Speakers' Bureau

SPEAKERS BUREAU

Available for 2013

Landscape and Garden Design

Right Plant/Right Place: Analyzing your site for sun, shade, and soil before buying plants.
Year-Round Color from Bulbs: Creating colorful plantings from bulbs through the seasons, both inside and outside.
Establishing a Perennial Garden: Discussing design, selection, and culture of a perennial garden.
Planning a Yard from Start to Finish: Covering zoning laws, site evaluation, planting sequence; planning for flowers, vegetables or both and care through the season
Ornamental Trees: Selecting trees such as cherry, crabapple, Kousa dogwood, magnolia, Carolina snowbells, and including a discussion about culture and care.
Shade Gardening: Brightening a small shady spot or a large wooded area using color. 

Ins and Outs of Landscaping:

Design I: Includes site analysis, nature of soil, soil characteristics, sun direction, shade areas, wind effects, drainage.
Design II: Includes formal vs. informal landscaping, plant placement, landscape problem-solving, use of decorative objects and structures; matching plants to existing growing conditions such as height, shape, color and texture that make the beauty.
Design III: Includes a one-hour combination of Design I and Design II.

Ponds (Talk can be tailored to group interest)

Building a Pond: Choosing plants for a pond; pond maintenance

Hostas

Hostas in the Landscape: The genus Hosta is a group of shade-tolerant, hardy, herbaceous perennials. Currently, there are about 70 species and thousands of cultivars. Hostas come in all shapes, sizes and colors. (Solids, variegated and streaked). They can be used in the landscape for edging, foundation plantings, groundcovers, accents, drifts and miniatures. Also discussed are companion plants and pests.

Shade

Don't Be Perplexed by the Shade: Choosing plants that thrive and survive in shade; shade gardening and shade solutions; shade definition and discussion of different types of shade (half, dappled and full). Soil matters in shade too! (tips for amending)

The Practical Side of Gardening

Vegetable Gardening:  Selecting, planting, growing and caring for your vegetable garden whether it is a large garden, a raised bed or a container garden. Information on soil preparation, soil amendments and the tools for working with soil.
Organic Vegetable Gardening for Backyard Gardeners: Discussing the "why" and the "how" to grow organically.
Composting: Producing and using compost made from small and large amounts of organic matter.
Plant Propagation: Growing your own plants from seed, cuttings, layering and air layering.
Selection and Safe Use of Fertilizers and Pesticides (organic and inorganic).   

Container Gardening

Planting Container Gardens:  Pots are planted during a discussion of the basics. By prior arrangement with presenter, the pots may be purchased by the sponsoring group.

Landscaping Balconies and Porches  
Container Vegetable Gardening:  Learn how to grow almost any vegetable in containers of all sizes.

Wildlife

Wildlife habitat: Choosing and growing plants that provide food, shelter and nesting for birds.
Slugging Slugs: These critters creep around during the night and eat holes in our favorite plants, such as hostas. Here's how to frustrate them by eliminating their hiding places and using baits and lures that may surprise you.
Pollinators: Designing and planting a garden to attract bees and other pollinators to our gardens. Includes the importance of attracting our native pollinators.
Butterflies: A PowerPoint presentation of the plants and environmental features that attract butterflies, including a discussion of plant culture.
Leaf-Cutting Ants: Fascinating information about these insects.
Who Is Living in Your Garden? Take a closer look at a half dozen interesting creatures as they play out their life and death drama in your garden every season. An insect that can regenerate a lost limb, a spider that carries her babies on her back, a common insect that changes its appearance. Get to know them and find out if they are friend or foe.

Native Plants

Designing with Native Plants: A diverse mix of native plants that will restore crucial habitat for wildlife, including insects, birds and butterflies. This diversity provides shelter and a year-long food supply for them.

Demonstrations and/or Hands-on

Topiary Floral Arrangements: Simulate topiary by making wire forms and growing blooming flowers on this form; use three-dimensional forms and stuff them with soil to plant flowers.
Flower Arranging: Both live and dried.
Living Wreaths: Make a perennial wreath for use at home.
Language of Flowers: Includes a demonstration of flower arranging and making a Tussie Mussie.
Flower Pressing: Learn to preserve the beauty of flowers by pressing them for pictures, bookmarks, and trays. Limited to 12 people. Material cost includes a flower press for each participant.
Herb Gardening: Selecting, growing and using herbs. Topic can be divided into several programs tailored to the group.
Terrariums: Create a moss jar terrarium.

Entertainment

Longwood Through the Seasons: This world-renowned garden's beauty is presented as it appears in each season.
Wildflowers: Discovering the habitat and appearance of wildflowers.
English Muffins and Sacred Spaces: A garden can be a place with many surprises. A bench in a quiet corner, a pond, an arbor or a place of rest. A large yard, small yard or no yard at all. Everyone can create their own space.
Tea Anyone? Growing a Tea Garden: Herbs to grow and use for home-grown tea. Enjoy the summer plants in the cold of winter. Sampling teas.
The Dirty Dozen Garden Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them: A PowerPoint presentation of some of the gardening missteps with practical pointers or alternative approaches that can help you make the best of your landscape.

Program Details

The length of the program can be varied, but most run about an hour. When available, handouts are given out. Some presenters use PowerPoint or slide presentations and may request a screen.

Note: Penn State Master Gardeners of Lancaster County are volunteers who have been trained by the Penn State Extension to deliver extension educational programs to the consumer. Sometimes, circumstances prevent the presenter from being able to attend on the agreed-upon date. If a back-up presenter is not available for the scheduled program, a substitute program can be selected.

Cost to sponsoring organization: A donation to the Master Gardener program is requested. Checks should be made out to "PSCE Program Fund" and given to the presenter or mailed to Master Gardener Program, Penn State Extension, 1383 Arcadia Road, Room 140, Lancaster, PA 17601-3184. A donation check should not include any other costs, such as cost of materials. The sponsoring organization must reimburse the Presenter for any out-of-pocket expenses required for the program. Additionally, if the Presenter must travel outside the county, the Presenter is to be reimbursed for travel at a rate of $0.45 per mile. The sponsoring organization and the Presenter will agree in advance as to cost, the nature of, and the disposition of the completed demonstration.    

To book a speaker

Contact Susan Smith at (717) 492-0209 or email at herbsrme@embarqmail.com

OR

Contact Warren Wolf, Master Gardener Coordinator, (717) 394-6851 or email at wjw16@psu.edu

If you have a need for a special program we may be able to develop the program for you!! Give us a call.