Whidbey Gardening Workshop Central - 2010

Stinger Anderson: Stinger Anderson (MG) is the superintendent of poultry for the Island County Fair and co-leader of the Rock'n Doodle 4-H Poultry club. He shares “Working Girls” Farm on south Whidbey with his 50 close friends that happen to lay eggs and provide food for his table.
Bob Barca: Bob Barca, (MG) he has been gardening on Whidbey Island since 1980. His “Hummingbird Hill Garden" is a wildlife sanctuary with year round appeal and many unique water features. BA, MS in Chemistry.
Linda Bartlett: Linda Bartlett of Rosehip Farm & Garden a small, diversified organic farm. We grow over 30 vegetables including heirloom varieties.
Anne Baum: Anne Baum, (MG) a Master Gardener since 2003, has been developing gardens on her central Whidbey property since 2002.
Leslie Born: Leslie Born is a colored pencil artist enjoying drawing florals, animals and landscapes. Gardening and art are her passions. Working in local nurseries had greatly increased her enthusiasm and addiction to plants.
Virginia Brown: Virginia Brown previous life was as a biology professor teaching many different courses, but at heart is a botanist. Since retiring and moving to Coupeville, she has been active in the Coupeville Garden Club including stints as President and Chair of the Greenhouse Plant Committee.
Scott Chase: Scott Chase is the coordinator for WSU Extension's Shore Stewards Program. He is also a WSU Beach Watcher and a WSU Waste Wise Volunteer.
Maryanne Coffey: Maryanne Coffey (MG), rosarian, rose judge for ARS for over 10 years, and a member of the American Rose Society for 30 years, and Master Gardener.
Barbara Collier: Barbara Collier (MG) learned gardening at her mother's knee and considers herself a lifetime gardener. In her previous life, she taught high school. Currently, she is a Master Gardener, a member of the Rhododendron Society and the Villa Montalvo Arboretum Service Group.
Maribeth Crandell: Maribeth Crandell is the Environmental Educator for the City of Oak Harbor. She's worked from the Columbia River to SE Alaska as a naturalist and educator but has returned to work on community issues.
June Davis: June Davis is a certified professional horticulturist who has been in the nursery industry for 20 years. She has worked with breeders to bring new and unusual plants to market.
Steve & Martha Ellis: Martha and Steve Ellis are local naturalists who have been leading walks and giving talks on a wide range of natural history topics for more than 20 years. Steve is the Vice President of the Whidbey Audubon Society and Martha is a member of the Washington Native Plant Society.
Dominique Emerson: Dominique Emerson(MG) is a landscape specialist focusing on rural gardens. She has spent the last ten years developing a 13 acre garden on Whidbey that began as a clear-cut and is now an oasis.
Mary Fiddler: Mary Fiddler has been experimenting for the last 5-6 years with different ways to grow tomatoes. Every year, except the one with late blight, has been a success. Still working out the winter crops timing, she has had great success with her other veggies. Her “real job” is turning an overgrazed pasture into a wildlife habitat by reforesting with Garry oaks, camas and restoring hedgerows and islands of other shrubbery.
Mary Fisher: Mary Fisher (MG) owns the oldest nursery on Whidbey Island, Cultus Bay Nursery. Articles of her nursery have been in Sunset and Better Homes and Gardens and the New York Times.
Toni Grove: Toni Grove(MG) is an herbalist with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Herbal Sciences from Bastyr University.
Janet Hall: Janet Hall is the WSU/Island County Waste Wise Volunteer Coordinator. Her passion is to educate the public on ways to reduce waste by concentrating on composting, recycling, sustainable living, and septic systems.
Bob Hart: Bob Hart is the owner of Hart's Nursery. He has 50 years experience in the nursery, florist, and landscape industry.
Susan Horton: Susan Horton has 6 years experience as the Island County Weed Coordinator and has a degree in Biology from WWU.
Jim Kropf: Jim Kropf has been the Northwest District Director for WSU Extension since 1999. He has previous experience as an agronomist and horticulturalist for the WSU Extension.
Virginia Lathrop: Virginia Lathrop (MG) traveled/lived with her Minister husband in Jordan, Lebanon, Germany and Japan giving her a wide range of microclimates to garden in. After retirement, she completed her Master Gardener program in 1999. Moving to Oak Harbor in 2001, she uses her wide and varied background to enrich the community.
Don Lee: Don Lee (MG) is a past president of the Meerkerk Rhododendron Gardens and a member of the Island County Water Resources Advisory Committee. Don was awarded the Master Gardener of the Year for Washington State in 2009.
Bill McInvaille: Bill McInvaille has been using greenhouses for 15 years as an extension for his organic gardening. For the last 2 years, he has been building metal hoop houses. He has an MS in Wildlife Ecology and taught high school and college for 16 years.
