WSU Clallam County Master Gardener Laurel Moulton will present information on the benefits wasps and hornets bring to the garden and the environment as a whole at noon Thursday, Aug. 28, at the Green Thumb Garden Tips Brown Bag educational series in the commissioners meeting room at the Clallam County Courthouse.

This talk will cover identification and habits of common members of the Vespid family (“true wasps”), how they relate to other bees, and bee-mimics, and how gardeners benefit from the activities of these insects. WSU recommended techniques for trapping and managing nuisance hornet and wasp colonies also will be covered.

Moulton has been a Master Gardener in Clallam County or in Oregon since 2006, and has taught basic entomology and other topics for Master Gardeners for three years. She has a master’s degree in horticulture with a minor in entomology from Oregon State University.

Moulton has worked as a botanist, a restorer of native plant communities and a farm hand.  She worked for the Clallam County Noxious Weed Program and WSU Clallam County Master Gardner Program before recently joining the Elwha River revegetation project.

The Green Thumbs Garden Tips brown bag series is held on the second and fourth Thursday of every month. Presentations occur from noon-1 p.m. in the county commissioners meeting room at the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St. in Port Angeles. Attendees may bring a lunch.

The educational series, sponsored by the WSU Clallam County Master Gardener Program and the Master Gardener Foundation of Clallam County, is free and open to the public.

For questions, call 417-2279.