Gardening With Enthusiasm

Need a break from the backyard?

Beginning Sunday at 10:30 a.m., KCET will premiere a new 13-part series from PBS called “The Perennial Gardener With Karen Strohbeen.” Although the half-hour episodes are taped in the Midwest--which means that many of her plants would be poor choices here--it is difficult not to catch the silvery-maned Strohbeen’s enthusiasm as she works in her own flowery garden. She’s the kind of gardener who is not afraid to get down and dirty.

It’s fun to see how good gardeners grow things in other parts of the country and how gardening practices, as well as plants, often vary from region to region. When Strohbeen is talking about using native plants in her garden, she means native to the tall-grass prairie--she doesn’t mean the California chaparral.

During the series she visits other private gardens and some notable nurseries. Southern Californians will be amazed at how green and big these gardens and nurseries are. The occasional snowy scene is frosting on the cake.

It may not be a good idea to try too much Midwestern gardening in your Southland backyard, but consider it a vacation, like visiting a favorite gardening aunt.

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* “The Perennial Gardener With Karen Strohbeen” airs on 13 consecutive Sundays at 10:30 a.m. on KCET beginning this Sunday.