The Winter Dreams Summer Gardens Working Group has developed an amazing lineup of presentations for this year. Dig into four days of virtual gardening immersion seminars taught by 16 presenters, all designed to help you plan next year’s spectacular garden.
Join us October 17,18, 24, and 25 from the comfort of your own home via Zoom.
Registration begins in August.
Here is a taste of what you can expect and who will be sharing their knowledge with us.
Right Plant, Right Bee: Matching Bees to Flowering Plants with the new Melittoflora Tool 
Presented by Andony Melathopoulos
Oregon has the richest dataset of bee-plant interactions in the U.S., thanks to almost 100,000 observations made by volunteer Master Melittologists. We explore this data using the new Melittoflora tool designed to help make you make more precise plant selections in your garden.
Andony Melathopoulos is an Associate Professor of Pollinator Health Extension and leads up the Master Melittologist program, which is the first program in the U.S. dedicated to surveying wild bee populations. He is also the host of the weekly podcast PolliNation.
Using Woody Plants for Year-Round Interest
Presented by Neil Bell
Woody plants can provide presence year-round in the garden, whether they are deciduous or evergreen. Much of this can be attributed to their size, habit, foliage and flower, and other less remarked-upon characteristics like aromatic foliage or bark pattern and color. We’ll discuss the wide array of shrubs that provide appeal for each season in the mild climate of the Rogue Valley.
Neil Bell was Community Horticulturist for the Oregon State University Extension Service in Marion County and Polk County from 2000 to 2021, overseeing both County Master Gardener programs during that time. He has also conducted numerous landscape evaluations of shrubs for unirrigated landscapes since 2000, including Ceanothus, Cistus, Grevillea and manzanita. He is still employed one day per week by Extension to assist with evaluation of 116 olive cultivars at the North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Aurora. Neil lives on 5 acres of Polk County bush west of Monmouth, where he continues to learn how to garden with wildlife, plentiful weeds and limited water.
Native Equivalents for Common Nursery Plants 
Presented by Susie Savoy
Non-native ornamental plants support 29 times less biodiversity than native ornamentals; however, most plants sold in nurseries are not native. Thankfully, some local nurseries and plant growers are working hard to supply the growing interest in native plants and there is a wide selection of native plants to choose from that can replace non-native ornamentals. Come learn how to help native pollinators and biodiversity by growing native equivalents for common nursery plants such as aster, checkermallow, clematis, coneflower, currant, fuchsia, honeysuckle, iris, lupine, turtlehead, redbud, sunflowers, and much more!
Suzie Savoie is co-owner of Siskiyou Ecological Services and Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds, and is co-author of Native Pollinator Plants for Southern Oregon. Suzie provides native seed collection services, online native seed sales, native nursery plants, and native plant consultation. For 21 years she has been using native plants for gardens and habitat restoration on her property in the Applegate Valley, and she enjoys helping others do the same.
Achieving Abundant Apples: Pruning and Training Home Orchards 
Presented by Grace Florjancic
Pruning and training fruit trees is a journey that begins in year one. Proper pruning can not only increase your yield of fruit but also improve your tree’s overall health. In this presentation we will focus on apples, but the same concepts apply from almonds to Bartlets to cherries. Join Grace Florjancic in this presentation to learn the guidelines for pruning your trees through the years.
Grace Florjancic is the Master Gardener Coordinator for Jackson County. Grace has a degree in microbiology and horticulture from Virginia Tech. Part of their undergraduate research included management of the research apple orchard and the installation of a new orchard. Prior to her work with OSU Extension, she has worked in research greenhouses and botanic gardens in Virginia.
Electrifying Yard Work & Landscaping
Presented by Alan Journet & Kathy Conway
Have you ever thought of trading in your noisy gas-powered yard equipment for quieter electrical tools that start with the flick of a button?
Kathy and Alan will explore why electrification is generally favored among those of us concerned about climate change issues, and the benefits for the everyday user of yard equipment. We will identify what kinds of yard equipment are available locally in electric powered models, and will discuss the cost of these items in terms of purchase price and operation. We plan to provide information appropriate for professional landscapers and gardeners.
Alan hails from the UK where he attended the University of Wales, earned a doctorate in entomology from McGill University (Montreal), and then undertook a four-year excursion to Australia. After decades teaching biology and environmental science at Southeast Missouri State University, he retired in 2010.
Native Oregonian Kathy Conway attended Southern Oregon College, University of Oregon, and Lewis and Clark College. She then earned a doctorate in curriculum and instruction at Southern Illinois University. Kathy taught high school and then university level in the areas of mathematics and methods of teaching math, science, and social studies to preservice elementary students at Southeast Missouri State University. She also retired in 2010.
Upon retirement, Kathy and Alan relocated to Southern Oregon, built an energy efficient passive/active solar home in the Applegate Valley, and collaborated with area residents to form Southern Oregon Climate Action Now, where they serve as co-facilitators. Currently at SOU, they teach ‘Living with Climate Change: Rogue Valley.’ They are the proud owners of several electric yard tools and recently purchased a battery-powered electric vehicle.
Our Western Monarchs: Will they be Listed as “THREATENED” and Why Should We Care? 
Presented by Robert Coffan
In 2019, the total known population of Western Monarchs plummeted to a scant 20,500 – a 99.4% loss in the last 20 years – followed by another ten-fold drop to less than 2,000! What happened and why? Will they be listed as “threatened”? Can they recover? What can we do to help?
The presentation will include an introduction to the iconic monarch butterfly and issues that plague our migrating western population. We will share what we can do to help restore monarch habitat and help many other pollinators throughout the seasons.
Robert Coffan is the co-founder of Southern Oregon Monarch Advocates and founder and former Chair of Western Monarch Advocates. He has a BS in hydrogeology and is a former Adjunct Professor at Southern Oregon University. Robert has lived in the Rogue Valley for 25 years, enjoying researching the biodiversity of the basin. He is fascinated by the beauty and life processes of the Monarch butterfly and other pollinators, and has joined forces with others to help restore their habitat and bring the population back. Robert never loses sight of the importance of preserving and caring for this beautiful and diverse part of the world we call home on planet Earth.
Spring has arrived!
Oregon State University Extension
