena, San Marino, Altadena and Glendale. 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. $35. (800) 237-2634, www.asidpasadena.org.

OCT. 6

LACMA lecture:

Kathryn Hiesinger, a curator of European decorative arts at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, presents the slide-lecture "Collecting Modern: Decorative Arts at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1876 to Present." 7 p.m. Brown Auditorium, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. $15 to $20. Reservations: (323) 857-6528.

OCT. 7

Chinese gardens:

Richard Strassberg, professor of Chinese at UCLA, will kick off the Huntington's fourth annual Chinese garden lecture series with a presentation about 18th-century Qing dynasty emperor Kangxi and the vast summer residence he built in Chengde, Manchuria. 7:30 p.m. Friends' Hall, Huntington Botanical Gardens, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. Free. (626) 405-2100.

OCT. 8

SCI-Arc:

Hear a lecture by Arvind Palep, co-founder of 1st Ave Machine USA, a computer graphics and animation studio that employs 3-D effects to blur the line between the real and imaginary. 7 p.m. W.M. Keck Lecture Hall, Southern California Institute of Architecture, 960 E. 3rd St., Los Angeles. Free. www.sciarc.edu.

OCT. 9

Landscape field trip:

Landscape designer Laramee Haynes leads a tour of two private installations that showcase unusual, long-lived plants. A visit to his Pasadena home gardens and nursery follows. 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden, 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia. $20. Reservations required: (626) 821-4624.

California gardens:

Bart O'Brien, director of special projects at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont, will discuss some of his favorite public and private California gardens and the interesting plants (natives and exotics) in them. Presented by the Southern California Horticulture Society. 7:30 p.m. Friendship Auditorium, 3201 Riverside Drive, Los Angeles. Free. (818) 567-1496.