Seminar participants browsed the “marketplace” during breaks and lunch hour.
WHITE STONE—Garden enthusiasts from the Northern Neck and beyondattended the recent Northern Neck Master Gardeners’ Gardening in the Northern Neck seminar at the White Stone Church of the Nazarene.
They reconnected with each other, and sought new ways to be more successful this year with their gardens, reported communications chairman Cathie Ward. Nationally recognized entomologist Dr. Doug Tallamy and landscape design expert Rick Darke were the featured speakers, teaming up to explain evolving concepts in garden design that go beyond the merely decorative to emphasize functionality and environmental impact.
“We have come to see plants only as decorations, but we need to consider their vital ecological roles as well when selecting them for our landscapes,” said Tallamy.
He is passionate about the need to restore wildlife corridors of native plant habitat in backyards, as the last best hope for slowing the rate of extinction of the plants and animals that were once common throughout the U.S. This starts with re-introducing native plants into home landscapes that support insect communities and ultimately the birds that depend on them for food, particularly in raising their young.
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