Gardening in a Changing Climate

2024 Conference schedule

MGFWS Annual Meeting & Awards Ceremony

Friday, 9:00 – 10:45AM
Live session

As we kick off the 2024 WSU Extension Master Gardener Advanced Education Conference (AEC), please join us for the Master Gardener Foundation of Washington State annual meeting to learn what the foundation has accomplished and goals for the future.
The meeting will be followed by the annual awards ceremony celebrating the accomplishments of several extraordinary WSU Master Gardener volunteers. Learn about our 2024 award recipients.

Welcome & Keynote Presentation: Adventures in Ecological Horticulture

Friday, 11:00AM – 12:30PM
Live presentation

Learn more

Session 1
Friday
Sept. 27

1:00-2:15PM

Session 2
Friday
Sept. 27

2:30-3:45PM

Session 3
Friday
Sept. 27

4:00-5:15PM

Session 4
Saturday
Sept. 28

9:00-10:15AM

Session 5
Saturday
Sept. 28

10:00-11:45AM

Session 6
Saturday
Sept. 28

12:15-1:30 PM

Session 7
Saturday
Sept. 28

1:45-3:00PM

Printable schedule-at-a-glance. All sessions will be recorded and made available to participants who have registered for a limited time after the event concludes.

Session 1 – Friday, September 27

Climate Change in WA State: Past, Present & Future

Instructor, Nick Bond
Live session

This presentation will review how the climate in Washington state has varied over the historical record, and projections of our future climate, from a gardening perspective.

Learn more about Nick

Understanding & Bridging the Generations

Instructor, Tara Kuiper
Live session

Generational differences bring diverse perspectives, values, and approaches to communication, problem-solving, and relationships; when they are handled with understanding and awareness, these differences can foster a climate of adaptation and growth.

Learn more about Tara

Tara Kuiper
Tara Kuipers is a South Dakota native who has called Wyoming home since 2000. She is an independent consultant specializing in facilitation, public engagement, education, and coaching. Tara combines her background in counseling and adult education with over 20 years of professional experience in nonprofit leadership, higher education, and community development. Tara brings a keen focus on how people relate, communicate, learn, and make positive changes in their lives, organizations, and communities. Her mission for Tara Kuipers Consulting is to help groups work together, learn together, and achieve great results together.

Preventing Food Waste: Beyond the Compost Bin

Instructor, Diane Smith
Recorded session

Households. Learn about efforts directed toward supporting households in preventing food waste. By educating individuals and families about mindful consumption, she contributes significantly to reducing food waste.
Climate Impact. Every morsel we eat has an environmental footprint. Learn about research and advocacy, and how our dietary choices impact the planet. From farm to fork, let’s examine the carbon footprint of our meals.
Food Savings. Food waste prevention is not just about the environment; it’s also about our wallets. By minimizing food waste, households can save money – up to $1600 annually.
Food Security. Food security is a fundamental human right. Learn about initiatives that bridge the gap between surplus and scarcity, ensuring that nutritious food reaches those who need it most. Recorded session.

Learn more about Diane

Natives, Cultivars, Perennials: What Plants are Best for a Changing Climate

Instructor, Molly van der Burch
Recorded session

Discover the unique traits of natives, cultivars, and perennials. Explore how they vary in attracting pollinators, adding biodiversity, and demonstrating climate readiness for a drier Pacific Northwest region. Recorded session.

Learn more about Molly

Molly van der Burch
A native Seattleite, Molly retired after 30 years of teaching in 2009 and became a King County Master Gardener. She helps staff the Mercer Island and Crossroads Farmer’s Markets Master Gardener clinics as well as teaching classes at the Bellevue Demonstration Garden and Bellevue Botanical Garden. Molly has been a Board member of the Northwest Perennial Alliance and the Bellevue Botanical Garden Society. She has a small garden consulting business, designing gardens and coaching clients on pruning, containers, and plant choices.

Developing Landscapes Through Storytelling

Instructor, Bob Scarfo
Recorded session

The jargon we use contributes to much of the shifting personal and community changes we are experiencing but can be minimized when replaced by the personalized nature of storytelling.

There is so much more changing than just climate. And, in that so many of the changes — aging, obesity, water and petroleum scarcity, and food supplies — are first-time-ever events we need to address them with first-time-ever solutions. Storytelling as a landscape design protocol is such a solution.

Fifty years experience as a designer showed me the distancing that can occur between teacher and student, designer and client, and designer and the landscape’s end user. Much of that distancing is due to the use of design jargon and the assumptions that accompany words such a balance, plan view, axis, space (not outer space) and the like. Replacing design jargon with people’s everyday language in the form of storytelling makes a landscape design understandable and easily identified with a sequence of personal experiences.

The personalization of the design process is characterized by a high degree of mutually agreed upon understanding between you and your client. You will be introduced to a unique form of design that 1) interrelates language, basic design, and landscape design, 2) asks you to write a short narrative that expresses the state of mind of people approaching and experiencing your design, 3) has you interpret your narrative into a storyboard, and finally sees your storyboard become a landscape design. How these steps in design development work will be shown in two case studies: the design of a hospital healing garden and the design of a public memory garden for people living with dementia and their caregivers.

