Since the 1800s, the United States has been dealing with invasive species. Some of these you may have heard of (think zebra mussels, sea lamprey, or Phragmites), while others may seem completely ordinary in our landscape but actually threaten our native ecosystems. Join us to learn about invasive species in our landscape, the work that is being done to manage them, and how you can get involved.

Cost: FREE! All certified EMGs and Trainees must register one time to have access to the entire series. Do not share the recording links with non-registrants and/or non-EMGs.

Education Hours - Each session will count as 1 EMG Continuing Education hour.    

How to Connect: The day prior to each event, registrants will receive an email message which will contain the virtual event link and Zoom instructions. (Be sure to check your Inbox and Spam folders for this email.)

Technology Requirements: Below are recommendations for the optimal interactive online learning experience:
   *  A computer, laptop or tablet with the latest version of your browser
   *  A reliable, internet connection - broadband wired or wireless (3G or 4G/LTE)
   *  Webcam or HD webcam - built-in or USP plug-in
   *  Speakers and a microphone - built-in or USB plug-in

First time Zoom users: Never used Zoom before? No worries. Registrants will be emailed an overview of how to get started, complete with screen shots. Plus, there’s a help line to contact if you encounter any difficulties.

Learn about the range of native “woodies” you can introduce to your garden, including trees, shrubs and vines ranging from deciduous to evergreen species and including annual vines as well as perennial plants. This amazing variety of native woodies is not only beautiful, but “plays well with others” while providing key habitat for native fauna.

Formally educated as a Art Historian and Archaeologist, Cheryl has parlayed her varied training and experience into a career as a professional gardener, artist, writer and educator. She has volunteered in various capacities with numerous organizations in the area. Cheryl penned the first article on native plants in Michigan Gardener in 2012. She offers private group garden tours, a clematis pruning workshop, tree and wildflower walks, as well as a variety of pottery workshops. Cheryl, her garden and her pottery were featured in Detroit News’ “Homestyle” section in July 2023.

Membership CheckIn at 6:30 p.m.

Presentation to follow at 7:00 p.m.

Presentation is open to the public.

https://www.blackcatpottery.com/

Lilacs are beloved flowering shrubs (or occasionally trees!) in Michigan’s landscapes. Deanna Hedlund, MSU Extension Consumer Horticulture Educator, will discuss the history of these storied plants and she’ll point us towards some garden-worthy selections for today’s landscape, including tried-and-true classics, as well as modern offerings.

Brighten up your winter during the MSU Extension Smart Gardening Conference in Grand Rapids on Saturday, March 1, 2025! Held in tandem with the West Michigan Home and Garden Show, our day will be filled with excellent presenters!

The award-winning horticultural educator and former television host of an Emmy® award-winning gardening show, Bryce Lane will kick off our conference with his inspiring talk, The Craft of Gardening, about the power of plants to change your point of view!

This year’s lineup also features speakers from two of the Midwest’s most beautiful public gardens! The Director of Plant Collections at Chicago Botanical Garden, Adam Dooling, will give us an inside look at recent garden innovations, including exceptional plants, groundbreaking projects, and the exciting work shaping the future of horticulture. Then, Jamie Frye, the Associate Curator of Living Collections at Newfields, will take us on a vibrant adventure through their Spring Blooms exhibition, a living masterpiece featuring over fifty acres and three buildings of stunning vernal displays.

We are always excited to learn about the latest and greatest plant introductions! In her talk, Natalie Carmolli from Proven Winners® ColorChoice® Shrubs, will highlight hardworking shrubs that shine, featuring beautiful and smart plants that can combine form and function in our gardens.

Attendees can look forward to our Smart Gardening complimentary gift bag and a conference registration name-badge that provides free access to the West Michigan Home and Garden Show all weekend long! You will be thrilled with both the home and garden show vendors and our special selection of Smart Gardening Conference vendors. 

Register at:  https://events.anr.msu.edu/GR2025SmartGardeningConf/

Free to the first 50 MSU EMGs who register - only $5 for everyone else; counts towards MSU EMG continuing education hours

Horticulture Trivia, Feb 26th at 7 PM. Join MSU Extension for the final of our Winter '24-'25 monthly trivia series about gardening. This is a chance to test your knowledge about all things plants, insects, and garden related in Michigan. There will be 30 multiple choice question/answers during this live event and a prize awarded to the top two scorers with an additional prize for a randomly selected participant. Trivia night is open to gardening enthusiasts, trivia lovers, Extension Master Gardeners, or anyone else who wants to play. Prizes for top 2 finishers and a randomly selected participant.

