Master Gardener Speakers and Workshops
Master Gardener volunteers share research-based gardening guidance through engaging presentations on a wide range of topics, tailored to inform, educate, and inspire audiences in New Castle, Kent, and Sussex counties.
Workshops are offered throughout the year at Master Gardener facilities, including campuses and Extension Offices, as well as online.
Speakers Bureau Community Presentations are available for groups of all sizes, including garden clubs, homeowner associations, community organizations, and libraries, and are typically held at public venues.
Workshops By County
Coming soon, please check back later
Coming soon, please check back later
New Castle County Master Gardener (MG) volunteers deliver research-based guidance, backed by hands-on experience, to help Delawareans cultivate their gardens and landscape their environments more successfully.
Each presentation lasts approximately one hour and includes relevant, practical guidance on the chosen topic.
Tools, Techniques, Tips, Tasks
MGs answer “How do I…?” questions with practical, hands-on guidance. Presentations include composting, soil improvement, garden tools, structures (such as cold frames and trellises), propagating and transplanting techniques, seed starting, winter sowing, and seasonal garden preparation.
- Composting and Vermicomposting
- Container Gardening
- Diagnosing and Treating Plant Problems
- Garden Basics
- Growing Tips and Tricks: Propagating and Transplanting Plants in Pots
- Perennial Garden Management (includes new plantings, annual maintenance, revitalizing mature gardens)
- Plant Identification: From Weeds to Trees
- Pruning
- Seasonal Topics ((includes spring landscape preparation, fall and winter landscape preparation, fall and winter maintenance, winter sowing)
Spring Landscape Preparation
Fall and Winter Landscape Preparation
Fall and Winter Maintenance
Winter Sowing
- Seed Starting
- Soil, Soil Tests, Fertilizers
- Vertical Gardening and Trellising
- Watering (includes management, rain barrels, mulching best practices)
- Weeds (includes identification, ecological management)
Grow Your Own Food
MG presentations can explore a variety of aspects of vegetable gardening, fruit growing, and edible landscaping to engage and empower gardeners of all experience levels, from first-time growers to seasoned experts.
- Companion Planting for Vegetable Gardens
- Edible Landscapes
- Fruit Growing: Berries and Fruit Trees
- Herbs
- Maximizing Garden Yield (includes succession planning, vegetable garden planting)
- Raised Bed Vegetable Gardening
- Seasonal Gardening (includes spring gardens, summer garden favorites, fall vegetable gardening, extending the gardening season into cold seasons, cold frames, backyard greenhouses)
- Water Use/Control (includes vegetable gardens, mulching best practices)
- Vegetable Gardening for Beginners
- Vegetable Garden Seed Starting
Garden with Nature
MGs share their expertise in connecting gardening with environmental stewardship. Presentations include creating pollinator-friendly gardens, designing bird-friendly landscapes, selecting and nurturing native plants, and managing pests and invasive species through environmentally responsible practices.
- Beneficial Insects (includes insect ID, how to encourage beneficials)
- Changing Climate Gardening (includes heat- and drought-tolerant plants, hardiness zone changes)
- Invasive Plant Identification and Management
- Landscaping to Support the Environment (includes alternatives to lawns, creating meadows)
- Native Plants, Trees, Shrubs (includes optimal locations for wet, dry, shady, sunny, good soil, clay soil conditions)
- Pollinator Gardens (includes attracting and supporting butterflies, bees, hummingbirds)
- Weeds (includes identification, ecological management)
Livable Landscapes and Plant Selection
MGs offer practical ideas for creating and maintaining landscapes. Topics range from choosing trees, shrubs and ornamentals, to lawn care to soil basics and fertilizing, as well as smart planting strategies for challenging microclimates (such as wet, shady, sloped areas). If it relates to gardening, MGs can and will be happy to talk about it.
- Home Landscape Design (includes year-long color design, rethinking a yardscape, privacy landscaping, design to minimize maintenance, design challenges such as steep slopes and walkway and roadway strips)
- Lawn Care/Solutions and Fertilizing
- Trees (includes Delaware tree selection, evergreen trees, planting and maintaining street trees)
- Low-Maintenance Gardens/Yardscapes
- Small Space Gardening
Plant Selection
- Deer-Resistant Plants
- Drought Tolerant Plants
- Factors Influencing Plant Selection (includes plant hardiness, microclimates, hardiness zones)
- Foundation Plantings
- Groundcovers
- Hell Strip Planting
- Low Maintenance Plants and Shrubs
- Native Evergreens and Shrubs (for Delaware)
- Rain Gardens for Water Management
- Right Plant, Right Place (includes selections for sun, shade, wet, dry areas)
- Shade Gardening
Plant "Deep Dives"
MGs can provide in-depth programs on specific plants. Presentations include garden favorites such as camellias, citrus, crape myrtles, hibiscus, hollies, magnolias, roses, and spring bulbs as well as everyone’s favorite - tomatoes!
Delaware Specific Topics
Master Gardeners offer special topics specific to Delaware. Current offerings include Delaware's Great Cypress Swamp and two different presentations focused on Winterthur Estates & Gardens.
Information coming soon...
Information coming soon...