Workshop to help prepare landscapers for warmer weather

Ohio State University Extension hosting ‘Grow It Yourself’ at Lakeland

Recent warm weather and its welcome preview of spring got many of us thinking about our lawns and gardens — the year-round preoccupation for the Lake County Master Gardeners volunteers.

That group, part of the Painesville-based Ohio State University Extension service, presents “Grow It Yourself” for home gardeners in a daylong program March 11 at Lakeland Community College in Kirtland. It’s the 20th such program presented here.

They’ve gathered landscape and horticultural experts to present a series of 75-minute workshops for gardeners on

topics that range from choosing small trees for home landscape to learning how to organically manage the insects with which we share the world.

Learn what to plant to attract birds to your garden from Cynthia Druckenbrod, horticulture director for the Cleveland Botanical Garden. Discover how to predict bloom time and insect activity from Denise Ellsworth, OSU Department of Entomology director. And learn about container gardening for small spaces from Noelle Clark Akin from Northeast Ohio’s Petitti Garden Centers.

Bill Hendrick from Klyn Nurseries will help you liven up shady areas with carefully selected perennials that will bring splashes of color to the

home landscape, while Pamela J. Bennett, from OSU Extension in Clark County, will talk about new annuals that will give maximum color all season with no deadheading.

A dozen presenters will conduct 12 sessions on these topics and others, including gardening for those with creaky bones, starting and managing community gardens, easy ways to fix common lawn problems and ways the average person can help with the crisis faced by Monarch butterflies. Those who attend Eric Barrett’s “Vegetable Gardening Tips & Tricks” may just harvest the best crops they’ve ever had.

Those who sign up will choose sessions in four timeframes, each separated by a break. First and second choices are requested, with choices assigned in the order registrations are received.

Lunch will be offered in the college’s Breakers Dining Room. A Vendor’s Row will be open during the 11:45 a.m. lunch hour, when participants can shop among garden-related booths staffed by those offering handcrafted herbs, oils, honey, lavender, candles and pottery creations.

The 8 a.m.-to-3:30 p.m. workshop costs $48 for those registering by March 6. After that, it will cost $55. Those fees include lunch and handouts.

Registration is best by mail, and forms can be downloaded at www.lake.osu.edu. Call the extension office at 440-3502582 for details.