Heat domes, floods, extreme temperatures, and even tornados – welcome to the new normal in Northwest Washington. Barb and Cathy will provide an overview of climate change fundamentals and how changing weather patterns are affecting our lives and gardens. Are you losing plants that have thrived in the past? Are you concerned about pollinators and beneficial insects? Do you need tips on reducing water usage during the hot dry summers? Learn about steps you can take to have a healthier, resilient garden, improve habitat for wildlife and reduce your own carbon footprint.

Supports MG Priority: Climate Change

Join forester Collin McAvinchey on an exploration of how to develop fire resilient landscapes around your home. Learn principles of fire-resistant plant selection, spacing, and maintenance while diving into steps you can take today to protect your home from wildfire.

Supports MG Priorities: Wildfire Preparedness, Climate Change

Image credit: PNW Extension

NOTE: This class is 75 minutes in length and will extend into the free time between Sessions C and D.

There is much to consider in designing a climate smart garden: how water is harvested, used, and directed; how soils are nurtured to make them more drought-resilient and fertile; how plantings can help with thermoregulation of the site; how materials choices can contribute to our carbon footprint - and the list goes on! In this class we'll discuss attributes of climate-smart gardens.
We'll cover design ideas and solutions to implement, including planting and materials choices, to meet our design goals and make our gardens - both new and existing - more resilient.

Biodiversity has steadily declined over the past 200 years. Habitat destruction, pollution, the introduction of noxious weeds and climate change have all contributed to the decline. In this class you will learn about biodiversity and ways that you can help to reverse this trend with your everyday actions. Reset your definition of a beautiful lawn. Restore native habitats in your yard or on your deck to provide food, water and shelter for native wildlife. Learn about the Homegrown National Park conservation movement and leave the class with the tools that you need to be a biodiversity superhero.

Supports MG Priorities: Plant Biodiversity, Climate Change

Don’t we all love strawberries? Yes, you can grow your own! Strawberries are one of the easiest fruits to grow, and they are far more flavorful than those you bring home from the grocery store. We’ll explore plant selection, how-to planting for your spaces — especially here on Whidbey, care and concerns through the season from harvesting to storage and some fun facts and interesting history.

The class is designed for beginners to experienced gardeners who want to expand or refresh their knowledge or get more creative with their plantings or new varieties.

Do you love eating from your garden? Anza’s class will help you get the most from your small farm or garden year round. This class will cover the basics of soil, bed preparation, microclimates, season extension, timing your plantings and harvesting tips. Now is a good time to create your garden maps for your best harvest ever.

Supports MG Priority: Local Food

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A homegrown tomato is the Holy Grail of the kitchen garden, and yet it can be one of the most challenging hot-season crops to grow in our moderate Maritime summers. However, help is on the way! Bill Thorness will share tips and techniques to help you have your best tomato year yet. You’ll learn about season extension, pruning, trellising, pests, diseases and proper fertilizing and watering.

Diagnosing plant diseases and disorders is a combination of fact-filled science with the art of intuition. Jenny Glass, Diagnostician at the WSU Puyallup Plant & Insect Diagnostic Laboratory, will share her diagnostic adventures of over two decades trying to solve plant problems. Come bring your plant problem questions and expect a lively story and idea exchange. Jenny will discuss applying your strengths in the diagnostic process, looking at symptom patterns to help you determine if the origin of damage results from nonliving and/or living cause(s), and how understanding the plant disease triangle concept will help you focus your efforts on prevention and management of garden and landscape problems.

In this engaging and informative class, we will learn how to identify and debunk common gardening myths and provide you with the tools to cultivate a thriving garden based on solid science.

Chris Kelley will provide an overview of basic geology and hydrogeology of Island County including how we identify aquifers and aquitards. Chris describes risks to Island County’s sole-source aquifer systems as well as the roles and responsibilities of well owners, public water systems, and local and state agencies tasked with managing water resources to prevent contamination, over-use, and ensure safe potable water for the future.

Supports MG Priority: Water Conservation

We will explore soil properties that gardeners can influence and how and why to enhance them. We will show how the soil food web is essential for creating a healthy human food web and human health in general.

Supports MG Priority: Soil Health

Trees are often planted to help improve the environment and as a legacy to future generations. To reap those benefits, trees must survive for the long haul. Yet, faulty planting practices that limit tree survival are alarmingly common. Some of the smallest details of planting and early care can make biggest difference. What’s the best way to prepare the planting hole? How should root ball wrappings be handled? Is root pruning needed? Does mulch matter? Pruning? Staking? How much to water? When is a new tree "established"?

