Resources

Master Gardeners

Become a Master Gardener. We would love to have you join us! Successful applicants have a strong volunteer ethic and experience in community service. Your volunteer experience need not be in the area of horticulture. Classes are normally held at the Center for Urban Horticulture (CUH) on the University of Washington campus. Check the website for details about Master Gardener training in King County.

WSU Master Gardener Program. This program is dedicated to facilitating excellence in volunteers through education, life-long learning, and professionalism of coordinators and volunteers.

Gardens

Visit the King County Master Gardener gardens: demonstration, youth, outreach and community gardens. To find a garden near you, consult the Map to King County Clinics & Gardens.

Demonstration Gardens.  See firsthand the types of plants that grow well in our area, and learn recommended planting practices and overall garden care.

Public Gardens, Arboreta, and Herbaria. (Miller Library)

Growing Groceries program in King County. Until 2018, the King County Growing Groceries Program centered on advising gardeners in community gardens in the county. This program offers an annual series of classes starting in the fall and continuing through the following spring.

Need help with your garden question? Answers are as close as your computer. Visit our Ask a Master Gardener web page for how to contact us.

Plant Clinics

King County Master Gardeners work as volunteer community educators at clinics in the area to empower citizens to incorporate sustainable horticultural practices that help to conserve our natural resources. To find a clinic near you, consult the Map to King County Clinics & Gardens.  The find the most current schedule for clinics locations and hours of operation, visit our Clinics Schedule web page.

Gardening Fact Sheets and Handbooks for PNW Gardening

• Puget Sound Gardening Tip Sheets – lists of websites and publications that offer general gardening information for home gardeners in the Puget Sound area. Lists and Tip Sheets updated in 2017.
• WSU Hortsense. A compilation of fact sheets for managing common landscape and garden plant problems.
• WSU Pestsense. A compilation of fact sheets for managing common indoor pest problems.
• Gardening in Washington State Fact Sheets – WSU Fact Sheets by topic for gardening in Washington State.
• WSU Extension Publications. Factsheets and Extension Bulletins on a wide variety of WSU Extension agricultural research topics.
• OSU Gardening Fact Sheets – Fact Sheets compiled by the OSU Plant Clinic that has been operational since 1954 and part of the National Plant Diagnostic Network (NPDN).
• Pacific Northwest Pest Management Handbooks. These handbooks and online access to information provided by Central Oregon Agricultural Research Center provide a ready-reference to current information about weeds and insects.
  • PNW Weed Management Handbook
  • PNW Insect Management Handbook

Kid Gardening

• Magnuson Children’s Garden. Find a wide variety of family-friendly events throughout the spring and summer!
• Teacher Resources. Find downloadable lessons, simple gardening and nature activities and handouts for use with classes, including the WSU MG Teaching Kits – it’s “environmental education in a box” for all ages, not just kids.

Newsletters

There are several newsletters provided for the benefit of King County Master Gardeners. The public may find some of the articles of interest. Issues include Heads Up, published by the King County Diagnostic Lab, and The Connection, published by the Master Gardeners of King County and the MG Foundation of King County. Links to the archive of issues of these newsletters are shown below.

• Newsletters from around Washington and Beyond
  • King County, WA:
    • The Master Gardener Connection newsletter
    • The King County Diagnostics Lab’s newsletter, Heads Up! past issues
    • Past issues of Master Gardener publications in King County
  • Skagit Valley Herald ‘Ask the MG’ Articles from 2001
  • Snohomish County, WA
  • Weeders Digest – Whatcom County’s Newsletter
  • Northwest Gardener e-News – OSU newsletter
  • Seeds for Thought – Quarterly Newsletter for WA State Foundation
  • Northwest Gardeners e-news.  OSU monthly newsletter
  • Cochise County, AZ

Ellen A’Key Memorial Grant Program

The Ellen A’Key King County Master Gardener Foundation Grant was designed to assist and support WSU Master Gardener projects in non-urban counties of Washington State. This grant was  active until 2022.

Pacific Northwest Blogs

• The Garden Professors – Frequent blog posts about gardening by professors, visiting professors and avid gardeners
• WSU Gardening Blog. Find out what’s new from the experts, such as Organic Soil Amendments in Yards and Gardens: How much is enough?
• North Coast Garden – Humboldt County blog
• The Savvy Gardener – from the Water Saving Partnership
• Garden Design Online – Gardening and landscape design with attitude
• Heavy Petal – Garden writer Andrea Bellamy blogs about gardening in Vancouver, B
• A Gardener in Progress – Gardening in the Pacific Northwest
• Metro Gardens – Plants, parks, gardens and landscape design (Coleman Park / Seattle)
• Gardening by Trial and Error

Gardens, Clubs, and Societies

• Healing Gardens
• Community Gardens
• Garden Conservancy Northwest Network (GCNN) – Some of the Pacific Northwest’s most beautiful and unique gardens
• Missouri Botanical Garden
• New York Botanical Garden
• Norfork Botanical Garden
• Hosta List – Containing over 10,000 entries, this is the most complete and accurate collection of hosta list available. Hosta names are faithfully and carefully checked for accuracy against the AHS Hosta Registry and The Hostapedia: An Encyclopedia of Hostas(Mark R. Zilis, 2009).

Other Resources

PNW Vegetable Extension Group. Assist with diagnoses of vegetable diseases, pests, and other problems, publishing new information about vegetable pathogens, pests and other problems; and their biology and management.

• Plant Finder. Want to know who sells that plant you saw?
• Find a Nursery.  National directory of nurseries.
• Native Seeds Sources.  Looking for Native Seeds
• Garden Catalogs – So many catalogs so little time
• Best of the Web – Gardening – Website with “Best of” links provided by gardener.  Many useful sites.

Fun Resources

• Party Drinks Using Your Garden – Impress your friends with the “Bees Knees”, Sangria, Mojitos, and Lemon Thyme Lemonade.  Touring the garden has never been so fun!
• Plant Power (Kids)

Updated January 2022