2024 San Juan County WSU Master Gardeners
Gardening Workshop Series
Series price: $35 for all 8 presentations
Registration is closed.
Registration is closed.
Welcome to our Annual Gardening Workshop lecture series, held in October over two weeks and presented as Zoom webinars so that you can enjoy the lectures from the comfort of your home.
The series includes 8 one-hour presentations with additional time for questions and discussion. Our speakers are University professors, Extension educators, professional gardeners, and accomplished Master Gardeners who share their knowledge, experience, and beautiful photographs of plants, flowers, and garden insects.
Registered participants will be granted access to all recorded presentations for viewing until November 30, 2024. We'll send a link to the recording after each presentation. Please be advised that unforeseen technical difficulties may occur, so we can't guarantee a recording for each session.
The series includes 8 one-hour presentations with additional time for questions and discussion. Our speakers are University professors, Extension educators, professional gardeners, and accomplished Master Gardeners who share their knowledge, experience, and beautiful photographs of plants, flowers, and garden insects.
Registered participants will be granted access to all recorded presentations for viewing until November 30, 2024. We'll send a link to the recording after each presentation. Please be advised that unforeseen technical difficulties may occur, so we can't guarantee a recording for each session.
2024 Annual Gardening Workshop Schedule
TUESDAY OCTOBER 15
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12pm - 1:15pm
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Keynote: Garden Allies: The Insects, Birds, and Other Animals That Keep Your Garden Beautiful and Thriving
Frédérique Lavoipierre, MSc Frédérique will explore how to maintain an ecological balance while creating beautiful landscapes with this food web approach to gardening. The emphasis is on the interdependence of all life in the garden and how the lives of insects, birds, other animals, and soil organisms are inextricably interwoven. The presentation begins with a brief introduction to conservation biological control in gardens and discusses why this approach is ideally suited to landscape settings.
Frédérique Lavoipierre is the author of Garden Allies: The Insects, Birds & Other Animals That Keep Your Garden Beautiful and Thriving. Her column: Voices of the West: New Science on Life in the Garden currently appears in Pacific Horticulture. Frédérique served as the director of education at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, prior to which she was the founding director of the Sustainable Landscape Professional Certificate Program at Sonoma State University. She holds a Masters in biology, with an emphasis on ecological principles of sustainable landscapes; her research focused on plant/insect interactions. |
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1:45pm - 3:00pm
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Gardening for Biodiversity with Native Plants
Abby Hyde, BCs Satinflower Nurseries Public Outreach and Education Gardening with native plants can help maintain and increase local biodiversity, including the wildlife that depends on native flora. Join Abby of Satinflower Nurseries (British Columbia), to learn about how native plants can be used in a variety of applications including home gardens, replacing lawn, and urban sites like raingardens, septic fields, and green roofs. Abby will share examples from her work with Satinflower Nurseries, where she and the team grow native plants and seeds, work on a variety of projects, and offer native plant-related consultation on Southern Vancouver Island.
Abby Hyde discovered her passion for native species and restoring degraded ecosystems while growing up in Bali, Indonesia. She made the long move from Indonesia to Victoria to pursue a BSc in Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria. Abby has been with Satinflower Nurseries since 2021 and has worked in a variety of roles. She now leads residential consults, and does workshops and public outreach related to native plants and restoration. Satinflower Nurseries: Native Plants, Seeds & Consulting, is a native plant nursery and consulting business in Victoria, British Columbia started in 2013. The nursery inspires and empowers people to connect with nature through native plants. During her free time, Abby is an iNaturalist enthusiast and is eager to photograph and document biodiversity and contribute to conservation efforts. |
THURSDAY OCTOBER 17
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12pm - 1:15pm
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The Bees of Washington State
Chanda Bartholomew, MS Entomology Collection Taxonomist Chanda will report on the studies done with entomologist Dr. Chris Looney to establish a baseline for future studies on bee communities in the state. We used published and unpublished datasets to develop an annotated checklist of bees occurring in Washington state. We document, with high confidence, 565 species of bees in Washington and identify an additional 83 species likely to occur in the state. Washington’s bee fauna is predominately solitary, with the ground nesting genus Andrena comprising 20% of the total species composition. We anticipate future research survey efforts, such as the newly initiated Washington Bee Atlas, will discover several species that have the potential to occur in Washington and provide new data for 83 species which have not been recorded in more than 50 years.
