WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
The 2025 workshop will be held two weeks later than in past years on March 15, 2025 at Oak Harbor High School. This puts the workshop closer to the symbolic first day of spring when many of us are excited for longer days, warmer weather, and that flush of new growth in our gardens. We hope the later date will stir your excitement for getting out in your garden and putting all the information you learn at the workshop to the test.
If you attended the 2024 workshop, you will recognize the structure of WGW25. Again, we will offer 40 classes, demonstrations, Make-n-Take classes, a plant clinic, and our ever-popular Marketplace where you can browse vendors’ booths for gardening tools, books, and décor, and have a cup of coffee and a snack at the 4-H booth.
Our theme this year is “Focusing on our Priorities”. What are our priorities, you ask? Well, the Washington State Master Gardener Foundation has developed a set of nine priorities aimed at addressing environmental and horticulturally based challenges. The priorities are: climate change, clean water, water conservation, soil health, pollinators, local food, plant biodiversity, nearby nature, and wildfire preparedness. Learn more here: (Priorities | Master Gardener Program | Washington State University)
Many of the offered classes will support learning about these priorities and what we as gardeners can do to help meet the challenges. Look for the priority(ies) the class supports in the class descriptions on the website.
Our keynote speakers this year are Kelly Dodson and Sue Milliken from Far Reaches Farm. Several years ago, they started Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy whose mission is to facilitate the acquisition and introduction of threatened and vulnerable ornamental plants. The plants they collect will be maintained as a living reference collection for public education and scientific purposes with the goal of conservation through cultivation via distribution to botanic and public gardens, botanists and researchers plus professional and amateur gardeners and horticulturists.
Other Activities
Gardening educational sessions are complemented throughout the day with other engaging activities —Plant clinics, demonstrations, a Garden Marketplace, and more. Attendees can enjoy refreshments served by our local 4-H group as they browse the Marketplace and gather with other gardeners.
New for 2024: “Make-n-Take” Classes!
For the first time, the Whidbey Gardening Workshop offers hands-on classes during which each student creates something to bring home and enjoy in their own gardens. In addition to our typica gardening classes, attendees can choose from these classes during the day: Building a Mason Bee House, Practicing the Skills of Transplanting Seedlings, or Discover the Art of Kokedama. For a small additional fee, you’ll make it and take it home. These sessions may fill up fast, so complete your registration early!