Clallam Master Gardeners to celebrate 40th anniversary this week

By Sequim Gazette Staff • August 9, 2021 5:15 pm
At right is Sally Tysver, Class of 1991, the longest serving Clallam County Master Gardener, pictured with fellow Master Gardener, Barbara Heckard, Class of 2013. Tysver is celebrating 30 years of service to the community this year. Photo courtesy of Clallam County Master Gardeners
At right is Sally Tysver, Class of 1991, the longest serving Clallam County Master Gardener, pictured with fellow Master Gardener, Barbara Heckard, Class of 2013. Tysver is celebrating 30 years of service to the community this year. Photo courtesy of Clallam County Master Gardeners

The Clallam County Master Gardener Program is celebrating its 40th birthday in 2021!

Retired Clallam County Master Gardener volunteers are invited to join the celebration on Wednesday, Aug. 11 , at the Woodcock Demonstration Garden, 2711 Woodcock Road.

Interested parties should contact Laurel Moulton, at 360-565-2679 or laurel.moulton@wsu.edu for more information about attending or sharing memories to incorporate in the celebration.

Over the past 40 years, more than 700 Clallam County gardeners have finished the rigorous training class and gone on to serve the communities sustainable gardening needs. The current roster of 133 volunteers includes 29 members of the class of 2021, and the longest serving active volunteer, Sally Tysver, hailing from the class of 1991.

The Master Gardener training class for new volunteers is currently offered in alternate years, with the next class scheduled for the winter of 2023.

Over 40 years the Clallam County Master Gardeners have evolved from answering plant questions to owning a demonstration garden and offering regular educational garden walks and an annual garden tour. Master Gardener volunteers offer lectures, workshops and demonstrations on topics as diverse as growing food, gardening in the time of climate change, protecting pollinators, soil health, water conservation, wildfire preparedness, and introducing new food and ornamental plant varieties that stretch our local growing knowledge.

Master Gardeners traditionally visit each second grade classroom in the county each year to teach about plants, facilitate the garden club at the Sequim Boys & Girls Club, and collaborate with 4-H to offer a 4-H Garden Club.

The Plant Answer Clinic, the longest running service offered by the Clallam County Master Gardeners, has changed with the times, and is now offered online as well as in person.

The Washington State University Extension Master Gardener Program started in Pierce and King Counties in 1972 in response to the increasing interest in home gardening in western Washington. The Clallam County Master Gardener Program started in 1981, less than 10 years later.

In the years since, the program has been implemented throughout the U.S. and Canada, and as far as South Korea to help communities garden in a more sustainable manner.

For more information contact Laurel Moulton, WSU Clallam County Master Gardener Program Coordinator, at 360-565-2679.