Chanda received her M.S. at Louisiana State University studying the bee diversity of Louisiana longleaf pine savannas. She currently works with the Washington State Department of Agriculture compiling a checklist of the bees of Washington state. |
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1:45pm - 3:00pm
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Conserving Washington’s Old Forest Lichens in an Era of Global Change
Jesse Miller, PhD, Lead State Botanist, Washington State Department of Natural Resources Dr. Miller will discuss plant and lichen communities in the PNW, and the drivers of plant and lichen diversity across diverse ecosystems in the presence of global change and fire ecology.
Dr. Miller is an ecologist and botanist with expertise in plant and lichen community ecology and fire ecology. In his present position as lead Botanist for the Washington Natural Heritage Program, he provides scientific guidance for rare plant conservation efforts statewide and research on rare plants to inform conservation planning. Dr. Miller received his PhD in plant ecology from UW Madison in 2016, and a postdoc in fire ecology at UC Davis. |
TUESDAY OCTOBER 22
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12pm - 1:15pm
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Noxious Weeds and Their Impacts on Biodiversity
Anne Schuster, MS, Education Specialist Washington State Noxious Weed Board Anne will discuss the identification and eradication of noxious weeds, explain Washington noxious weed laws and review newly listed noxious weeds. She will center the presentation on highlighting and clarifying the negative impacts of noxious weeds on biodiversity, native species, and other creatures.
Anne Schuster received her Masters of Conservation Science from the University of Queensland, in Brisbane, Australia, and her Bachelors of Science & Art from the Evergreen State College, in Olympia, Washington. Before starting as the Education Specialist for the Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board, she monitored and restored a variety of habitats with Wolf Haven International, Center for Natural Lands Management, Thurston County, and Washington State Department of Transportation. |
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1:45pm - 3:00pm
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Trial Island Ecosystem Restoration
Matt Fairbarns, MS, Conservation Biologist, Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team (GOERT) Matt will provide new information on ecosystem restoration work on Trial Island including the long-standing project to control Scotch Broom and English Ivy and ambitious new project trying to control invasive grasses. Matt will also touch on the challenges that climate change poses to conservation on Trial Island.
Matt Fairbarns is a conservation biologist who has worked on the protection of native species and ecosystems in western Canada for over 40 years and has, off the side of his desk, been conducting ecosystem restoration work on Trial Island since 2002. |
THURSDAY OCTOBER 24
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12pm - 1:15pm
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Creating a Fire Resilient Landscape
Marlene Finley, MS, Skagit WSU Master Gardener Each year, wildland fires destroy homes and property in the wildland-urban interface. Some homes survive, while many others do not. Those that survive almost always do so because their owners had prepared for fire. Studies show that as many as 80 percent of homes lost to wildland fire may have been saved if brush around the homes were cleared and defensible space created around structures.
Proper planning and landscape practices can reduce the risk of wildland fire damaging or destroying property. Learn what actions home gardeners can take to reduce the risk of loss by growing a fire resilient garden, maintaining their property and managing their landscaping to improve chances for survival. This presentation will also include resources to access real time wildland fire updates, drought conditions and forecasts. Marlene Finley is a Skagit County Master Gardener and past president of the Skagit County Master Gardener Foundation. With a master’s degree in Forest Management from Oregon State University College of Forestry and 35 years working for the National Park Service and US Forest Service, Marlene has first-hand experience working across landscapes from the home garden to entire watersheds. |
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1:45pm - 3:00pm
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Fragrant Shrubs for PNW Gardens
Diana Wisen, Skagit WSU Master Gardener Would you like more fragrance in your yard? There are many fragrant shrubs that do well in our area and add additional pleasure to your gardening. A handout with a list of shrubs will be shared.
Diana Wisen is a 33 year WSU Extension Master Gardener and teaches many gardening classes for the Master Gardener program. She recently sold the family farm on Shaw Island where she gardened for many years, and now lives in Mount Vernon and has a cottage style garden. |