Drawing from current research, years of planting experience, and diagnostics of post-planting tree failures, Christina will answer those questions and share the most essential practices for planting, aftercare, and pruning of young trees.

Beekeeping basics. Where to get bees and how to keep them. Learn the basics of keeping bees. There will be an educational hive and the tools of the trade. Bring your questions and enthusiasm.

Do you have a slug and snail problem in your garden? This class will provide information that will help you deal with these plant damaging pests. There are several ways to manage these invasive species.

Starting a new garden can be a daunting task for beginners, and for those who are more experienced. This class helps you consider the elements that make a garden a delightful place to enjoy in solitude and with friends and family. We will look at choosing plants that will mature gracefully, hardscape that showcases the plants, and ways to avoid costly mistakes.

Crevice gardens are becoming more popular because they provide microclimates and growing conditions that allow alpine and rock garden plants to thrive. Kelly and Sue will discuss the creation and benefits of crevice gardens and how they use their own gardens to support their conservancy work. (Look for more details once they return from the mountains of Chile.)

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Make your garden a safe haven for insects and pollinators of all types! In this class we'll talk about how to make your garden a healthy ecosystem that provides shelter and food for many types of pollinators including insects, birds and bats. In addition to lots of design ideas and planting ideas, we'll touch on garden maintenance techniques that will help build, rather than destroy, the environment you carefully create. Gardeners have a unique opportunity to offset habitat loss and help these important species survive. This class will help you turn your yard into a refuge!

When we protect birds, we protect the entire ecosystem. For this class, the Whidbey Audubon Society will be presenting information on how to attract a diverse collection of birds to your home. Together, we will learn about the lifecycles of insects, the symbiotic relationships formed between native plants and birds, and how environmental factors both affect and are affected by the birds in our gardens. Many of the birds in our area depend heavily on the nectar, fruit, leaves and seeds that come from what we plant in our backyards, but the plants also may depend on those same birds for seed dispersal, pollination, or other parts of their development.

NOTE: This class is 75 minutes in length and will extend into the free time between Sessions C and D.

Take your garden photos to the next level! This class will focus on learning skills that will enhance the photos you take of your garden and the wonderful natural world that surrounds us here in the PNW. We will cover what makes a good composition, how to use the light to your advantage, some basic editing skills, and a hands-on walk through the marketplace to practice the learned skills. This class will be geared towards using a cell phone camera but is applicable to any type of camera you would like to use.

A sub-irrigated planter (SIP) is a generic name for a type of container gardening where the water is introduced below the soil surface. This class will demonstrate how to apply the SIP principles to both smaller container planters and large raised or handicapped accessible beds.

Whidbey Island Grown Cooperative’s executive director Shannon Bly will present about the Co-op’s programs and efforts to support our local and regional food system, from developing new sales outlets like the Food Hub, building out storage facilities to allow increased production and sales, and promoting local food producers through a place-based brand. She’ll give an overview of where our local food system is at, and share ways that the community can support our local food producers.

Support MG Priority: Local Food

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"Powdery Mildew , Nemesis of the Northwest" is a favorite subject of all gardeners whether you grow vegetables, ornamentals or flowers (especially dahlias). I will take you on a journey through the research that will help you understand where it comes from, why it appears and how you can manage your garden to prevent the spread. Come enjoy and bring your questions.

Noxious weeds continue to put pressure on the health of our native biodiversity and disrupt the practical functioning of these systems. In this class we will look at noxious weed species that present the greatest challenge to landowners and delve into practical management tools for succeeding in control or eradication of these species.

Learn how easy it can be to build your own worm bin, what it takes to keep your worms happy and how to harvest the "black gold" that is vermicompost. We will build a bin, step by step, which will be available at the market place raffle after the class.

NOTE: This class is 75 minutes in length and will extend into the free time between Sessions C and D.

Pruning less often can be a boon to both the gardener and the plants! This talk will cover when to prune for optimal results, best pruning cuts, and how much to take off. We’ll review best pruning practices for promote moderate growth rates and reduce the frequency of pruning needed to keep shrubs and hedges in good form and health. Learn how to prune young trees for strong structure and to reduce future pruning needs as they mature. Pruning less often saves labor and energy and reduces green waste volume.

Composting is getting on the right side of nature to provide fertility, tilth, hydration, and microbiology to your soil and to sequester carbon using simple and routine processes. This motivating workshop covers benefits and reasons to compost, a basic technical description of the composting process and composting material, and the challenges and choices that gardeners face.