Learn more about Bob

Bob Scarfo
Bob taught and practiced landscape architecture in Canada and the United States for 39 years. Recently retired from Washington State University Spokane’s Interdisciplinary Design Institute he is an Emeritus Professor and registered landscape architect in Washington and Massachusetts. His degrees include: BLA, MLA, and MS and PhD in Social Geography. He consults under Land and Life® LLC in Spokane, Washington.
Joined by gerontologists, landscape architects, architects, and land planners they produced “Re-creating Neighborhoods for Successful Aging” (2009; Health Professions Press). More recently, he published a comfortable approach to teaching and learning landscape design entitled “Landscape Architecture as Storytelling” (Taylor & Francis).
Currently he is again working with gerontologists to design a memory garden for people living with dementia and their caregivers.

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Session 2 – Friday, September 27

The Beauty of Weeds

Instructor, Mark Turner
Live session

Maybe they just showed up in your garden, or you notice them as you walk your neighborhood or drive down the road. They’re the plants we call weeds, the ones we didn’t ask to join our gardens. But just because they’re weeds doesn’t mean they’re ugly. In fact, some of our weeds are quite beautiful. Come on a journey showcasing some of our most unwelcome plants and get a few tips on controlling them, too. Live session.

Learn more about Mark

Mark Turner
Mark Turner is the owner of Turner Photographics, LLC and has been a professional photographer since 1993, specializing in gardens and native plants for books, magazines, and commercial clients. He is the photographer and co-author of Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest (with Phyllis Gustafson, Timber Press, 2006), Trees and Shrubs of the Pacific Northwest (with Ellen Kuhlmann, Timber Press, 2014), Weeds of the Pacific Northwest (with Sami Gray, Timber Press, 2024), and Bellingham Impressions (Far Country Press, 2007. His work has been published in Sunset, Garden Design, Birds & Blooms, American Gardener, Horticulture, This Old House, Organic Gardening and other magazines and in books from Timber Press, Sunset Books, Cool Springs Press, Rodale, Meredith, and Lone Pine publishers. He is past president of the Koma Kulshan chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society, a member of Association of Garden Communicators, and Professional Photographers of America. He has an M.A. in Telecommunications from Kent State University and a B.S. in Audio-visual Communications from Rochester Institute of Technology. Mark has taught photography classes at Siskiyou Field Institute, North Cascades Institute, Whatcom Community College, and other northwest locations. He also runs a portrait photo studio in Bellingham, WA and shares a large garden with his husband, Brian.

Changing the Role of Conflict from Challenge to Opportunity

Instructors, Dr. Laurie Stevahn, Dr. Tana Hasart
Live session

Our fast-changing world needs adaptable and resilient leaders who are skilled at identifying and resolving conflicts. The success of individuals and organizations depends on leaders who possess highly developed emotional intelligence, deploy effective responses to change, and use well-honed strategies for dealing with differing opinions and perspectives.

This workshop will provide a basic yet thorough introduction to conflict and conflict resolution. Participants will learn how to build skills to analyze conflict and create effective means for designing methods to harness and direct energy toward working as successful, high-performing teams. The workshop includes interactive opportunities to gain experience in fostering stronger, trusting relationships between those who disagree. Attendees will practice setting conflict resolution goals that avoid compromise while bridging differences and creating new options and solutions.

Learn more about Laurie

Dr. Laurie Stevahn
Laurie Stevahn, PhD, is a professor in the College of Education at Seattle University who specializes in effective teaching for active learning, organizational leadership, constructive conflict resolution, participatory program evaluation, and community-based research. She works to establish socially diverse, inclusive, equitable, just foundations for living and working together to mutually create, problem solve, and innovate. Her research and publications focus on cooperative learning and instructional strategies, conflict training programs and essential competencies for program evaluators.

Learn more about Tana

Urban Underground: Soil health in urban and peri-urban farms

Instructors, Douglas Collins, PhD
Live session

More people around the world now live in cities than in rural areas. While cities have long been economic and cultural centers, there is increasing demand for ecological and environmental services from urban spaces. Urban agriculture, which utilizes local soils and nutrient rich organic amendments, is recognized for the ability to provide products, income, social benefits, and ecological services.

Learn more about Doug

Doug Collins is an Extension Professor and Soil Scientist with WSU’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources. Doug has a Ph.D. in soil science from Washington State University and an M.S. in Plant Pathology from Montana State University. He focuses on managing and monitoring soil fertility on diverse organic vegetable farms, composting systems, and evaluating soil quality in different vegetable cropping systems – including organic reduced tillage.

Doug is also interested in soil variability across landscapes and biological indicators of soil quality. He has also consulted on composting, organic waste management, and soil health in the Dominican Republic and Colombia and currently serves on the Board of Washington Organics Recycling Council and the WSDA Organic Program.

Growing Youth and Plants together

Instructors, Alice Allison, Sandra Rosenau
Recorded session

Extension Master Gardeners work with youth incarcerated at the Benton-Franklin Juvenile Justice Center (JJC) in Kennewick, Washington. Our goals are not only to educate these youth on basic gardening techniques but to foster self-esteem and cultivate a sense of belonging through giving back to the community. Master Gardeners provide science-based gardening instruction using Washington State University Extension training and information, emphasizing hands-on activities utilizing the JJC outdoor garden area with its raised beds.

Learn more about Alice

Alice Allison
Alice joined the Master Gardener program in 2010. She enjoys all the opportunities the program gives to teach others. She is retired now, but taught elementary school (Pre-K-2) for 33 years, mostly Kindergarten. Alice is the co-chair of the county Education Program. Alice also co-leads the youth outreach program at the Juvenile Justice Center. In 2022 she was awarded the Ed Lacross Distinguished Service Award for her contributions to the Master Gardener program. The Benton Franklin Juvenile Justice program received the David Gibbey Search for Excellence Award and First Place for Youth Education in 2023.

