How Does Your Garden Grow?

By Linda Fields
HAWLEY — Gardening enthusiasts were on hand as Penn State Master Gardeners imparted their knowledge during the day-long ‘Garden Fest 2015’ at the Pike County Training Center on Saturday, May 2.

Regional Extension Urban Forester Vincent Cotrone gave the keynote address “Adapting to a changing Environment”, shedding light on how climate change affects the growing season and the landscape and how to best work with these changes.

Cotrone stressed the importance of using native species to protect our natural habitat. He also expressed concern about the damage caused by impervious surfaces such as parking lots and other paved areas in our environment.

Highlights of the symposium talks included a demonstration of “Cool Tools” given by Catherine Bennet and Les Ferguson. Tom Manza, of Manza Family Farm and Nursery shared what’s trending in landscaping materials.

Other lectures covered gardening in a woodland area, knowing good bugs from bad ones, how to add personality in your garden, and tips for better vegetable gardening.

The Penn State Master Gardner Volunteers is an educational outreach program of Penn State Extension. For more information contact the extension office at 570-296-3400, PikeExt@psu.edu or on Facebook at Pikecountymastergardeners.