MAY 11, 2017 // 7
CLATSOP COUNTY
MASTER GARDENERS
ASSOCIATION PRESENTS
2017 SPRING GARDEN
SEMINAR AND PLANT SALE
By MARILYN GILBAUGH
FOR COAST WEEKEND
Whether they garden or not, many people
on the North Coast seem to be going a little
nuts thanks to the year’s record-setting
rainfall.
But this weekend, rain or shine, they can
enjoy a day of all things gardening when
Clatsop County Master Gardeners Associ-
ation offers a taste of the growth to come
when the sun finally warms the local mood
— and the region’s soils.
From 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May
13, at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds,
beginning gardeners and seasoned green
thumbs, adults and kids, can drop in and
enjoy themselves at the association’s 2017
spring garden seminar and plant sale.
The event is free, though donations to the
Clatsop County Food Bank are encouraged.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Attendees enjoy the 2016 Spring into Gardening.
Plants galore
Rick Bigness, director of the Spring Gar-
den Seminar, and a team of Master Gardener
volunteers are offering a full day’s lineup.
Members will sell plants from their own
gardens: Edibles, perennials, herbs, ferns,
trees, native plants and shrubs have been cul-
tivated, doted on and potted for this purpose.
“The closer to home a plant begins its life,
the better its chance of success,” Bigness said.
More than 25 vendors will have gar-
den-related gifts and goods on display.
(Remember: The following day is Mother’s
Day.) Commercial growers will offer a wide
variety of indoor and outdoor plants, from
starts to stalks. Master Gardeners will be
around to share advice and answer gardening
questions.
In addition, there will be a kid’s garden
where young people can get their hands in the
soil and adopt a strawberry plant. And — one
of the most sought-after items of the day — at
3:30 p.m., the Tongue Point Job Corps Land-
scaping Students will raffle off eight hours of
labor to one lucky ticket holder. (Bonus: The
winner need not be present to collect.)
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Plants on display at last year’s Spring into Gardening.
Listen in, learn lots
This year’s Master Gardener’s theme
is “Climate Change — Gardening for
the Future.” Three one-hour seminars
will explore how the warming world is
affecting gardens locally.
At 9 a.m. Chip Bubl, professor of hor-
ticulture at Oregon State University, will
discuss implications of climate change
in our North Coast gardens: which plants
will thrive, which won’t, how soil condi-
tions will change and more.
An 11 a.m. seminar features well-
known Olney organic farmer Teresa
Retzlaff, of 46 North Farm, who will
share research from her involvement
in the Dry Farming Collab-
orative project, part of the
OSU Center for Small Farms.
Attendees will learn more
about climate change, dry
farming and water conserva-
tion strategies for gardening
resiliency.
And, at 1 p.m., Thom
Trusewicz — a beekeeper,
Clatsop Community College teacher and
Oregon State Beekeepers Association
member — will share his enthusiasm for
chemical-free honey and wax products.
Find out how climate change is interfer-
ing with bees and how certain gardening
techniques can help save and attract bee
colonies.
Clatsop County Master Gardeners
have created a day packed with many
things to see and do — literally from the
ground up.