Learn more about Sandra

Sandra Rosenau
Sandra Rosenau has been a Master Gardener in Benton-Franklin Counties since 2016. She is chair of 3 gardens at our Demonstration Garden, one of which she planned and landscaped from scratch. She won Benton-Franklin Master Gardener of the Year in 2019 for her involvement in many parts of the program. Since 2018 she has led classes at the Juvenile Justice Center, with an emphasis on creating lessons that connect the students to their local environment and communities. She co-led the program that won the David Gibbey Search for Excellence Award and First Place for Youth Education Award in 2023.

From Scraps to Soil: Mastering the Art of Composting

Instructor, Bonnie Orr, PhD
Recorded session

Compost is a soil amendment that enhances water retention and soil structure. Compost creates a biologically healthy soil by providing for earthworms, soil insects and microorganisms. In this engaging class with Dirt Diva, Bonnie Orr, you will learn how to compost safely.

Learn more about Bonnie

Native Bees and the Washington Bee Atlas

Instructor, Karen Wright
Recorded session

There are at least 600 species of bees in Washington state! Karen Wright will be talking about basic bee biology and the diversity of bees in the Pacific Northwest. Most native bees are very different to the European honeybee. She will then give an introduction to the new Washington Bee Atlas (WaBA) that was formed in 2023.

The WaBA is a community science group that trains volunteers to collect, euthanize, pin and label bee specimens. They collect all the relevant data through iNaturalist, providing date, location, collector and host plant information. The specimens are identified by the Washington State Department of Agriculture pollinator taxonomist and then deposited at Washington State University’s insect collection. Data is then made public via SCAN and will be used to assess the conservation status of all 600 species of native bees known to occur in Washington. WaBA is modeled after the Oregon Bee Atlas and uses much of the infrastructure that has been successfully implemented by Oregon State Extension.

Learn more about Karen

Karen Wright
Karen Wright was hired February 1st, 2023 by the Washington State Department of Agriculture to develop and manage the Washington Bee Atlas. She got her Master’s degree at Oregon State University in Entomology (working on true bugs and beetles in hazelnuts) in 1999. Then she moved to New Mexico where she started her career working on native bees. Working for the Sevilleta Long Term Ecological Research Program based out of the University of New Mexico, she started a long-term monitoring program on native bees and wildflower phenology. She took the Bee Course in 2001 to start learning to identify bees and then was mentored by Terry Griswold after that. She developed a collection of over 600 species of bees from central New Mexico that is housed at the University of New Mexico and the long-term study is still ongoing with over 20 years of data. She got her PhD from the University of New Mexico on the Evolution of Diet Breadth in Melissodes bees. After that, she was curator of the insect collection at Texas A&M University for six years until she saw the job listing for the Washington Bee Atlas. She has happily relocated to Yakima, Washington with her dogs and husband.

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Session 3 – Friday, September 27

Knowing How to Support a New Generation of Gardeners: Practical Insights for Extension Master Gardener Volunteers

Instructors, Sheri Dorn, Natalie Bumgarner
Live session

Recent heightened interest in indoor plants combined with a resurgence in gardening during the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has generated large numbers of individuals new to gardening who are searching for information and skills. To effectively offer Extension educational programming to these new gardeners, it is essential to better understand the background, motivations, and experience of these new audiences.

We’re excited to share with WSU Extension Master Gardeners the results of two national consumer surveys conducted in 2021 and 2023 that provided critical insight for the work that we do every day. Join two of our research team members in this session covering the key lessons learned and practical ways to engage with new audiences and effectively support them in their gardening journey. As a bonus, our presentation will also include hot-off-the-press workshop results from a team of Extension professionals aimed at characterizing these new audiences and their learning preferences!

Learn more about Sheri

Sheri Dorn
Recent heightened interest in indoor plants combined with a resurgence in gardening during the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has generated large numbers of individuals new to gardening who are searching for information and skills. To effectively offer Extension educational programming to these new gardeners, it is essential to better understand the background, motivations, and experience of these new audiences.

Learn more about Natalie

Natalie Bumgarner
Natalie is the University of Tennessee Residential and Consumer Extension Specialist with responsibilities for educational content development and programming across Tennessee. She also serves as the Tennessee Extension Master Gardener Program Coordinator. Natalie is a West Virginia native with a background in agriculture and has been active in various facets of horticulture for over 20 years.

How Climate Change Will Impact Life and Gardening in the 21st Century Urban Environments

Instructor, Dr. Paul Hessburg
Live session

Climate change is rapidly altering the conditions and lifestyles of people in the American West. Impacts range from extremely dry and hot summers, to warmer winters, reduced winter snowpack, rain on snow events, earlier spring and later fall seasons, longer summers, and flash and long duration droughts. These changes will continue for the foreseeable future and they will intensify with time.

Variation in hot vs cold, wet vs dry extremes will also be greater. By 2100, climate forecasts tell us that the length of summers will be nearly 6 months, squeezing out shoulder season and winter season lengths. And perhaps most important, the seasonal phenology of ornamental and crop plants will change and become less predictable year over year. What is to be done with all of these changes? Can we even prepare? Yes, we can prepare for many of the coming changes. This talk will cover positive habits we can cultivate by reading our gardens and conditions change, and it will inform and hopefully diversify our planting and tending practices. The future is in bet hedging.

