Register today for presentation of ?The Year Around Garden?

Gary Whittenbaugh of Oelwein will present ?The Year Around Garden? from 10-11:30 a.m. Saturday at the Jefferson County ISU Extension office.

This event is free and open to the public.

Attendees can learn how a year-round garden provides much to see even in late fall, winter and early spring.

Whittenbaugh is an Iowa native well-known in the Midwest for his presentations on gardening subjects, especially conifers.

Whittenbaugh was an electronics technician in his ?before-conifers? life. He is a graduate of Sacred Heart School in Oelwein and DeVry Technical Institute in Chicago. He has been gardening for more than 40 years, with an emphasis on dwarf, slow-growing and unusual conifers, plus trough and rock gardening.

He became an Iowa Master Gardener in 1998 and received the Lifetime Master Gardener award in 2005. He also was the recipient of the prestigious ?Marvin and Emelie Snyder Merit Award for Service? from the American Conifer Society in 2005.

Whittenbaugh is a member of the American Conifer Society and the North American Rock Garden Society. He was president of the American Conifer Society Central Region from 2001-2005.

He was featured on the Bickelhaupt Arboretum segment of ?Iowa?s Favorite Gardens,? with Lucinda Mays on Iowa Public Television.

To reserve a spot for the free ?The Year Around Garden? program, contact Colleen Matson today at the Jefferson County Extension office by calling 472-4166 or emailing cmatson@iastate.edu.