To the Editor:

It’s that time of year again when we gardeners are stuck indoors with only seed catalogs and maybe a cup of hot chocolate. If you’re getting restless like me, this is a great time to attend a gardening seminar, specifically, “Garden Dreams: A Saturday with the Portage County University of Wisconsin-Extension Master Gardeners.”

This annual event will be held from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21, at the Lettie Jensen Community Center in Amherst. Three very experienced speakers will help us design our landscapes, learn more about bees and attract pollinators to our gardens.

Diana Alfuth, a UW-Extension horticultural educator, will speak on “Landscape Design: Tying It All Together.” Alfuth will give us the tools to look at a garden project as a whole and create an overall beautiful, harmonious space.

Buzz Vahradian (seriously, that’s his name) will do a presentation titled “Beekeeping with Buzz.” Vahradian has been keeping bees for more than 23 years and has a beekeeping business on the side: V’s Bees, LLC.

The third presenter, Neil Diboll, is a pioneer in the native plant industry and recognized internationally as an expert in native plant community ecology. His presentation is titled “Prairie and Savanna Plants for Pollinator Gardens.” Diboll will tell us about the best prairie plants for attracting bees, butterflies, moths, hummingbirds, beneficial wasps and even pollinating flies to our gardens. He has guided the growth of Prairie Nursery for 30 years.

The cost is $30 and includes a hot lunch. A hearing loop is onsite. The registration deadline is Wednesday, Jan. 18. You can download the registration form at goo.gl/PumsnC. For more information, email [email protected] or call 715-340-8378. Hope you can join me!

Diane Dieterich

Stevens Point