Learn more about Paul

Dr. Paul Hessburg
WSU, UBC. He is the 2022-2026 President of the International Association for Fire Ecology (AFE), Deputy, International Union of Forestry Research Organizations, and Distinguished Scientist USDA, International Association for Landscape Ecology-North America, and AFE. His research explores wildfire and climate change effects on landscape and wildfire dynamics, and the structure and organization of historical, current, and future landscape resilience under climate change. You can follow his research on ResearchGate and GoogleScholar. Paul is keenly interested in partnering with managers to advance the work of forest restoration and climate change adaptation — employing Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science, and stronger science and management partnerships.

Biodiversity in Food Plants: Why the Losses Matter

Instructor, Muriel Nesbitt
Recorded session

Trends in food crop biodiversity over the past several centuries will be illustrated. The importance of biodiversity will be discussed. Specific examples of crop variety losses will be examined, with special attention to Andean potatoes. Climate change will be discussed in the context of how it can cause biodiversity loss, and why it makes the conservation of biodiversity ever more important.

Learn more about Muriel

Muriel Nesbitt
After college graduation I became a high school teacher in East Africa. Then I entered graduate school at the University of Washington and obtained a PhD in genetics. I taught for 35 years at UCLA and UCSD, retired in 2007 and moved to Port Angeles.

I joined the WSU Master Gardener Program in 2009 and have learned a lot about plants and gardening from my fellow MGs. I like to grow food, particularly squash and greens.

The Resilient Yard – Battling Climate Change at Home

Instructors, Mike Peronto, Kris Moberg-Hendron
Recorded session

The Resilient Yard is for homeowners who want to do something to battle climate change at home. The presentation breaks down a typical suburban yard into its component parts and gives you actions you can take to reduce your carbon footprint in your yard.

Learn more about Mike

Mike Peronto
Mike Peronto joined Master Gardeners in 2016 after retiring from a career in the private sector. He moved from King to Pierce County in 2018, living in Gig Harbor. After an initial focus on Local Food, Mike has increasingly focused his Extension Master Gardener efforts on Climate Change. He leads Pierce County Master Gardener efforts on Climate Change and recently started a state-wide group of Master Gardeners dedicated to developing programs that tackle climate change.

Learn more about Kris

Kris Moberg-Hendron
Kris Moberg-Hendron is a Spokane County Master Gardener volunteer who encourages the use of native plants in home landscapes to support local invertebrate and bird populations, as well as to improve the local environment and reduce summer water use. There is an amazing variety of local native plants that create beautiful landscapes using a fraction of the resources required by traditional landscapes. Kris loves sharing that knowledge!

Mosses and Lichens, Our Evergreen Pacific Northwest

Instructor, Deborah Smeltzer
Recorded session

Mosses and Lichens are ancient and primitive life forms that are bio-indicators of clean air and help promote biodiversity in Pacific Northwest gardens. This presentation will cover for each of Mosses and Lichens: what is the life form, cultural characteristics, portraits from nature, fun facts, are mosses and lichens friends or foes, and how to control mosses and lichens if needed. This session is designed to educate master gardeners to be able to provide up-to-date and science-based answers in plant clinics for home gardener questions about mosses and lichens.

Learn more about Deborah

Deborah Smeltzer
Deborah Smeltzer (MG Class of 2012) currently serves as chair of the Skagit County MG Training Team, President of the Skagit County Master Gardener Foundation (SCMGF) board, and member of the Web/Communications, Continuing Education, Recruitment & Retention, and Front Door Project teams. She also serves as an editor for Skagit’s “Ask A Master Gardener” Blog articles and other MG documents published for home gardeners. She is a member of the MG statewide Climate Change Special Interest Group. Deborah has been an instructor for soils, soil fertility, composting, mosses, lichens, fungi, online tools, and presentation skills.

She has served in leadership roles – 2 years as member of the statewide 50th EMG Anniversary Volunteer Planning Team, 4 years as president of the Skagit MG Foundation board, and 3 years as chair of the annual SCMGF Plant Fair. Deborah has been honored as an MG many times – 2012 Skagit Intern of the Year, 2014 Skagit MG of the Year, 2020 Washington State MG of the Year, 2021 “Pandemic Super Glue” Skagit Star Award, and multiple years of President’s Service Awards.

Deborah has a BS in biology and an MS in medical microbiology from the University of California, Irvine, and an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business. She spent over 30 years in the biotechnology industry as a scientist, financier, corporate officer, business manager, and public spokesperson. She retired to the Skagit Valley where she enjoys gardening, hiking, wildlife viewing, and serving as a volunteer with community organizations focused on education in sustainable environments. She is also a volunteer with Skagit Symphony where she chairs the music education and personnel committees.

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Session 4 – Saturday, September 28

Soil: What it is and How it Works

Instructors, James Cassidy
Live session

You will learn what soil REALLY is and why it not only makes your garden possible but how it makes everything possible!!!

Learn more about James

James Cassidy has been an instructor of Soil Science at Oregon State University for over 20 years. The introductory class now has over 100 students each term and is very popular. James is also the faculty advisor for the wildly popular OSU Organic Growers Club – OSU’s student farm.
Coming from a non-traditional background (music industry for over 40+ years) he is passionate about soil and is popular with students because of his dynamic speaking style. The student farm project has over 300 student volunteers on its list-serve and continues to grow. The farm cultivates over 50 different fruit and vegetable crops and is just beginning its 24th year.

