Newsroom

CORVALLIS - Home gardeners with a little or a lot of experience can pick up practical pointers to make gardening easier at the annual "Insights into Gardening" workshop on Saturday, Feb. 22, at Oregon State University.

The day-long event, sponsored by the Benton County office of the OSU Extension Service and the Benton County Master Gardeners, will feature an array of gardening classes, demonstrations, displays, and an on-site OSU Bookstore with a 10 percent discount on all books. The workshop will be held in LaSells Stewart Center. Registration is $15. A box lunch can be ordered with registration for $6.50.

Jean Wells Keenan, author of many quilting books and an expert on garden-inspired quilting design, will be the keynote speaker in the morning.

Class space is limited and registration is first-come, first-served. Workshop participants may enroll in two of the six classes, and they must choose one morning and one afternoon class. The classes include:

Morning Session:

• Garden photography;
• The Oregon Flora Project - an effort to catalog all of Oregon's plants;
• Growing drought-tolerant plants in your garden.

Afternoon Session:

• Unusual vegetables and herbs to grow in your garden;
• Water gardening;
• How to deal with invasive plants.

The workshop also will feature a number of displays, including information on: The Native Plant Society; bats, bees and butterflies; well water testing; The Audubon Society; Mary's River Quilt Guild; container gardening; the Master Gardener program; Wildlife Stewards; rock gardens; and The Thyme Garden.

Interested persons may pick up a registration flyer at selected Benton County nurseries, garden suppliers, the Benton County Extension office in Corvallis (541-766-6750), or the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library.