Register at: https://events.anr.msu.edu/Feb2025trivia/

Free, registration required; exclusive to MSU EMGs; counts towards MSU EMG continuing education hours

Dig In, the FREE continuing education series designed exclusively for MSU Extension Master Gardeners will take place once a month on a Tuesday evening from 6-7 PM. 

February 11: Sharron 'Ronnie' Miller – MSU PhD Candidate Pollination Ecology Lab
Reconnecting Native Bees, Land Management, and Humans

Ronnie Miller, a PhD candidate in MSU's Department of Entomology, will discuss her current research examining bumble bee communities in human-altered landscapes across southern Michigan. She'll discuss the relationship between bees and the many plants that sustain and enrich our lives with their beauty, edible offerings, and healing medicines, along with why we should offer our support back to these amazing creatures.

Don’t wait—register today and grow your knowledge with Dig In!

 Online via Zoom - (recordings will be available for registrants two weeks after airing)

Using native plants in your home garden can help address many of the top challenges in the Great Lakes watershed including habitat loss, stormwater flooding and excess nutrients. Learn how Michigan Sea Grant works with partners throughout the state to support conservation of Great Lakes resources as well as how you and your home garden can help.

Via Zoom.

Link will be sent via email to the Board members

Via Zoom.

Link will be sent via email to the Board members

Built in 1928, Graye’s Greenhouse is a much loved landmark in the Plymouth community. But as the world changes, how does a decidedly old school business keep up? Rachel look forward to telling the story of the greenhouse, what makes it special, and what its up against in the modern age of the big box plants. Rachel will share with us the importance of sound propogation and cultivation practices, and how this can affect the quality of plants we will be tempted to bring home.

Rachel has loved Graye’s Greenhouse since childhood, and purchased the greenhouse in 2019. She has a background in education and farming. She has worked in Tuscon, Arizona, Detroit and Ann Arbor, Michigan

Agenda:

Membership check-in at 6:30 p.m.

Presentation to follow at 7:00 p.m.

The Presentation is open to the public

Via Zoom

Brambles (raspberries adn blackerries) are among the best fruits for beginners to try in their fruit garden - better than the expensive berries that you can buy in the market, and easier to grow, smaller, and quicker to come into bearing than fruit trees. With a little planning and luck, you can have fresh berries from your garden every day from late June until late October. This talk will cover the essentials of growing raspberries and blackberries in southeastern Michigan, including choosing and preparing a site for a berry patch, selecting suitable varieties of raspberries and blackberries, basic care of the plants (including pruning and fertilizing), and common pestes and what to do about them.

Dave Strayer is an Ann Arbor resident who has been growing backyard fruit in Michigan and upstate New York for than 35 years, long enough to have encountered pests and problems, and has tried a bunch of different growing techniques and cultivars.

Membership Check-In at 6:30 p.m.

Presentation to follow at 7:00 p.m.

Presentation is open to the public.

Via Zoom

How You Can Create a Beautiful Backyard Habitat by Rosina Newton

Rosina will share several delightful ways you can provide habitat for your non-human neighbors right in your own yard - and why! In this presentation, you will learn at least one thing you can do to provide food and shelter for beneficial insects, pollinators (such as butterflies and bumblebees), songbirds, and more. And you don’t need to buy birdseed or a birdbath! You can choose from the simplest first step or, when you’re ready, begin to develop a long-range plan for a beautiful habitat wonderland in your yard that will bring life, loveliness, and enchantment year-round to you, your family, and all your neighbors - human and otherwise.

BIO:

Rosina Newton is a horticulturist with over 35 years’ experience. Highlights include working at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Texas, with Central Park Conservancy in New York, MSU Tollgate Farm in Novi, and now Friends of the Rouge. At FOTR, she is coordinating volunteer events where everyone can contribute to a cleaner Rouge River, and the Rain Gardens to the Rescue community program. As a lifelong student and educator, she enjoys bringing her horticultural experience to audiences everywhere.

Friends of The Rouge

www.therouge.org

Membership check-in c 6:30 pm Presentation to follow at 7:00 pm mgwwc.org Presentation is open to the public

Lawrence Sobson of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Urban and Community Forestry Program will be presenting on tree planting standards and their maintenance. He will talk about invasive plants, and what factors can determine what an invasive plant is. He will discuss which species to plant, and which species to avoid. We will learn why thoughtful planning is good for the community. Lawrence has been with the Michigan DNR for two years working as the Partnership Coordinator providing technical assistance to communities across the state. He has prior experience with Michigan State University’s arboretum, with habitat design in the Upper Peninsula, and has worked as a utility forester for DTE. He is an ISA Certified Arborist and has a Bachelor of Science from Michigan State University in Forestry

Membership check-in c 6:30 pm Presentation to follow at 7:00 pm mgwwc.org Presentation is open to the public

Please consider volunteering to work this event if you’re in need of hours.