Volunteer Vitality: The Wellness Benefits of Extension Volunteer Programs

Instructor, Anne Yasalonis
Live session

Extension volunteer programs not only benefit the communities they serve, but they also benefit the volunteers themselves. The health-related benefits of volunteerism have been documented in various studies. Benefits include reduced stress, increased self-esteem, and improved mental and physical health.

Food Systems and Climate Change

Instructor, Joan Qazi
Recorded session

Food systems are both a cause and a solution for our changing climate. In this session, we will discuss the ways that our food systems contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and how we might focus on robust local food systems, plant-based diets, reduced food waste, and healthy soils as a mitigation strategy against the higher temperature projections of global warming.

Learn more about Joan

Joan Qazi
Dr. Joan Qazi is the Geography professor and Sustainability Coordinator at Wenatchee Valley College (WVC) where she has been teaching about climate change and sustainable food systems for 28 years.

Joan earned her PhD from UW with a dissertation about women’s work in North Central Washington’s apple industry.

On campus, she collaborates with the Sustainability Committee and Facilities towards the goal of everyone having access to the benefits of a clean environment, a just society, and an equitable economy.

Joan supports her students to think globally while acting locally and is involved with several community-based organizations focused on climate change mitigation and resiliency.

Climate Change and Biodiversity: Impacts and Solutions

Instructor, Christopher Cosma
Recorded session

Climate change is one of the most severe threats to biodiversity. Heat, drought, and more intense storms are impacting plants, insects, and other organisms at all biological levels—from their traits to their interactions with other species. This exacerbates species declines and extinctions, and compromises many essential ecosystem services that humans depend on.

For example, insects are declining globally in response to climate change and other stressors, which threatens the pollination services that they provide to both wild and agricultural plants. However, as our knowledge of how biodiversity is impacted by climate change expands, the solutions for how to mitigate these impacts and conserve biodiversity are also becoming clearer.

While state and federal policies aimed at protecting biodiversity are imperative, individual actions can also contribute to conservation efforts.

An important example is how we manage our greenspaces, including on both private and public land. As the base of terrestrial ecosystems, plants play an essential role in supporting other groups of organisms, including insects and birds. In particular, native insects often rely on specific native plant species for food, and increasing the extent and connectivity of diverse native plant habitat will be critical for insects to endure the effects of climate change.

In this presentation, I will describe how insects, plants, and other organisms are being impacted by climate change, and how we can fine-tune native plant gardening to build more resilient and biodiverse ecosystems in human-dominated landscapes. Since humans rely on the services provided by intact and biodiverse ecosystems, these efforts will also serve to increase human health and wellbeing in the era of climate change.

Learn more about Christopher

Christopher Cosma
I am a climate change ecologist and conservation biologist focused on how climate change is impacting plant-insect interactions.

I recently finished my PhD at the University of California, Riverside, where I studied how moth pollination interactions are being impacted by climate change, and how to apply this knowledge in conservation efforts.

Alongside my research, I built a web application that helps people in California discover which native plant species best support butterflies and moths in their specific regions.

In my current position with the Conservation Biology Institute I am focusing on expanding this app to the rest of the US, and exploring how we can use knowledge of plant-insect interactions to protect biodiversity and increase crop pollination services.

I recently moved to Spokane, Washington, where I am enjoying learning about the local native plant and insect species.

Despite my research focus on native plant gardening for insect conservation, I am myself a mediocre gardener. However, I am working on expanding my skills by implementing a native plant permaculture garden in my backyard.

Therapeutic Horticulture: Enhancing Quality of Life and Well-Being for Those We Serve

Instructors, Teresia Hazen, Meghan McKiernan
Recorded session

While everyone will be faced with the health impacts inflicted by climate change, certain groups will disproportionately feel the health impacts, as they can be less climate resilient.

Well-designed therapeutic horticulture programs can help address climate impact issues for the most vulnerable populations including children, older adults, communities of color and low-income communities. Training programs and coursework in therapeutic horticulture help therapeutic horticulture activity specialists, horticultural therapists, activity directors, horticulture program leaders, recreational therapists, and others to develop the skill sets needed to serve all community members. This session addresses the knowledge base, strategies, and helpful resources to support Master Gardeners in serving special populations, including these topics:

o Services to enhance and/or increase the quality of life of participants.
o Participants are given opportunities to engage in both passive and active activities provided individually and/or in groups.
o Participation is monitored as services are provided and services are adjusted as needed.
o Evaluation of enhanced quality of life is ongoing.
o Goals are aligned with the mission of the organization and/or facility.

Let’s support growth and health in the garden and nature every day for the most vulnerable populations! Join these two registered horticultural therapists for tips and strategies to enhance your work with people across our communities, as we work to enhance climate resilience for our people and our planet.

Learn more about Teresia

Teresia Hazen
Teresia Hazen MEd, HTR, QMHP worked as a medical horticultural therapist for three decades serving patients, families, employees, and communities across Legacy Health in the Portland, Oregon metro and Clark County region. At seven hospital campuses she managed twelve gardens in her role as coordinator of therapeutic gardens. Specialty training in pediatrics, gerontology, psychology, education, addictions counseling, special education, horticulture, and curriculum design inform her continued healthcare and public health work. She has more than one hundred credit hours in college horticulture and landscape design coursework. See her tools for implementing programs and best practices in “Therapeutic Landscapes: An Evidence-Based Approach to Designing Healing Gardens and Restorative Outdoor Spaces.” She received a Clark County Public Health award in 2018 for Legacy’s health and nature work across the region. Teresia is committed to growing healthier communities through engagement with daily nature for all ages and abilities wherever we live, work, and play.

