By Meagan IngersonThe Daily Northwestern

“Everyone’s worried plants are dainty and soft,” horticulturist John Jaminski said, smiling and approaching a Black-Eyed Susan with a spade.

“Boom!” he exclaimed as he chopped the plant’s base in two.

Jaminski, who works as the caretaker for the gardens at the Levy Senior Center, 300 Dodge Ave., opened his talk, “Gardening for Beginners: Annuals and Perennials,” with this no-nonsense approach to dividing perennials.

He took a similarly frank approach throughout his presentation, which took place Wednesday night at the Evanston Ecology Center, 2024 McCormick Blvd. He explained the care and qualities of a few dozen plants to the four amateur gardeners who attended.

He also covered topics, such as the most popular new plants this season, like Diamond Frost, a white-flowered annual.

Jaminski has been teaching the classes, which cost $15 per session, on a volunteer basis for 11 years, he said. He brought most of the plants from the Levy garden, as well as a few from his own collection.

“(The class) helps a lot of people grow in their garden, and they just get a step in the right direction,” he said after the talk.

Ellen Fierer, an environmental educator with the Ecology Center, said the center chooses the topic of the gardening classes based on residents’ requests. She said the small size of the classes allows for people to ask specific questions.

“There’s just a need for basic gardening information,” Fierer said. “There are other places that offer it, but if you’re an Evanston resident, you get great information and it’s right around the corner.”

Jaminski will give two more talks as part of the series: a lecture titled “Container Gardening” on May 23 and a walk-through of the Levy gardens on May 30.

Northwestern lecturer Deborah Wood said she attended the class because she hopes to start gardening for the first time this year.

“I’ve never gardened before, and it said ‘intro to gardening,'” she said. “I thought, that’s got to be a good place to start.”

Evanston resident Magdalen Swider attended the center’s fall classes after buying her home in August. Although her yard is small, she wants to work to improve it, she said.

“There’s always things you want to do to make it your own, like you do to the inside of your house,” she said.

Reach Meagan Ingerson at [email protected].