Thursday classes

 Cassie Chichorz 

This session will teach you how to protect Washington’s resources by preventing the establishment of high-risk invasive insects. You will learn how to identify pests and their look-alikes. This course will equip you with the tools on how to report suspected sightings. Insects covered in this session are Asian giant hornet, Japanese Beetle, Spotted Lanternfly, invasive moths and other exotic pests.

Kenneth B. Lacy

The class will start with a discussion on the ice age floods that inundated portions of the Pacific Northwest. Then we’ll take a closer look at the impact of the floods upon soils; including the thin soils found in the Channeled Scablands, the formation of the Loess deposits found in much of Eastern Washington, and assorted soils found in the Puget Sound area that were derived from Glacial Till.

Tim Kohlhauff, WSU Extension  

There are many known benefits of trees in urban and community landscapes from increased property values to increased health and wellbeing. The intention of this online training is to provide knowledge to Extension Master Gardeners, landscape professionals, municipal landscape employees, and interested members of the public in the proper selection, placement, and care of trees in the community. Is this online training right for you?  Learn more about trees, while learning more about the course.  

Kathy Ryan

Learn how two gardens, begun as a bookgroup and then as a Master Gardeners and Food bank project, have grown into 14 gardens producing over 18,000 pounds of produce which meet the new challenges of climate change, crop failures and supply chain distruption. 

Jaala Smith, Harry Hayward, Kristen McIvor

We all know food brings people together.  Did you also know that growing food in community gardens brings people together and helps to create vibrant communities?  Research indicates that people who grow food together and who have local access to fresh food also work together to make decisions that ensure their families, friends and neighbors have food on their tables. This panel discussion will share their experiences with bringing everyone into community gardens and other local food programs.

Lorene Edwards Forkner

Color is the most obvious element of a garden and an essential tool in the creation of a pleasing landscape. We’ll explore the nature of color, perception, distinguishing nuance, and introduce design tips for using color to create wildlife-friendly gardens with year 'round interest.

Paula Dinius, Al Murphy

In the past few decades, we have all seen the ravages of wildfire increasingly across our country and abroad. As forest management policies are revised to increase fire-resilience we too can help as Master Gardeners, property owners or managers by being proactive in the purposeful cultivation of our landscapes. This class will discuss the concept of a fire-resistant landscape, one that has been designed to reduce risk and damage to property from wildfire. We will cover strategies that include understanding fire behavior, application of fire-resistant strategies, and exploring select plant species and their placement in the landscape. The class format is a panel discussion including open dialog with the audience.

Kristen Harrison

In this class, you will learn about the phenophases that plants go through during the course of the year and how to recognize them. Then, we will learn how to use the app "Nature's notebook" to track the phenophases of your favorite plants. Nature's notebook is a citizen science platform used by researchers to track changes in plant phenology across the country. 

David Seabrook

Climate change and other intersecting crises have put our global food system in a precarious situation. If we continue with “business as usual,” we risk the collapse of our complex food system — and so much more. David Seabrook is convinced gardeners can take the lead in modifying and strengthening their community's food production in practical ways that require far less total energy. Participants will be asked to consider strategies for adapting all components of a food system built by and for the local community. Along the way, we'll brainstorm ways to build resilience, and discuss the importance of learning respect and appreciation for the land, people and creatures sharing our ecosystem. Can gardeners help save our world with local action? Come ready to help explore the possibilities!

 Laurel Moulton 

In recent years news of the natural world has been dominated by fire and floods, more intense storms, and dwindling snow pack in the mountains. The extreme heat event that occurred at the end of June 2021 and record breaking forest fires burning across the west have made it hard to ignore changes that are occurring in our climate. Many of us feel overwhelmed, or that there is nothing meaningful a single person can do to ease the changing climate. We think, “What does gardening have to do with climate change anyway.” I would argue that collectively, Master Gardeners have a chance to use educational influence and scientific skills to make a bigger impact on climate change through sustainable garden education than any one of us realizes.  

Igniting consciousness is the first step to affecting change. Did you know that peatlands, the source of peat moss that is ubiquitous in the horticulture industry, store more carbon than all other vegetation in the entire world combined? Draining, mining and burning of peatlands releases almost 5% of all human caused CO2 emissions every year. For these reasons, along with others related to ecology and clean water, the United Kingdom is on track to ban all sales of peat moss to home gardeners by 2024. Surprisingly, this conversation has barely started in the US. If something as simple as potting soil has such an impact on climate, what other aspects of garden and landscape care are we missing opportunities in? Luckily, as gardeners and educators we aren’t very good at sitting still.  In this age of climate change we have an opportunity to examine how we garden and take simple actions that don’t just respond to a changing climate, but that have the real possibility of contributing to slowing climate change.

Attendees at this presentation can expect to: 

• Learn the science behind certain garden practices, tools and amendments that have serious implications for our changing climate.  
• Get ideas for small changes or additions that can be made in existing educational outreach to address climate change. 
• Get inspired to become part of larger conversations and new educational initiatives that Master Gardeners can champion across the region.