Learn more about Meghan

Meghan McKiernan
Meghan McKiernan, BS, HTR is a horticultural therapist and therapeutic garden program manager at Legacy Health in Portland, Oregon. Meghan began this work role in 2020, where she currently oversees the maintenance of twelve healing gardens, provides clinical horticultural therapy services as a part of an interdisciplinary team at the Rehabilitation Institute of Oregon and she administers Legacy’s HTR internship program. Additionally, Meghan serves as co-chair for the health and well-being portion of an employee health grant awarded to Legacy in a three-year $2.2 million federal grant through a program run by the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA). The grant, from HRSA’s Promoting Resilience and Mental Health Among Health Professional Workforce Program, is used to develop and enhance programs that reduce health care worker stress, improve employee wellness and help retain workers. Meghan has worked with a variety of populations including behavioral health, geriatric, early childhood, individuals experiencing homelessness, and hospital in-patient rehabilitation.

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Session 5 – Saturday, September 28

How to Adapt Your Home Landscape to Changing Conditions in the Wildland Urban Interface

Instructor, Al Murphy
Live session

Climate Change impacts the vegetation around your home in the Wildland Urban Interface and how to cope to those changing conditions with the adaptable vegetation to increase the probability of the survival of your home in the event of a wildland fire.

Learn more about Al

Al Murphy
Al Murphy is a Master Gardener and a semi-retired forester. He spent his 37-year career with the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) working in most of the western United States and Washington DC. Al spent over 20 years on National Fire Overhead teams. While working for the BLM, Al provided National direction for technical assistance to local communities throughout the west. He has received multiple national awards recognizing his leadership in interagency fire management. Assisting communities in reducing losses from wildland fires has been Al’s passion for many years.

Growing Vegetables when Water is Scarce

Instructor, Lisa Taylor
Live session

Explore growing vegetables during drought-like summers and learn about simple techniques for conserving water, delivering water to plants and enriching the soil so it retains moisture longer.

Learn more about Lisa

Lisa Taylor
Lisa Taylor is a freelance garden speaker, educator, consultant and author of the Maritime Northwest Garden Guide, 2nd ed. and Your Farm in the City: An Urban Dweller’s Guide to Growing Food and Raising Animals.

She is passionate about teaching people of all ages how to grow their own food. She offers programs in-person and virtually. Lisa’s online edible gardening courses for adults, children and educators can be found at www.gardenwithlisa.com. For Lisa, eating is the main reason for growing plants.

Mason Bees: How to Properly Care for Them in Your Garden

Instructors, Thyra McKelvie, Briana Price
Recorded session

Millions of bee hotels are purchased every year, but not many people realize they require annual maintenance. The lack of proper care can unintentionally harm bee health.

Irrigation Management in a Changing Climate

Instructor, Troy Peters
Recorded session

A changing climate is predicted to increase the difference between when water supplies are available, and when they are needed for irrigation. In addition, the rising temperatures are predicted to increase the demand for irrigation water. In that environment, we will discuss when to turn your irrigation water on, and how long do you leave it on to get the most benefit out of the water, while saving water, saving energy, and improving environmental water quality.

Learn more about Troy

Growing Roses in A Changing Climate

Instructor, Michele Thomas
Recorded session

How to address the problems that can/will show up as the climate keeps changing and how it can affect roses. Looking at the changes in the new 2023 USDA plant hardness zonal map and how it may change rose selection. What needs to be done to protect roses when the edge of the polar vortex moves down over Washington State. Can roses be protected when the temperatures climb to 110 to 116 degrees? How do you prepare soils to help sustain roses when our summers become drier, and drought conditions becoming more common, along with basic rose tips on growing healthy roses.

Learn more about Michele

Michele Thomas
I began growing roses at age three, when I received a Cecile Brunner rose for my birthday. By the time I enrolled at Oregon State University in Ecology, I had thirty roses. In 1990 I joined the Portland Rose Society and have been an active member ever since.

I became an Oregon State Master Gardener in Multnomah County in 1996 and did my internship hours working on a large project for the International Rose Test Gardens. Two years ago, I joined the Washington State Master Gardeners of Cowlitz County.

I have become the WSU MG liaison for the Longview Library Memorial Rose Garden and co-chair for the garden. I also have extensive knowledge of flowers after being an on-again, off-again Hardy Plant Society Member for years. I am currently using that knowledge working with the Cougar Cottage Demo Garden and our annual plant sale.

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Session 6 – Saturday, September 28

Lovely Lawn Alternatives

Instructor, Sue Goetz
Live session

From magical meadows to no-mow- plantings and seed mixes; how to convert your lawn space. Tips and techniques to remove lawns, what to plant, and tips on switching from a high-maintenance lawn to sustainable beauty.

Learn more about Sue

Sue Goetz, Garden Designer, Consultant, Speaker, and Author

Sue Goetz, CPH, ecoPRO, is an award-winning garden designer, writer, and speaker. Through her business, Creative Gardener, she works with clients to personalize outdoor spaces, from garden coaching to complete landscape design.
Her garden design work has earned gold medals at the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival and specialty awards, including the Sunset magazine, the Fine Gardening magazine, and The American Horticultural Society Awards.