We'll look at how to make compost including input materials, where to compost, hot vs. cold composting, trouble-shooting, and using the final composted product. The objectives of the class are to enhance gardeners' knowledge of the composting process, encourage home and community gardener composting, and help in understanding challenges and benefits of this natural and sustainable soil improvement method.

Supports MG Priority: Soil Health

Discover kokedama, the centuries old Japanese art form, whose origins lie in bonsai. Kokedama, which loosely translates to moss ball, provides a graceful repository and growing habitat for indoor and outdoor plants. You’ll be guided through a modern take on this unique planting technique and create a decorative plant sculpture that is a self-contained, sustainable home for a living plant. The moss surround makes these decorative kokedama orbs verdant and stunning especially when you put your own creative spin on the twined wrapping. Displayed on a piece from your cupboard, hung from an invisible string, or given as a gift, this “Make-n-Take” might be the beginning of a new hobby.

Discover kokedama, the centuries old Japanese art form, whose origins lie in bonsai. Kokedama, which loosely translates to moss ball, provides a graceful repository and growing habitat for indoor and outdoor plants. You’ll be guided through a modern take on this unique planting technique and create a decorative plant sculpture that is a self-contained, sustainable home for a living plant. The moss surround makes these decorative kokedama orbs verdant and stunning especially when you put your own creative spin on the twined wrapping. Displayed on a piece from your cupboard, hung from an invisible string, or given as a gift, this “Make-n-Take” might be the beginning of a new hobby.

This hands-on class will guide you through the process of transplanting seedlings. You'll learn the little tricks that make transplanting a success. You will get a mini flat, a selection of tomato and pepper seedlings (maybe a flower), and planting medium (seedling soil mix). You should be able to plant all your cells in the allotted time; but if not, you can take a small selection home with you along with the mini-flat with humidity dome. Once home, bottom heat will greatly assist the growing process along with strong, indirect light and gentle stimulation. This is a "Make-n-Take" class, and you'll go home with perfectly planted seedlings!

The world-renowned Heronswood garden is best know for its exotic plant collections, amassed over 30 years by garden creator and explorer Dan Hinkley. However, since 2012, the garden has been owned and operated by the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe and a new philosophy of utilizing native plants has been prioritized. In this lecture, Garden Director Ross Bayton and PGST Tribal Member Debby Purser will discuss how Heronswood has continued to preserve Dan's legacy whilst also championing native plants and their important role in tribal culture.

Supports MG Priorities: Nearby Nature, Plant Biodiversity

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Understanding wetlands and where they are on the landscape helps us to understand the role of water, soils, and chemistry for all plants in the natural world. The different kinds of wetlands are present in response to a wide range of factors; just as certain plants do better in this part of a garden vs another location. What are the common different types of wetlands in the PNW; why are they located in particular places in the landscape? And the big question: so what? Do they have roles or functions in the natural world that influence our lives? Or, do we have choices to make which might influence the presence and viability of wetlands in our region?

Supports MG Priority: Nearby Nature

This class will cover the basics of what it means to have a healthy forest ecosystem, common tree stressors on Whidbey Island, the influence of climate change, and when property owners should take action vs. leave well enough alone.

Supports MG Priority: Nearby Nature

Most pacific northwest gardeners are not aware of the plethora of daylily plants that are available for purchase. Our local nurseries typically do not carry newer cultivars that have been hybridized, especially in the last twenty to thirty years. Learn that daylilies are not native and yet are the most hybridized perennial in North America. Learn about the diversity of daylily bloom size and forms, bloom time, colors and markings that are now available. Find out where you can view daylilies in Whatcom County in mid to late July and get a preview of daylilies that will be sold by the Master Gardener Foundation of Whatcom County in late April and May.

Join Eva, for a fungi-fantastic introduction to the magical Kingdom Fungi, where we’ll explore everything from the mushrooms’ taxonomy to their bizarre anatomy and life cycle. But wait, there's more! Eva will delve into the wild and wonderful world of fungi's ecological roles, showing you just how important these funky fungi are in our ecosystem. She’ll shine a spotlight on the two most noticeable groups of the fungal world—Basidiomycota and Ascomycota—and introduce the common mushrooms within each group. Participants will leave with greater knowledge about fungi and their ecological importance.

Genetic research has begun to open our eyes to a broader and better understanding of the dahlia. Where it came from, what causes color, shape and size difference, what we might be able to do in the future to improve disease management.
The presentation will include a review of the genetic research conducted by the Hudson/Alpha Institute for Biotechnology for the American Dahlia Society.
I addition, Paul will bring a look at the newest dahlias to the introduced and gladly answer questions about growing in the Northwest (the Dahlia Capital of the US).

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