Webinar series focuses on landscape moisture extremes

The Iowa Master Gardener program is offering free summer garden webinars hosted by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.

The series will be from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Tuesday and Sept. 3 at the Jefferson County ISU Extension Office.

Because weather patterns of the past couple of years have moved rapidly from drought to flood, the theme of the series is?Moisture Extremes in the Landscape.?

?Iowa Gardeners are dealing with a variety of extreme conditions this summer,? said Denny Schrock, state Master Gardener coordinator. ?There are areas of the state that have gone from drought and abnormally dry conditions to flooding, places that have received twice the normal precipitation amount, and areas that have received only a fraction of the normal amount of rain.?

Schrock said plant selection and landscaping decisions can help gardeners manage the weather extremes.

The webinar Tuesday will be ?Diagnosing Drought Damage, Flood Damage and Other Abiotic Stress Injury on Landscape Trees and Shrubs? by Jeff Iles, ISU Horticulture Department chairman.

The webinar Sept. 3 will be ?Efficient Home Landscape Irrigation? by Mike Baron, irrigation and water management specialist, The Toro Company.

The sessions are open to all interested gardeners; participants are not required to have completed Master Gardener training to attend.

Call Jefferson County Extension Office, 472-4166, for additional sites and registration details.