Horticultural Therapy & Therapeutic Horticulture: Definitions & Examples of Practice with Lead Diehl

Elizabeth (Leah) Diehl, RLA, HTM is Director of Therapeutic Horticulture at Wilmot Botanical Gardens and Lecturer in the Environmental Horticulture Department at the University of Florida. She is a licensed landscape architect, master gardener, and professionally registered horticultural therapist, and trainings on horticultural therapy, healing gardens, and related topics throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Sustainable Vegetable Production with Ashley Jernigan

This session covers management practices that affect the soil biological processes necessary for sustainable crop production, with a focus on nutrient management and soil disturbance. It also explores soil biological communities, their role in plant growth, and how you can assess soil biological health.

Turfgrass Disease Management with Elisabeth Kitchin

This session covers essential practices for maintaining turfgrass lawns, including proper mowing, irrigation, and fertilization. It also explores strategies for preventing, identifying, and managing common turfgrass diseases, with practical advice for achieving healthy, resilient lawns.

Brassica Disease Management with Marian Grskovich and Emma Nieland

In this presentation, we discussed the main fungal, bacterial, and viral diseases of home-grown brassica species. Sensible management methods will also be examined, ranging from cultural practices to pesticides. This includes a quick guide of symptoms, diseases, and treatments to help home-gardeners produce pristine, delicious vegetables they can be proud of.

*Note: this webinar contains unpublished research and is only available by clicking to view in the VT media player.

Invasive Plants, Restoration and the Sound of Urban Streams with Gabrielle Ripa

Gabrielle Ripa is a PhD student at Virginia Tech who is studying how to limit invasive plants on stream restoration projects in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Because of her background in wildlife ecology, Gabrielle is also seeking to connect the changes to the stream environment, due to invasion and restoration, to the animal community through acoustic monitoring. She hopes her work can inform the design of restoration projects that are better at recovering both plant and animal communities. In this presentation, Gabrielle will present her PhD work on acoustic monitoring of stream ecosystems and the impact invasive species have on the acoustic landscape.

Invasion Biology Wrap-Up with Jacob Barney

Jacob Barney currently serves as the Director of the Invasive Species Collaborative (ISC). The ISC is a faculty collaborative that began in the Global Change Center at Virginia Tech with support from the Fralin Life Sciences Institute and the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost. The ISWG nurtures transdisciplinary collaborations and partnerships with government agencies, NGOs, industry, and communities to promote a deep understanding of the impacts of invasive species on ecosystems and society, and foster an inclusive environment where science and policy meet to tackle this global challenge.

Resources:

• Presentation Slides (PDF)
• IPBES

Articles:

• “Interactions between resource availability and enemy release in plant invasion.” Blumenthal 2006
• “System-level changes following invasion caused by disruption of functional relationships among plant and soil properties.” Tekiela and Barney 2015
• “Grass invasion increases top-down pressure on an amphibian via structurally mediated effects on an intraguild predator.” DeVore and Maerz
• “Nonnative plants reduce population growth of an insectivorous bird.”Narango et al
• “Economic and environmental threats of alien plant, animal, and microbe invasions.”Pimental et al

Growing Peaches at Home with Andy Rollins

In this session, Andy Rollins of South Carolina Extension covers peach growing basics for home gardeners. Peaches are a great choice for Virginia gardeners interested in fruit production–Andy will give us all tips for a successful peach crop!

About the Speaker: Andy Rollins is the Horticultural Agent for the upstate of SC. He is specialized in commercial fruit and vegetable production and assists new growers with problem diagnosis and multiple decisions including soil testing/preparation, location/size of the planting, spray choices, calibration, and variety selection. Andy is actively involved in research projects with Clemson University as well as USDA-ARS specialists, and also does some new product testing.

Resources

• “Growing Peaches and Nectarines in Virginia”
• “2024 Home Grounds and Animals Pest Management Guide”

The Coreopsis That Died Probably Wasn’t Your Fault: Growing Reliable Perennials In and For the Garden with Paul Westervelt

In this session, Paul Westervelt of Saunders Brothers Inc. will share his extensive knowledge and expertise on choosing perennials for your landscape. Paul will discuss perennials for fall planting and/or fall color.

About the Speaker: Paul Westervelt is a professional plant geek who has run the annual and perennial program for Saunders Brothers Nursery in Piney River, Virginia since 2004, where he grows over 800 varieties across 13 programs. As Director of New Plant Research and Development, he oversees production and ground trials of new varieties for the nursery. In addition to speaking at industry events around the country, Paul’s written for Fine Gardening and GrowerTalks. His photography appears in New Naturalism by Kelly Norris and Prairie Up by Benjamin Vogt.

Plant list (.docx)

September 24 | Tree Pruning Seminar | Jim McGlone

In your basic training you learned how to prune trees and shrubs. Although some of the ways we prune different types of plants seem contradictory, these methods are all based on manipulating the plants’ biology. This class will cover how the evolution and biology of woody plants drives the ways we prune woody plants. Knowing the why may make it easier to remember the how. The focus of the class will be on dicot trees. 