Interested members and/or inquiries can be sent to mgwwc@gmail.com.

Hope to see you there!

Agenda:

Membership check-in at 6:30 p.m. followed by presentation at 7:00 p.m.

Presentation is open to the public.

Randy will share with us the joys and the challenges of beekeeping. he will explain to us the difficulty of over-wintering the bees. He will talk about the threat of declining space for bees to seek food, and effects of the unpredictable Michigan weather. Randy will also talk to us about ways gardeners can help to encourage the health and number of honeybees. We will learn the importance of planting for pollinators.

Randy List has been a member of the Southeastern Michigan BeeKepers Asscoiation since 2019. His interest was piqued quite by accident. Randy was helping at his son’s apple orchard. Naturally honey bees were attracted to the fruit, which led to Randy becoming interested in studying the boney bee behavior. He and his son continue to work together raising honey bees and producing honey. Randy also enjoys teaching others about honey bees at Tollgate Farm and Education Center in Novi.

Learn more at www.canr.msu.edu/tollgate

John Blair will you along on his journey to both restore his land to original native prairie and also the creation of magnificent pollinator gardens on his rural property in Brooklyn. He will also cover the restoration of his wooded savanna and how is bringing three natural ponds back to life after being buried by farmers decades ago. Through John’s beautiful photos, you will get to see this wonderful transformation taking place, from hayfields back to lush native prairie habitat, much like what was originally there two hundred years ago!

Bio:
When John Blair retired from his automotive engineering job, he knew he would need something interesting to do with his time. He found it when he attended a presentation in the winter of 2012 by butterfly expert Brenda Sattler on making a butterfly garden with native plants as the focal point. John got busy that spring creating his own butterfly garden at his Westland home that over the next seven summers grew to over 5000 square feet in size with 130 species of native plants and 38 different species of butterfly visitors. In 2019, having filled all his available gardening space, John and his wife Sheri moved to a new home in rural Brooklyn, Michigan with about 9 acres of land that he is using to make even more butterfly and pollinator habitat through restoring large tracts of land to original prairie with native plants, creating a gigantic butterfly and pollinator habitat! John enjoys giving his inspirational talks to help others get started with their own pollinator habitats using native plants, which is something that means very much to him!

John’s garden has appeared in Fine Gardening magazine, Michigan Gardener, the Detroit Free Press and the Garden Answer YouTube channel. Over the last eight years, John has given his “How to Make a Butterly Garde” and Prairie Restoration talks to county Master Gardener organizations, Michigan State University, Greenfield village, numerous Michigan garden clubs, church groups and Nature clubs through southeast and mid-Michigan.

*Not a member of MGWWC? Join here:
MGWWC.org

Interested in listening to John Blair speak on this topic but don’t want to be a member? You can attend the event via Zoom for $5 . Please click here to pay for the event via Paypal.

This meeting will be hybrid (In Person at the library and via Zoom. The link will be sent via email.

Via Zoom

You’ve heard of starting seeds indoors to get a jump on Spring, but it’s also possible to start seeds outdoors in winter! Mother Nature does it all the time, and so can you. Find out how to mimic nature to sow outside—you don’t need grow lights, you’re not limited by indoor space restrictions, and your seedlings will be hardened-off and ready to plant
once they sprout in spring. Learn what plants to sow, what containers to use, how to care for the seeds, and how and when to transplant the seedlings.

Bio:
Monica Milla is a Master Gardener, master composter, and master rain gardener. She serves as Vice President of the Washtenaw Master Gardener Association and is on theGarden Committee at Washtenaw Community College, where she also teaches personal enrichment gardening classes.
She has served on the City of Ann Arbor. Elizabeth Dean Fund Committee and co-chaired the Garden Committee at her workplace, which grows produce for donation to
Food Gatherers.
Monica’s garden adventures started 30 years ago with a single container tomato. She can’t narrow down a favorite plant, but buckthorn is her sworn garden enemy!

*Not a member of MGWWC? Join here:
MGWWC.org

Meeting via Zoom. The link will be sent via email.

Meeting via Zoom and in person at the Westland Public Library

This month’s meeting is via Zoom. Please refer to your email from Master Gardeners of Western Wayne County for Zoom details

Educational Presentation: Join Us in Welcoming Carol Brodbeck as she teaches us about House Plants

Houseplants are totally dependent upon us to prosper.  Choose plants that match our growing conditions, buy healthy plants from reputable sources, and maintain them to their satisfaction--not ours.  In return, they will reward us with many benefits.

