Speakers Bureau
Are you looking for a pre-recorded program to show to your group? Explore our readily available options below. More information can be found on our Learning Resources page.
Are you looking for a live speaker to present a program to your group? The following is a current list of topics available through the Virginia Beach Master Gardener Speakers' Bureau. To request one of these programs, please complete this form. These programs are designed for adult audiences. For youth and children's programs, please visit our Youth Programs page.
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AREC Garden Tours:
Hampton Roads Agricultural Research & Extension Center, at 1444 Diamond Springs Road - AREC General Walking Tour Enjoy this general walking tour and learn the history of the AREC grounds, visit the varied Theme Gardens (annual, perennial, herb & vegetable, pollinator & trial gardens), and/or take in the informative Arboretum. These tours can be designed to the needs of the group, and will be led by a Master Gardener. Open Year Round Handouts Available: Yes - AREC Water Steward Teaching Gardens
Backyard Composting Let’s talk trash! Get answers to your questions about composting – even the ones you’re afraid to ask. This talk covers the basics of establishing a backyard compost, various methods of composting, and how to maintain it. Vermiculture (worm composting) is an optional topic that can be requested with this presentation. Handouts Available: Yes PowerPoint: Yes Time: 30 or 45 minutes Speaker: Eileen Walsh Concrete Leaf Casting Learn how to make a concrete leaf casting for use as a bird bath, feeder, or decorative garden art. This presentation can be either a demonstration or a hands-on workshop. Handouts Available: Yes PowerPoint: No Time: 45 minutes Speaker: Eileen Walsh Container Gardening Learn the important elements of putting together your own container garden: how to plant, choosing the right container, picking and arranging the plants, and taking care of the container throughout the season and beyond. Focus can be on flowers in the container and/or containers including vegetables. Handouts Available: Yes PowerPoint: Yes Time: 30 or 45 minutes Speaker: Mary Hubbard Have Fun with Daylilies, the Perfect Perennial The daylily is more than a pretty face! That face is suitable for all types of landscapes. It’s drought tolerant and has relatively few pest & disease problems. Blooms late Spring to Autumn with very little care required. The perfect perennial adapts to various soils and has many varieties of colors, forms, heights, sizes, and textures. This presentation explores the fun and the appeal of having daylilies in your garden. Handouts Available: Yes PowerPoint: Yes Time: 40 - 45 minutes Speaker: Vernelle Curtis Destination Trees: Trees to visit on your next road trip Don’t know where to go on your next road trip? Make a tree your destination and see parts of the country you may have not seen before. Start locally with the Emancipation Oak and “branch” outward from there. Go to Utah to visit Pando while you’re visiting the national parks there. Visit the bristlecone pine, a tree that existed when Stonehenge was being built and the pyramids were not yet built. Visit a live oak that was saved due to a lie published in the newspaper. Trees can give you a glimpse into weird pruning styles, human history, and the joy of forest bathing. Handouts Available: Yes PowerPoint: Yes Time: 30 or 45 minutes Speaker: Sherry Kern The Essence of Tree Chatter: How Trees Communicate with Each Other and the Roles Played by Fungi As more research is being done, we are understanding the notion that trees can communicate with each other via a vast underground network of fungal mycelium that connects with trees’ roots. How does this happen? Books such as “Finding the Mother Tree” by Suzanne Simard, “Entangled Life” by Merlin Sheldrake, and “The Hidden Life of Trees” by Peter Wohlleben have piqued our interest in this vast topic. This talk breaks down the information into manageable bites that help us to “discover the wisdom of the forest” as stated by Simard. Handouts Available: No PowerPoint: Yes Time: 45 minutes Speaker: Sherry Kern Ghosts of Evolution and the Trees That Have Not Caught Up Learn about plants that lost their living seed dispersers, plants with megafauna-adapted traits and now of little to no use, and plants chronologically out of place. Think about nonhuman consumers of avocadoes, osage oranges, and paw paws. When was the last time you saw a giant ground sloth or a mastodon? Yet their food sources still hang around. What other trees have not caught up with evolution? Handouts Available: No PowerPoint: Yes Time: 45 minutes Speaker: Sherry Kern |
Herbs: Aromatic, Culinary & Medicinal
