Tickets on sale for 25th Yard & Garden Virtual Lecture Series
From forests to flowers, the Jefferson County Master Gardener Foundation is set to get growing in the weeks ahead.
Tickets are now on sale for the 2023 Jefferson County Master Gardener Foundation’s 25th Anniversary Yard & Garden Virtual Lecture Series. Lectures will be offered in a live webinar format and will run on six Saturday mornings: Feb. 11, Feb. 25, March 4, March 11, March 18, and March 25.
An impressive field of experts has been lined up to share tips, advice, and more.
The series will feature:
• Master Gardener Jane Billinghurst, a best-selling author with Peter Wohlleben of “Forest Walking: Discovering the Trees and Woodlands of North America,” and translator of Wohlleben’s The Hidden Life of Trees.
Billinghurst’s lecture kicks off the series on Feb. 11 with “Getting the Most Out of Your Next Forest Adventure.”
• Bill Thorness, a Seattle-based writer, educator, and author of “Edible Heirlooms: Heritage Vegetables for the Maritime Garden” and “Cool Season Gardener: Extend the Harvest, Plan Ahead, and Grow Vegetables Year Round.”
Thorness and his wife Susie are both Master Gardeners, and his presentation on Feb. 25 is “Veggies Year Round: Growing Edibles Through All Seasons.”
• Three experts in the local flower industry — Candice Gohn, Lexi Koch, and Sharrai Morgan-Faulkner — will host a panel discussion on March 4. The topic is “Growing, Harvesting, and Arranging Amazing Local Flowers.”
Gohn is a Master Gardener and partner in Gariss Gardens flower farm; Koch is owner of Lexi Mara Design and grows flowers on her farm and offers floral design services; Morgan-Faulkner has worked in the floral design industry for the past 24 years and is the former owner of Holly’s Fine Flowers in Port Townsend. Morgan-Faulkner is also the Northwest Regional Rep to the American Institute of Floral Designers national board.
• Del Brummet, a head gardener and plant propagation manager at the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden in Seattle, will present the lecture “Plants for a Better Planet with Great Plant Picks” on March 11.
Great Plant Picks is an educational outreach and awards program that uses a set of criteria combined with a panel of experts to pick plants that thrive in the Pacific Northwest.
• Susan Mulvihill, co-author with Pat Munts of “Northwest Gardener’s Handbook,” author of “The Vegetable Garden Problem Solver Handbook” and “The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook,” is also the garden columnist for Spokane’s The Spokesman-Review. Her lecture on March 18 will be “Attracting Beneficial Insects.”
• Muriel Nesbitt is a geneticist, former biology professor at University of California San Diego, former director of Clallam County’s Master Gardener program, and an instructor for Master Gardener intern training.
She will give the final presentation on March 25 with “How Climate Change is Robbing You (and Your Garden) of Nutrients.”
Each lecture will run from 10 a.m. to noon. Lectures will last about 90 minutes with a 15-minute break at the half.
Organizers note that each event will be followed by a question-and-answer session with the audience.
Each of the talks will also be recorded and available for three weeks after each presentation.
The price for the entire six-lecture series is $60; single-event tickets are available for $12.
Tickets may be purchased from 2023YardAndGarden.eventbrite.com.
Ticket sales help support Jefferson County Master Gardener programs.
The event is cosponsored by Washington State University’s Jefferson County Extension Service. For more information, visit jcmgf.org.