Carol Brodbeck is a degreed biologist and started her career in pharmaceutical research—helping to develop the influenza vaccine among many others at Parke-Davis in Detroit.  Transferred to P-D’s labs in Ann Arbor where she worked with a charter group responsible for introducing the use of computers into R&D.  Responsibilities grew to include designing from scratch and implementing many unique computer apps in R&D and later, in the worldwide Clinical Research. 

After taking early retirement, she earned her Advanced Master Gardener accreditation,  which led to her giving many presentations and workshops to varied audiences of diverse ages and backgrounds throughout Michigan and nationally. 

In 2007, she joined a garden club that is affiliated with the Internationally known National Garden Clubs, Inc.  Over the years, she achieved Five-Star status after earning Master status in its four nationally-acclaimed schools (Gardening, Environmental, Landscape Design, and Flower Show).  She served as co-chair of the 2016 NGC National Convention held in Grand Rapids and as State President (2017-19) of Michigan Garden Clubs, Inc.  During COVID, she provided monthly presentations via Zoom nationally.  Currently, she is serving as State Chair of the Flower Show School that is held in Ann Arbor. She also serves on many other MGC Committees. In addition, she gives monthly presentations at the Ypsilanti library, serves as part-time faculty at Washtenaw Community College, and writes monthly gardening/nature articles for her church’s newsletter. 

As a child, Carol always asked “Why?”  And she still does and updates her presentations with the newest research-based information.  Her greatest joy is seeing the eyes of a person light up when they learn something new or when she learns something new from one of her students.

She is “mom” to 2 daughters, “Nanna” to 2 plus their husband/partner, and “Granna” to an 18-month old lovely little boy. 

EMG’s: This Presentation qualifies as 1 hour of Education in Volunteer Central

**Membership Dues are now being accepted via Paypal or by mail.

 Visit MGWWC.org for further information

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

See you in the new year!

Via Zoom

Membership Check In at 6:30 p.m.

Presentation to follow at: 7:00 p.m.

Why fight against natiure and work harder than we need to, in our gardens? Permaculture enable you to work with nature rather than against it, utilizing the energy and resources on hand. Explore how to apply permaculture to your existing gardens and learn the tenchiquest of food forest gardening - aka perennial food systems - to understand the benefits of including perennial food in your garden and dinner plate!

Dr. Charlie Brennan and Bridget O’Brien are Directors of the international consultancy Garden Juju Collective; Directors of Gateway Farm Hub in Michigan, along with being the co-creators of Adapt Design Game. They teach and consult in US, UK, Portugal, and Australia. Recent projects include Al-Hadiqa Heritage Garden in Detroit, Michigan, and the redesign of Gateway Farm Hub in Plymouth, Michigan. Fully aware of the predicaments we are in, they work collectively towards sustainability, regeneration and healing with emphasis upon professional, and successful outcomes, and of course, the joy inherent in this vocation and craft.

Learn more at www.gartewayfarmplymouth.com.

6:30 p.m. - Membership Check-in

7:00 p.m. Presentation - Learning About Lavender

Online via Zoom: Visit www.mgwwc.org for link and instructions

Regina Hamlett, her husband Marty, their 3 children, and Regina’ s parent s live on their farm in Pinckney. Regina spent over 30 year s in the education and child development field, first as a teacher , later in administration. In 2020, she was laid of f and decided that her mom’ s dream of growing lavender with the family should be fulfilled. Since then, the lavender farm has grown to be a place of education and relaxation, including the cute lavender shed where Regina makes the bath and body product s and crafts to be sold at the farm. The farm al so has 55 healthy and happy hens that lay eggs, one happy rooster, and a duck with a crooked leg that loves to swim in her kiddie pool. In this lecture, learn which lavender types grow in your area, what type of soil is best for growing lavender , and more tips and tricks for growing healthy plant s . Additionally, learn how lavender can help us phys ically and mentally in our daily li fe. Find more information about Regina’ s family lavender farm at www.hamlettlavender farm.com

6:30 p.m. - Check-in

7:00 p.m. - Presentation: The Late Show by Cheryl English

Fall is often a difficult time in the midwestern garden - unless you look to native plants. From Asters to Goldenrods, learn how you can extend your gardening season through the judicious selection of Michigan species at their best for the best exciting Late Show of all.

Cheryl M. English is an Advanced Master Gardener living in Detroit. Formally educated as an Art Historian, Cheryl has parlayed her varied training and experience into a career as a profressional gardener, artist, writer and garden and art educator. She has volunteered with The Greening of Detroit, Master of Gardeners of Greater Detroit, the Detroit Garden Center and the Wildflower Association of Michigan, Cheryl penned the fist article on native plants to appear in Michigan Gardener in May 2012