Writing and speaking are other ways Sue shares her love for the garden by offering seminars and hands-on workshops. A published author, Sue shares her passion for herb gardens with her books The Complete Container Herb Gardening, A Taste for Herbs, and The Herb-Lover’s Spa Book.

The Challenges of Native Plant Gardening in the Inland Northwest

Instructor, Mel Asher
Live session

Summer high temperatures routinely range from 90-95F, and rainfall is scant and unpredictable… welcome to gardening in the inland northwest!

Historically, less than 10% of the population of the US lived in the vast area between the Cascade/Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Rocky Mountains.

This area is now one of the fastest growing; in eastern WA in particular, retirees from western Washington are driving this trend. Native plant gardening is becoming increasingly popular at the same time, driven by both the desire to conserve water, and an interest in protecting imperiled biodiversity. Mel discusses the challenges that many face when introducing native plants into the home landscape, including over- and under-watering, the need for incorporating firewise principles, expectations when moving from a mesic environment, the differences in native plant propagation, and entrenched concepts of landscape “beauty”.

Mel will share her personal experiences gardening in eastern Washington from 2004 to present, as well as her experiences as a native plant nursery owner.

Learn more about Mel

Mel Asher
Mel was born and raised in Michigan and obtained a B.S. in Environmental Biology from Michigan State University, and an M.S. in Wildlife Habitat Management from Texas A & M University. She moved to Washington State in 2004 and started her career with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) as a rangeland ecologist, before leaving for the private sector in 2010.

Mel has worked for BFI Native Seeds as a Restoration Ecologist for 11 years, and is the current owner of Derby Canyon Natives, as of January 2022. Her work includes native seed collection and native plant propagation, vegetation monitoring, plant surveys, restoration projects, and environmental education.

Tips and Tricks for Using iNaturalist for Identification While Contributing to Science

Instructor, Karla Salp
Recorded session

In this session, WSU Clallam County Master Gardener and iNaturalist enthusiast Karla Salp will share tips and tricks for using both the iNaturalist app and the iNaturalist website.

She will cover: the basics of how to use iNaturalist and record observations, advanced tips and tricks to improve your
chances of identifying an observation, and how to be part of the iNaturalist community to learn more about flora and fauna in your area and contribute to the scientific understanding of nature around you.

This session will also enable Master Gardeners to have tools to identify new plants and animals that they may encounter as part of a changing climate.

iNaturalist is a worldwide nonprofit organization that enables users to record observations of the natural world and collaborate with the iNaturalist community to identify those observations. The records are also used by scientists around the world for diverse projects. Recorded session.

Learn more about Karla

Karla Salp
Karla Salp has been a WSU Master Gardener since 2013 – initially in Thurston County and now in Clallam County. She grew up on a farm in Eastern Washington and her mom (who is also a WSU Master Gardener) had an extensive vegetable and flower garden.

Since 2015, she has been a Communications Consultant with the Washington State Department of Agriculture where she has worked extensively with WSDA’s Pest Program and
Plant Protection Division, including working on high-profile pests such as spongy moth, Japanese beetle, and the northern giant hornet (aka “murder hornet”), as well as native plant propagation, vegetation monitoring, plant surveys, restoration projects, and environmental education.

NICH: Connecting Extension, Research, Industry, and the Public Garden Sector

Instructors, Sheri Dorn, Natalie Bumgarner
Recorded session

The world of horticulture is amazingly diverse with a wide array of plant production and services businesses engaging with horticulture researchers, educators, volunteers, communicators, and the gardening public. While these groups have many different interests, the key foundation that ties everyone together is the need for science-based information to support gardening success and environmental sustainability.

To address this need to bring together industry, academia and a diverse gardening public, the National Initiative for Consumer Horticulture (NICH) was developed nearly 10 years ago. NICH connects key voices from Extension, research, industry, and the public gardens sector to find key gaps in research or outreach tools and develop science-based resources to address these needs.

This presentation will be delivered by members of the NICH team to share how this coalition has been built and how we work together to meet needs and bring horticulture practitioners together while sharing some of our outreach projects that can be used in Extension Master Gardener (EMG) education. The focus of the discussion will be to share with engaged EMGs how the horticulture world connects and how these resources can be accessed and practically used to help support your local EMG outreach and service!

Learn more about Sheri

Learn more about Natalie

Natalie Bumgarner
Natalie is the Universtity of Tennessee Residential and Consumer Extension Specialist with responsibilities for educational content development and programming across Tennessee. She also serves as the Tennessee Extension Master Gardener Program Coordinator. Natalie is a West Virginia native with a background in agriculture and has been active in various facets of horticulture for over 20 years.

A Gardening Response to Climate Change

Instructor, Katie Doonan
Recorded Session

Part I: Climate change is not just a looming, future threat. What are some practical implications of climate change in the garden? How can we improve climate adaptation and resiliency through management, even in an uncertain future?

Learn more about Katie

Katie Doonan
Katie Doonan is an Extension Coordinator for Center for Sustaining Agriculture & Natural Resources (CSANR), focusing on climate change for agricultural production in the Pacific Northwest.

She grew up farming and ranching in eastern California, where merging natural resource conservation and sustainable agriculture became her passion. Katie received her BS in Organic and Sustainable Agriculture and her BS in Biology from Washington State University.