Plants classified as herbs have been used in aromatic, culinary, and medicinal ways universally since recorded history. Learn about their past and current use as deodorizers, perfumes, food flavors, food preparation and preservation, medical treatments, and in funeral practice. Handouts Available: Yes PowerPoint: No Time: 30 - 45 minutes Speaker: Yolanda Reavis Jumpstart Your Garden with Seeds Find out how to extend your garden season by starting seeds indoors. This PowerPoint-based talk covers indoor seed sowing, seedling care, and transplanting. The presentation is appropriate for high school and adult ages. Handouts Available: Yes PowerPoint: Yes Time: 45 - 60 minutes Speaker: Deb Henry Miniature Gardens Learn about the fundamentals of creating a miniature garden. Presentation will include discussion of outdoor and/or indoor gardens, succulent container gardens, terrariums and aeriums. Discussion will include choosing the right container, soil, choosing plants, how to plant in different containers, choosing accessories, and taking care of your garden. Handouts Available: Yes PowerPoint: Yes Time: 45 minutes Speaker: Mary Hubbard Our Natives Are Under Attack! Just when we think we can sit back and enjoy our wonderful native trees and shrubs, another pest lurks. Our oaks, sassafras, American beech, ashes, hemlocks, dogwoods and more are busy fighting off the pests they evolved with and now have to fight off more pests such as gypsy moth, thousand cankers disease, oak wilt, and more. You will also learn how to either manage the pests or learn what to expect as a pest infestation progresses. Let’s do our part in protecting our native trees and shrubs. Handouts Available: No PowerPoint: Yes Time: 45 minutes Speaker: Sherry Kern Opening a Can of Worms: A Threat to Consider We will look at characteristics of invasive earthworms such as the European earthworm and the Asian jumping earthworm to determine what makes them invasive and how they are disrupting our native forests and affecting biodiversity. We will also look at the ecology of our native earthworms and take a peek at the “new” invasive hammerhead worm. Handouts Available: No PowerPoint: Yes Time: 45 minutes Speaker: Sherry Kern Can the Woolly Bear Caterpillar Predict Winter? A peak at nature's calendar When the seasons change, we notice changes in the length of the day, the air temperature, and plants and animals. The science is called phenology, which is keeping track of these changes that can help us see other changes related to climate. What trends are we seeing now and how are organisms in our environment being affected? And we may be able to answer the question, "Just how reliable is Punxsutawney Phil?" Handouts Available: No PowerPoint: Yes Time: 45 or 60 minutes Speaker: Sherry Kern The Things We Do to Our Trees (and still expect them to live!) We all want attractive landscapes with trees, yet we don’t always take care of them properly. These plants are the backbone of our landscapes and are the main focal points so we want our “yard art” to be not only attractive but also healthy. What practices do we need to become more aware of and how can we “fix” our mistakes? This talk looks at pruning practices, mulching, planting and placement and other strange things that people do to their trees. Handouts Available: Yes PowerPoint: Yes Time: 45 minutes Speaker: Sherry Kern Sex and the Single Flower How can you tell if a holly is male or female? How do gingko trees propagate? Where are the female flowers on an oak? What is a dioecious plant? Have you ever seen a fig flower? These and many other questions are answered in this talk about plant sex. So sit back and enjoy hearing about the sex lives of our plants. Handouts Available: No PowerPoint: Yes Time: 45 minutes Speaker: Sherry Kern Water Quality: You and Your Garden Can Make a Difference This presentation guides the homeowner through simple steps that can be taken in the yard to positively affect water quality. Hampton Roads has many waterways….and even more paths to those waterways. Everyone benefits from clean water...the oysters and you. Handouts Available: Yes PowerPoint: Yes Time: 25 minutes Speaker: Mary Ann Kincaid Various Weeds Talks These talks look at common landscape weeds seen at the time each talk is given. Because they are so timely, scheduling needs to be done several weeks in advance. If possible, freshly harvested examples are shared with the audience. Managing a weed’s population begins with proper identification. Plus, it is lots of fun correctly identifying a weed. Handouts Available: No PowerPoint: Yes Time: 45 minutes Speaker: Sherry Kern Virginia Beach Master Gardener Volunteers This talk provides an overview of the Virginia Beach Master Gardener volunteer program and the goals of the Virginia Cooperative Extension. It includes information about Master Gardener projects throughout the city of Virginia Beach, as well as how to become a Master Gardener. Handouts Available: Yes PowerPoint: Yes Time: 30 or 45 minutes Speaker: Yolanda Reavis |