Deborah Mitchell: Deb Mitchell was transplanted from the midwest where she earned her degree in Horticulture, specializing in fruit production. Her weed-strewn gardens are a testament to her many volunteer hours for gardening education spent elsewhere.
Anza Muenchow: Anza Muenchow has been farming on Whidbey for the past 8 years. She has a small CSA called MAHA Farm (an acronym for all the family members). She is president of South Whidbey Tilth and was the Master Gardener coordinator for King County in the 90s. Her other love is children's gardens.
Vince Nattress: Vince Nattress has cooked his way around the world. His restaurant, Roux, in the Napa Valley was named one of the top 10 restaurants in 2001. He has been featured in national publications such as Food & Wine, Food Arts, and Travel & Leisure among others. His passions include foraging, fishing and crabbing, as well as puttering in the garden.
David Neel: David Neel owns and operates Island Apiaries and is also president of the Whidbey Beekeepers Association. David started beekeeping at the age of 6 with his uncle in North Georgia. He currently operates 300 hives on Whidbey and the surrounding areas and hopes to expand to 500 this season. Island Apiaries focuses on honey production, developing bees suited to the Pacific Northwest and education.
Marcia Nelson: Marcia Nelson (MG) has over thirty years gardening on two coasts and in the Midwest, professional nurseryman, and Master Gardener.
Jim O'Connor: Jim O'Conner (MG) has expertise in pruning and teaching pruning. He is the owner of Jim's Garden Service for 25+ years and is a Master Gardener.
Dave Pehling: Dave Pehling has worked for Washington State University Cooperative Extension for over twenty-five years in Snohomish County. He received his Bachelor of Science in Zoology from the University of Washington in 1974. Dave's main interests and job responsibilities include Mammalogy, Entomology, and Botany; with an emphasis on pest management.
Cary Peterson: Cary Peterson is the Garden Coordinator for the Good Cheer Food Bank Garden and is also the coordinator of the Whidbey institute Westgarden and “Learning from the Land” program. Cary has 20 years experience gardening on South Whidbey.
Chuck Pettis: Chuck Pettis, founder of Earth Sanctuary (www.earthsanctuary.org) author of Secrets of Sacred Space and Techo Brands. He believes in taking personal responsibility for creating a healthier environment for future.
Wally Prestbo: Wally Prestbo (MG) has been a King County master gardener for 14 years and is responsible for the Tomatoes at Bellevue Demonstration Garden and their Master Gardener Plant sale.
Jackie Richards: Jackie Richards is a certified Feng Shui consultant and an avid gardener. After completing her certification, she traveled to China to continue her eduction, visiting many gardens along the way. In her own garden, she has created a “living” bagua. She authored, “A Feng Shui Landscaping Guide for the Pacific Coast Gardener.”
Sarah Richards: Sarah Richards is owner of Lavender Wind Farm in Coupeville, a favorite destination for lavender lovers, artists, photographers, and for weddings and special events throughout the long blooming season.
Phil & Lydia Sikes: Phil and Lydia Sikes, are owners of Whidbey Wild Bird in Oak Harbor and members of Whidbey Audubon. Phil is North Conservation Chair of Audubon, and Lydia (MG) is on the Habitat Team for the Whidbey Island Wildlife Habitat Project.
Stacy Smith: Stacy Smith holds a BS and MS in Environmental Science. She has been working for the Conservation District on Low Impact Development (LID) education and outreach as well as other conservation projects.
Steve & Donna Stansberry: Steve and Donna Stansberry have been Master Gardener movers and shakers for years. A visit to their home can be awe inspiring as they've nurtured every square foot of their extensive gardens and have extensive hardscaping features.
Eric Studebaker: Eric Studebaker has 25 years of full-time nursery work experience and is the manager/buyer of Bayview Farm and Garden.
Richard Tamura: Richard Tamura (MG) is an avid peony grower and a Master Gardener since 1995. He is a founding member of the Pacific Northwest Peony Society and current member of the National Peony Society.
Craig Weinston: Dr. Craig Weinston, DC, has been a practicing chiropractor for 18 years, the last 6 on Whidbey as the Director of the Chiropractic Zone in Freeland. He is passionate about working in a holistic manner with his patients as well as educating them as to how to prevent injuries and illness. He provides weekly classes at his office on various aspects of complementary healing as well as subjects such as Healthy Workplace Ergonomics, Dr. Craig's Best Back Exercises, and Injury Prevention for Shoulders, Knees and Elbows/Wrists.
Bud Wilkinson: Bud Wilkinson (MG), all round expert on the care and use of hand and power tools. An invaluable person to the Master Gardener program, as he keeps our ancient garden equipment running.
John Wilson: John Wilson, owner of Swede Hill Dahlia and Sunflower Farm, specializes in field grown and greenhouse dahlias and sunflowers, and harvests over 10,000 flowers for market. A former school principal and award-winning photographer with the Boeing Museum of Flight, John and his wife Kathy have been widely published.