Lifelong Landscape Design: Environments for Health & Longevity (9:00 – 10:15 AM)
Mary Palmer Dargan
Discover the three keys to activating the “genetic code” to your property, apply the secrets of layers; and open the “candy box” of a lifelong landscape design.
Create a stress-free zone at home, a utopia where your family can thrive, and discover landscape patterns.
Floating Flower Bowls Workshop (12:30 – 1:00 PM)
Christopher Barrett Sheridan
Floating flower arrangements can be traced to ancient cultures and civilizations, and they’re just as refreshing, delightful, and compelling today.
In this session, we’ll discuss: 1) water-friendly flowers and foliage, 2) choosing a container consistent with your color palette and design style, 3) adding vertical floral elements with pin frogs, 4) using submerged elements to create an additional layer of interest, and 5) times when a floating arrangement might be a better choice than a vase of flowers.
Guided Meditation for Gardeners (12:30 – 1:00 PM)
Marion Owen
This session invites participants to slow down, reconnect with the rhythms of nature, and explore simple mindfulness techniques that can be woven into time spent in the garden and beyond. Through gentle guidance and reflection, attendees will leave with a renewed sense of presence and a fresh perspective on cultivating both plants and personal well-being.
What Exactly is a Wildflower? (12:30 – 1:00 PM)
Beth McMahon
Is a wildflower still wild if you grow it from bought seed? What wildflowers should you be planting to help pollinators like monarchs? Why didn’t your wildflowers germinate this year?
Join us for a presentation on the benefits, kinds and methods of growing wildflowers, showcased by a few Texas examples.
Echoes in the Garden, A Restoration Journey
(10:30 – 11:30 AM)
Peggy Singlemann, this session will not be recorded per request of the speaker.
When we garden, we rarely think about the legacy we may be creating—we’re simply tending what’s in front of us. Yet restoring a garden invites us to look backward, to uncover the stories of the plants and the landscapes they once shaped.
Join me to explore the tools, techniques, and detective work available to anyone who has inherited a garden—historic or otherwise—and wants to understand and honor its past while cultivating its future.
AI in the Garden (10:30 – 11:30 AM)
Shea Ann DeJarnette
Shea Ann has become a recognized advocate for integrating artificial intelligence tools into gardening and horticulture education. Her work focuses on helping Extension professionals, Master Gardeners, educators, and volunteers use AI to enhance program planning, plant identification, educational outreach, content creation, and community engagement while maintaining research-based gardening practices.
Shea Ann will share innovative and experiential approaches for incorporating AI into gardening education while encouraging participants to embrace technology as a tool for learning, creativity, and community impact.
Wine, Rest, and the Art of Being Human
(10:30 – 11:30 AM)
Andreea Botezatu
In this talk, Andreea shares the story behind The Wine Lab podcast and explores why wine has such a lasting connection to rest, pleasure, and rejuvenation in human life.
Blending science, culture, sensory experience, and history, she examines how wine contributes to moments of pause, connection, and enjoyment, and why it continues to hold such a meaningful place at the human table.
Tussie Mussie Workshop (1:15 – 2:15 PM)
Christopher Barrett Sheridan
Tussie-Mussies, better known as posies, originated as Victorian floral messengers, with each bloom carrying a meaning from the expansive “Language of Flowers.” These small bouquets offer the opportunity to express love, gratitude, friendship, sympathy, and so on. Chris has conducted enthusiastically received workshops for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and a university graduation.
In addition to communication and celebration, Tussies are an inexpensive way to test planting combinations, color combinations, scent pairings, and also a great tool for bringing floral design opportunities into the local school or senior center. Because we’re working with short stems and compact foliage to create ephemeral arrangements, our plant palette is very large, native plants are welcome, and you have a lot of creative freedom.
Creating Engaging Website, Blog, and Social Media Content without Burning Out Volunteers (1:15 – 2:15 PM)
Andy Wilcox
We’ve all seen new gardeners go bananas at first, only to realize the garden takes continued effort. The same detritus can be seen online: Master Gardener websites, social media pages, and blogs that began with regular content, only to never be updated again.
Generating and continuing to generate content that engages your audience and keeps them coming back is the secret sauce every marketer, content writer, and social media guru is chasing. How do we do it for our Master Gardener Associations channels?
In this session, Andy will explain how answering two key questions can shape a content strategy (yes, we need one) and keep us on track. You’ll learn how to generate fresh, useful content that stays true to our Master Gardener education mission, reduces the scramble for “something to post,” and still leaves time to enjoy your garden.
The Extraordinary Osage Orange (1:15 – 2:15 PM)
Nancy Ross Hugo
From its strange fruit to its prehistoric origins and connections to native American culture, the Osage orange tree provides inspiration for Nancy’s latest lecture, The Extraordinary Osage Orange. In this PowerPoint presentation Nancy describes how to use the fruit, appreciate the wood, and grow the tree.
She also delves deeply into the history of this remarkable species, which, in the mid-nineteenth century, was the most planted tree in North America. In 1868 alone, sixty thousand miles of living fences, created from Osage orange slips, were planted to create windbreaks and livestock barriers and many of these hedgerows still exist.
Travel with Nancy to see some of them, to understand “hedgemania,” and to learn more about Osage Nation, the native Americans for whom this tree is named.
Bountiful Containers: Small Space Foodscaping
(3:45 – 4:45 PM)
Brie Arthur
Limited space? Looking to downsize? No problem! Join author and horticulturist Brie Arthur for an enlightening journey into the world of foodscaping in containers. Get ready to maximize every inch and savor the joys of cultivating your favorite plants in compact spaces.
Dive into the secrets of designing and nurturing container foodscapes that deliver year-round beauty and abundant harvests. Learn about ideal soil blends, optimal fertilization, practical pest and disease control, and watering practices that nurture your plants to perfection.
Get inspired with ingenious planting combinations that celebrate both form and function.
Garden Maintenance for Real Life (3:45 – 4:45 PM)
Marianne Wilburn
From 30-second Instagram Reels to garden fantasies found in the pages of our most beloved magazines, there is no shortage of modern inspiration to keep us creating. But with every act of creation comes an abundance of new tasks for the to-do list. Even though we know our gardens don’t have to be perfect, it’s easy to feel like we’re falling behind.
How do we determine if we need to work smarter for better results, or if the garden is in need of some serious surgery? By asking the right questions and providing smart maintenance tips, Marianne will guide the audience to re-balance their garden lives and once again find joy in the process of stewardship.
The Extraordinary Caterpillar (Homegrown National Park)
A Film By Jeff McKay
Over 98% of the living world on Earth is smaller than a bee.
Yet humans view the planet as a world centered around themselves. Landscapes are deconstructed to suit human needs, often with little regard for the natural systems that sustain the food web.
The Extraordinary Caterpillar follows the scientists and community activists with this peek into the dazzling world of nature’s tiniest superheroes.
2:30 – 3:30 PM