Learn about growing in greenhouses for sustenance, soul

By Sequim Gazette Staff • March 4, 2020 1:30 am
Leilani Wood shares a smile after nourishing the plants — and her soul — in one of many Sunny Farms’ greenhouses she co-manages. Photo by Betty Harriman
Leilani Wood shares a smile after nourishing the plants — and her soul — in one of many Sunny Farms’ greenhouses she co-manages. Photo by Betty Harriman

UPDATE: — MD

The Thursday, March 12 Master Gardener Green Thumb Garden Tips Lecture Series will only be available via live stream until COVID-19 public health concerns are reduced, program officials said this week.

Tune in to watch, “Growing in Greenhouses for Sustenance and the Soul” by Leilani Wood, online by going to www.clallam.net/features/meetings.html and click on “Master Gardener Green Thumb Lecture” in the event menu.

Leilani Wood, an authority on greenhouses who co-manages 30,000 square feet of greenhouse growing space for Sunny Farms Country Store and Nursery, will share her knowledge and expertise from noon-1 p.m. Thursday, March 12.

The in-person presentation was scheduled to take place at the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles.

Wood will offer “Growing in Greenhouses for Sustenance and the Soul,” a Green Thumbs Garden Tips Education Series presentation about which plants grow well and which to avoid, the conditions necessary for optimal growth (temperature, light, air, soil and water) and how best to control these factors in a greenhouse.

Like other Green Thumbs Garden Tips events, Woods’ presentation is free and open to the public; however, donations are accepted.

Woods’ enthusiasm for and mastery of greenhouses and growing in greenhouses earned her a spot as a featured speaker for the Northwest Garden & Flower Show in Seattle. She also speaks regularly to local garden clubs on her three specialties: greenhouses,beneficial insect controls in greenhouses, and topiaries.

Wood started college in Alaska and explored a variety of career paths including cartography, theater costume design and viticulture before attending Washington State University, obtaining a degree in ornamental horticulture. She moved back to the Olympic Peninsula in 1991 and sold plants out of the back of her truck for a couple of years until she opened Rainshadow Greenhouse — a business she owned and operated for 10 years.

According to Wood, she has worked in her current position for eight — or two years, depending on how it is counted, since her anniversary is Leap Day, Feb. 29.

This presentation is part of the Green Thumbs Garden Tips Education Series lectures sponsored by WSU Clallam County Master Gardeners and occur on the second and fourth Thursday each month.

For more information, call 360-565-2679.