Sign up soon for Whidbey Gardening Workshop

Want to learn to love your garden, save your back and have more time in your life? Valerie Easton, Langley resident and author of “The New Low Maintenance Garden,” will explain how in her keynote address at this year’s Whidbey Gardening Workshop on Saturday, March 20 at Coupeville Middle/High School.

A columnist for The Seattle Times, Easton is the author of four books on gardening including Artists and Their Gardens, Plant Life: Growing a Garden in the Pacific Northwest and A Pattern Garden.

“I see a lot of grand gardens in my work,” Easton said, “a lot of really impressive gardens, and I wanted to see how inexpensively and simply I could make a garden that was very satisfying and personal and productive. The book started in my own backyard in Langley, but then we went all over the country, the photographer and I, to find other people – both designers and gardeners – doing really innovative, clever things to cut down on maintenance and simplify their gardening lives.”

The March 20 workshop is a chance to find out more about these tips and techniques. In addition, local experts will offer 55 classes on a wide range of other gardening topics from orchard care to beekeeping.

“I think as you read the book,” Easton said, “it’s about sustainability, and what makes sense in regard to water and resources, for the earth as well as ourselves. It’s a balance that everybody needs to find and interpret for themselves. You wind up with the garden you love by thinking through what appeals to you and why.”

The Whidbey Gardening Workshop is presented by Whidbey Island Master Gardeners. The cost is $35 and lunch may be purchased for $8. Registration begins Feb. 15 online at www.island.wsu.edu, or by calling 240-5527 to request a registration packet by mail.

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