Horticulturist Cautions: Avoid the 7 Deadly Sins

The featured speaker for the Orcas Island Garden Club meeting on May 18 will be Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott, who will help us recognize The “Rights” of Spring: Avoid Seven Deadly Sins When Planting Trees and Shrubs.

Linda Chalker-Scott has a Ph.D. in Horticulture from Oregon State University and is an ISA certified arborist. She will discuss problems in gardens and orchards pertaining to plant diseases and common pests, whether they are abiotic or biotic.

This topic, which touches gardeners everywhere on Orcas Island, will be presented at 10 a.m. in the Madrona Room of Orcas Center.

Linda Chalker-Scott is WSU’s Extension Urban Horticulturist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture.  She is trained as a woody plant physiologist and applies this knowledge to understanding how trees and shrubs function in urban environments.

This is a fancy way of saying she enjoys diagnosing landscape failures – sort of a Horticultural CSI thing.  She is a regular contributor and science editor for Master Gardener Magazine, a Washington-based publication that presents scientifically valid information to a popular gardening audience.

Her first book, The Informed Gardener (2008, University of Washington Press ), is an award-winning examination of some common horticultural myths.  The sequel – The Informed Gardener Blooms Again – has just been published by UW Press.  She has also just released Sustainable Landscapes and Gardens: good science – practical application (2009, GFG Inc.), a 22 chapter book which she edited and jointly authored with 20 colleagues.

This is an excellent opportunity to pick up vital information to help you bring health to your trees and shrubs. Contact Marlyn Myers at 376-6110 or go to www.orcasislandgardenclub.org for further information.