July 10 | Control and Management of Invasive Plants with Lauren Taylor, Executive Director, Blue Ridge PRISM

During this online workshop, you will learn how to best manage invasive plants during the specific season. Slide deck (Canva)

• Best seasonal practices for specific invasive plants
• The right tools
• Using manual & mechanical control methods
• Methods for controlling invasive plants with careful use of herbicides
• Planning a work schedule with best timings for multiple plants

Additional resources:

• Virginia Invasive Plants ID & Control Tool (new app)
• Blue Ridge PRISM Control & Management Resources
• Blue Ridge PRISM Fact Sheets
• Virginia Invasive Plant Coalition – ID & Control Resources

May 14 | Social Media Basics

Are you responsible for your local unit Facebook page? Want to learn to help with social media content. Hayley Conrad, Social Media Manager for CALS and VCE joins us to provide basic information on social media for EMGs.

April 22 | Overview of Invasive Forest Insect Pests in VA – Liv Andrews

PhD candidate Liv Andrews shares her exciting work on biological control of the hemlock woolly adelgid and more news on forest pests in Virginia.

March 18 | Piedmont EMGs and Habitat for Humanity Partnership – Ralph Morini and Rozanne Oliver, Piedmont Extension Master Gardener

Piedmont EMGs have successfully worked with their local Habitat for Humanity to ensure that new homeowners have the skills and materials they need to succeed with their new landscapes. Learn about their program and partnership.

Additional resources:

• Native plant list (.docx)
• Native landscaping plant recommendations (.xlsx)

February 16 | Gravel Bed Planting Project with Barb Bailey, Loudoun Extension Master Gardener Coordinator

Loudoun Extension Master Gardeners maintain a gravel bed planting project where they raise trees that will be planted at Tree Steward sites. Gravel beds are irrigated bed or pile of gravel where woody plants are planted for several months to increase fibrous root systems.

Additional resources:

All you need to know about community gravel beds Busiahn, Jacob; Peterson, Sean (2013)

“Better root systems with gravel beds” Eric Kuehler, USDA Forest Service

October 18 – Virginia Native Trees – Adam Downing

Adam Downing, joins us to celebrate Virginia Native Trees!

September 15 – Fall into your lawn with Dr. Mike Goatley

What are the most important steps in rejuvenating cool season lawns and preparing warm season lawns for the winter?

Calling Dr. Turf series

August 18 at 10:00 am – Forest Health Update, Lori Chamberlin VDOF

Learn about the most common pests and diseases in Virginia’s forests. This presentation will teach participants how to identify forest health disturbance agents, and how to prevent damage. Our speaker, Lori Chamberlin, is the Forest Health Manager for the Virginia Department of Forestry.

July 20 | Hydroponics: Industry to Home Use

This talk will introduce hydroponics, discuss the pros and cons, describe various systems used and crops grown, highlight the industry, and describe how you can grow hydroponically at home.

May 12 | Invasive Plant Management 

Dr. Laurie Fox and Ed Olsen will give a presentation on invasive plant management and answer questions on the topic. This presentation will be available as a MG resource after the webinar.

Invasive plant handout DOCX

Presentation slides PPTX

April 20 | Compost Basics and Beyond, Panorama Paydirt

Join Margaret and Noah Bloom of Panorama Paydirt for a deep dive into compost!

March 24 | The Value of Trees, Dr. Laurie Fox

Dr. Laurie Fox gives tips and an overview of a presentation template that EMGs can customize and use for talks to civic leagues, homeowner associations, garden clubs, etc.

Presentation Template PPTX

Presentation Handout PDF

August 19 | Virginia’s Natural Heritage Program

Join Tyler Urgo, the Shenandoah Valley Regional Steward for the Virginia Natural Heritage Program shares how this program is conserving Virginia’s biodiversity through inventory, protection, and stewardship.

April 15| EMG Online Training with Canvas

oin Fairfax EMGs as they discuss their switch to online training for new EMGs, what lessons they’ve learned, and share recommendations for other units taking on virtual training. This session will focus on the use of Canvas.

March 18, 2021 | Vegetable Grafting for the Home Gardener

Why & How to Graft Your Own Transplants with Josh Kardos of VT SPES. Dr. Kardos has also provided this demo video of vegetable grafting, click here.

February 18, 2021 | Building Strong EMG Mentor Programs

This webinar focuses on the importance of mentoring programs and how you can build one for your unit.

• Dr. Leonard Githinji, VSU – How to create and maintain a productive raised bed garden in your backyard
• Alex Hessler, VT SPES – Successful seeding and transplanting in the home garden”
• Ed Olsen – Container Gardening
• Dr. Marcus comer, Gardening Beyond the Backyard
• Michelle Prysby, Gardening For Wildlife
• Joel Koci, Intro to woody plants
• Chris Epes, Watering
• Evan O’Niell, Tomatoes
• Laura Maxey Nay, garden insects
• Susan Cheek, cut flowers

• Adria Bordas – Disease
• Amy – Garden safety
• Jayesh Samtani -Small fruits
• Josh Kardos – Hydrangeas
• Gaylynn Johnson – Fall garden
• Dawn Barnes – Processing: canning, water bath
• Sandy Stoneman – Processing: canning, pressure
• Susan Prillaman – Processing: freezing
• Dave Close – Firewise landscaping
• Mark Reiter – Cover Crops
• Chris Mullins – Season extenders
• Kathleen Reed – Succulents and propagation