Live Event: December 4, 2026, 12:00 p.m. EDT
Narrow garden spaces often call for plants with vertical ambition, challenging landscape designers and homeowners alike to find clever ways to maximize height without sacrificing square footage. Addressing this common spatial dilemma, an upcoming live webinar hosted by Fine Gardening aims to help gardeners rethink how they utilize tight lots, narrow side yards, and compact urban landscapes.
Scheduled for December 4, 2026, at 12:00 p.m. EDT, the virtual event is titled "Great Columnar Trees for the Garden." The session will be led by Mark Dwyer, a seasoned plantsman and the garden manager of the Edgerton Hospital Healing Garden in Wisconsin. Dwyer, who also serves as a regional reporter for the Midwest at FineGardening.com and contributes frequently to various horticultural publications, brings decades of hands-on expertise to the discussion.
During the live broadcast, Dwyer will survey the best columnar and fastigiate trees suited for gardens of every size. These specialized trees are prized for their ability to deliver height, drama, and architectural punctuation to a landscape without sprawling too wide or taking over valuable real estate. Whether a property owner is working with a tight urban lot, designing a formal allée, or looking for a striking structural focal point, the webinar is designed to offer practical solutions.
Dwyer plans to share his top picks based on form, seasonal interest, and overall reliability. In addition to plant selection, he will provide valuable placement tips on how to use these living exclamation points to their best aesthetic and functional effect in the landscape. Organizers note that the class serves as an ideal way to close out the gardening year by inspiring large design ideas that can be executed within small footprints.
Registration for the event is currently open online through Zoom. Horticulture enthusiasts, homeowners, and landscape designers interested in attending the live session can sign up by visiting the official registration page.
For those looking to explore related topics ahead of the webinar, Fine Gardening offers a variety of educational resources and past features involving Dwyer’s work. Gardeners can watch his previous conifer Q&A session, read his insights on native shrub alternatives to overused garden plants in the Midwest, or access comprehensive digital content through the magazine’s All-Access subscription program.
As the year draws to a close, this specialized webinar provides a timely opportunity for gardeners to plan ahead for the next planting season, ensuring that even the most compact outdoor spaces can achieve a bold and polished architectural statement.