In her free time, Katie loves to spend her time outdoors, especially skiing, hiking, and mountain biking.

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Session 7 – Saturday, September 28

Landscaping for Birds and Wildlife

Instructor, Betsy Dudash
Live session

Learn about the key elements that make a landscape hospitable to birds and other wildlife, including pollinators: habitat and shelter, including protection from predators; food sources through the seasons; fresh water; and areas for foraging, socializing, and bathing.

The presenter will focus on using native plants to create a new habitat or fine-tune your existing landscape to become a welcoming refuge for wildlife, whether you have a small yard in the city or a large rural property. You’ll also learn why a well-manicured landscape isn’t optimal for wildlife.

The focus will be on plants native to Eastern Washington, but the principles discussed are applicable anywhere. Using drought-tolerant native plants reduces the need for irrigation water in a changing climate in which “normal” precipitation patterns become increasingly unpredictable and periods of heat and drought become more intense and more frequent.

Learn more about Betsy

Betsy Dudash
Betsy Dudash has a B.S. in Landscape Horticulture and Design from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. She has lived in Wenatchee, Washington, since 2018.

She is a self-employed Landscape Horticulturist and Designer who focuses on using native plants in clients’ landscapes. Betsy offers consultations and hand-drawn custom landscape plans. She has been a part of Cascadia Conservation District’s Native Planting 101 since 2019.

She is currently finishing up her term as board president of Sustainable North Central Washington. Betsy also occasionally teaches courses such as “Landscape Design for Homeowners” in Wenatchee Valley College’s Continuing Education Program.

Right Plant, Right Place: The Art and Science of Planting Design

Instructor, Nancy Goodin
Live session

In this class Nancy discusses the relationship between site conditions and plant needs to select and install the appropriate plants for your garden. In the era of Climate Change, it’s more important than ever to use climate-resilient solutions to encourage the best outcomes for plant success and environmental sustainability. We will talk about why it’s important to work with nature and how to implement some key strategies from a horticultural and design perspective.

Learn more about Nancy

Nancy Goodin
Nancy Goodin is a Professional Landscape Architect and Certified Master Gardener with a passion for evolving visions and ideas into real spaces that are both beautiful and functional.

As the Owner of Evolve 8 Design, she is rooted in sound ecological design principles and enjoys place-making to develop healthier and more sustainable communities.

Recently, she has worked on commercial projects and public parks and plazas here locally in the Puget Sound region and as far east as New York and west to Hawaii.

Planning for the Unplanned: Integrating Ecological Restoration Techniques and Landscape Design

Instructor, Larry Weaner
Recorded session

Using native plants is increasingly accepted in landscape architecture and design. Knowing how to incorporate and work with the ecological patterns and processes associated with native plants, however, is less well understood.

Explore ways of integrating ecological restoration techniques and traditional design aesthetics to achieve beautiful, diverse landscapes for varied situations—from small gardens to large, multi-acre projects. Meadows, old fields, and woodland projects are shown in detail, from conceptual stage to full establishment and management, illustrating the exciting results that can be achieved when ecological restoration is combined with the visual art of landscape design.

Learn more about Larry

Larry Weaner
Larry Weaner, New Directions in American Landscapes (NDAL) founder, is principal of Larry Weaner Landscape Associates. His firm’s design and restoration work spans more than twenty U.S. states and the U.K., and has been profiled in national publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Landscape Architecture Magazine, Garden Design, American Gardener, Wildflower Magazine, North American Native Plant Society’s The Blazing Star, and American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) “The Dirt” blog.

Larry has received numerous awards, including the Landscape Design Award from the New England Wildflower Society for use of native plants in “exceptional and distinctive landscape compositions” and the Lady Bird Johnson Environmental Award from The Native Plant Center. The Garden Club of America awarded him an honorary membership in 2015, and the American Horticultural Society recognized him with the 2021 Landscape Design Award. This award is presented to an individual whose work has demonstrated and promoted the value of sound horticultural practices in the field of landscape architecture. In 2021 the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) presented him with its Award of Distinction, and Wild Ones – Native Plants, Natural Landscapes named him an Honorary Director for the 2021 – 2025 term.

A Gardening Response to Climate Change

Instructor, Katie Doonan
Recorded session

Part II: Climate change is not just a looming, future threat. What are some practical implications of climate change in the garden? How can we improve climate adaptation and resiliency through management, even in an uncertain future?

Learn more about Katie

Tour of the Derby Canyon Natives Nursery Demonstration Landscape

Instructors, Mel Asher, Betsy Dudash
Recorded session

Come visit (virtually) the Derby Canyon Natives Nursery Garden in Peshastin, filmed in early June 2024. This demonstration garden was planted over 20 years ago and contains over 100 plants native to North Central Washington. Mel Asher and Betsy Dudash will highlight favorite plants, discuss how to site them, and detail annual maintenance and watering.

Learn more about Mel

Learn more about Betsy

Betsy Dudash has a B.S. in Landscape Horticulture and Design from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. She has lived in Wenatchee, Washington, since 2018.

She is a self-employed Landscape Horticulturist and Designer who focuses on using native plants in clients’ landscapes. Betsy offers consultations and hand-drawn custom landscape plans. She has been a part of Cascadia Conservation District’s Native Planting 101 since 2019.

She is currently finishing up her term as board president of Sustainable North Central Washington. Betsy also occasionally teaches courses such as “Landscape Design for Homeowners” in Wenatchee Valley College’s Continuing Education Program.

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