Friday, March 21 Seminar Schedule
GH = Greenhouse CR = Conference Room
10:00 GH Simple Gardening Solutions: How to solve 5 common challenges. You can have beauty even in areas with deer problems, clay soil, shade, and other challenges! Jessica DeGraaf – Director of Retail Accounts, Proven Winners
10:30 CR Heirloom Vegetables - Tried & True Varieties: How to start from seed to getting the best harvest. Heirloom varieties with great taste, color and excellent production for Southwest Michigan. Gary Miller, Michigan Certified Green Industry Professional
11:15 GH Attracting Bluebirds & Chickadees to Nesting Boxes: Want to provide a safe haven for some of the smaller songbirds? Here’s what worked and what didn’t work for our host. Enjoy this video presentation that shows these birds nesting to fledgling! Mari Beth Maurer, Bluebird Enthusiast.
12:30 GH Plants for Year-round Blooms Indoors: Violets, Cactus, Kalanchoe & More: Their care, quirks and how to encourage more blooms more often. Jackson Distelrath, Wedel’s Houseplant Guru
1:00 CR Iris for Michigan Gardens: Best iris culture tips for beauty in old or new gardens. Bring your questions. John Coble, Iris Club President
1:45 GH Seed Starting: This class is for any level of gardener, learn about some of Joannée's tried and true tips and tricks to starting your favorites/trying new seeds this spring. Bring your questions! Joannée DeBruhl, Organic Farmer, Perma Culturalist & Backyard Gardener
2:15 CR Black Walnut Challenges: What can I plant? Don’t let your landscape control you. Black Walnut trees have their challenges, but join Gary Miller to learn about plants that can tolerate juglone from Black Walnut trees. Gary Miller, Michigan Certified Green Industry Professional
3:00 GH Perennials & Roses for 2025: New sun spectaculars, new shade solutions, new pollinator varieties & more. Kay Landrum, Wedel’s Perennial Manager
3:30 CR Incorporating Honey Bee Products & Wild Plants into Herbal Medicine: Discover how beeswax is crafted and blended with medicinal native plants and herbs into skincare products. Learn how honey and herbalism are paired to create wellness honey that tastes amazing! Haley Terpstra, Beekeeper, Forager, Herbalist & Gardener
4:30 GH Composting: Rots Happening!: Learn about best practices to get the most from your compost and better the environment. Gary Miller, Michigan Certified Green Industry Professional
4:45 CR Benefits of Organic Fertilizers & Soils: How to achieve healthy soils and healthy plants, which will translate into a healthy you! Theo Medendorp, Dairy Doo Soil Scientist
Fri 5:45 GH Ideas for Unforeseen Landscape Changes: Step-by-Step guide to refurbish garden & lawn spaces that have changed due to a storm, new neighbors, tree removal, something unsightly that needs to be hidden & new drainage problems. Andrew Wedel, Sharon Steele & Rylee Andrews, Wedel’s Landscape Experts
Saturday, March 22 Seminar Schedule
GH = Greenhouse CR = Conference Room
9:15 GH Let us help You Close Your Backyard Buffet: How to naturally and effectively keep deer, moles, rabbits & more critters out of your precious landscape! Eric Summa, Repellex Rep.
10:00 CR Daylilies: Simple Care, Beautiful Flowers: Here's how to increase blooms, how to divide them, how to fertilize them and more. Dr. Gus Guzinski, Kalamazoo Area Daylily Society President
10:30 GH Natives in the Garden: Increase native biodiversity in your garden without sacrificing beauty. Jackson Distelrath, Native Plant Expert
11:15 CR Herbal Remedies from Your Own Backyard: Discover herbs you can grow in your own backyard and how to use them to support health and healing. Katherine Atkinson, Holistic Health Practitioner & Instructor
11:45 GH What’s New for 2025: Surprise! New Shrub, Tree & Evergreen Varieties to add pizazz to your yard. New cultivars to enhance your landscape and compliment your existing plants. Gary Miller, Michigan Certified Green Industry Professional
12:30 CR Demystifying Orchids: Learn the essentials to successfully grow orchids at home and get an introduction to new species that are sure to stun. Jackson Distelrath, Orchid Enthusiast & Orchid Society Member
1:00 GH Attract Butterflies and Moths to your Garden: We will discuss the components of a Butterfly/Moth Garden and will go into depth about the host plants that the butterflies and moths use. Brenda Sattler (Dziedzic), Author Raising Butterflies and Moths in the Garden
1:45 CR Goldie Locks and the Three Houseplants: Are your plants getting too much water, not enough, or just the right amount? Join Victoria as she walks through common houseplant troubles and how to identify surplus or a lack of necessities. Victoria Ward, Wedel’s House Plant Aficionado
2:15 GH Grow Your Own Healthy Fruit!: Fruit Tree Care - What you need to know before planting about pruning, feeding and insect & disease control. Mark Longstroth, Retired MSU Extension Fruit Educator
3:00 CR Partner Planting with Flowers: Plan your perfect flower gardens to make them POP based on their purpose including pollination needs, lighting, moisture, critter resistance, etc. Kay Landrum, Wedel’s Annuals & Perennials Manager
3:30 GH Hydrangeas – Long Term Blooms: Learn about types of, cultivars of, and tips to grow hydrangeas to get long blooming shrubs. Gary Miller, Michigan Certified Green Industry Professional
