The Saturday Gardening Seminar

Save the date: March 7, 2026

The Summit County Master Gardeners cordially invite you to the 2026 Saturday Gardening Seminar.  Join us for our 27th event for informative presentations, raffle baskets, good food and new friends.

We would like to show our appreciation to our generous 2025 donors:  A. M. Leonard, Bluestone Perennials, Diamond Grille, Handel’s Ice Cream, Hudson Garden Club, Krieger’s Health Food Market, Reeve’s Cake Shop, Stone’s QE Garden Center, Suncrest Gardens, and the Tour of Gardens.

Let it Glow: Protecting Fireflies in the Home Garden

Few sights capture the wonder of summer quite like the flicker of fireflies. But their glow is growing dim. Across North America, firefly populations are declining due to habitat loss, pesticide use, light pollution, and other human-caused threats. In this illuminating webinar, conservation educator and macro photographer Danae Wolfe will guide you through the curious lives of fireflies, from glowing larvae to synchronous spectacles. You’ll learn how to identify common backyard fireflies, understand their unique flash patterns and lifecycles, and discover what makes them so vulnerable. Most importantly, you’ll walk away with practical, research-backed ways to support fireflies in your own yard and community—proving that small actions, taken at home, can keep the magic alive for generations to come.

Danae Wolfe is a conservation photographer, writer, and TEDx speaker helping people see backyard bugs and wildlife in a new light. Through her initiative, Chasing Bugs, she empowers gardeners to embrace small actions that support biodiversity. Her work has been featured by CNN, The American Gardener, and Nature Conservancy Magazine, and she was named Garden Communicators International’s 2022 Emergent Communicator. Her 2025 book, Grass Isn’t Greener, offers practical steps for transforming yards into havens for wildlife.

Both of Danae’s new books will be available for purchase.

Grab Your Pruners and Saws: Let’s remove invasive trees and shrubs from our landscapes.

Our landscapes can hide invasive trees and shrubs.  They can be beautiful but they are detrimental to local ecosystems.  Adrianne will discuss how to identify these plants and why they are so dangerous to our environment. She will also offer a few native replacements that can provide alternative choices.

Adrianne Tanner is a Contract Coordinator and Sales Arborist for Barberton Tree Service in Barberton Ohio. She graduated with her degree in Conservation Botany from Kent State University and became an ISA Certified Arborist soon after. She lives in Akron Ohio with her husband Terry and enjoys all types of outdoor things including foraging, cooking and baking, and Subaru Rally.

Mysterious Moths:  The Darker Side of Butterflies

Our enchantment with butterflies isn’t surprising. These daytime flyers are easily observed and collectively encompass a rainbow palette of colors punctuated with ornate patterns. However, their close relatives the moths overwhelm butterflies in species diversity and sheer numbers. Most moths are nocturnal and largely out of sight and mind. Nonetheless, they are one of the most important animal groups. Moths are inextricably intertwined with native plants, bats, birds, and the whole of the eastern deciduous forest ecosystem. They play an enormous role in the pollination of native plants and over the eons have spurred the evolution of myriad defensive plant compounds to ward off caterpillar herbivory. In addition, they are often far more interesting than butterflies, both visually and behaviorally. This talk will be a pictorial journey into an intriguing and little known world that unfolds all around us. We can greatly benefit the ecosystem around us by “moth-gardening” in our yards. This program is loosely based on the recent book Gardening for Moths, by McCormac and coauthor Chelsea Gottfried (Ohio University Press).

Jim McCormic worked for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources for 31 years as a botanist, and later specializing in wildlife diversity projects for the Division of Wildlife. He has authored or coauthored seven books, including Birds of Ohio (Lone Pine 2004); and Wild Ohio: The Best of Our Natural Heritage (Kent State University Press 2009). The latter won the 2010 Ohioana Book award. He is a coauthor of the Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas II book. His book, Gardening for Moths, in collaboration with Chelsea Gottfried, was released in February 2023. His latest book project appeared in 2024: A Naturalists’ Guide to the Odonata of Ohio, authored with Dave McShaffrey and MaLisa Spring. Jim writes a column, Nature, for the Columbus Dispatch, and regularly publishes a natural history blog. He has written numerous articles in a variety of publications, and has delivered hundreds of presentations throughout the eastern United States. He was named 2015 Conservation Communicator of the Year by the Ohio League of Sportsmen. Jim is an avid photographer, shooting a range of natural history subjects. He has had hundreds of photos published in various forums, including the TV show Jeopardy!

The Wonderful World of Dahlias

Explore the beauty and versatility of dahlias in this informative and inspiring presentation. Participants will be introduced to the world of dahlias with a brief look at dahlia history/lore and a short review of the classification and evaluation of dahlias. Focus on growing healthy, beautiful flowers will cover best practices for cultivating dahlias with practical tips on planting, environment, care, grooming, and storing dahlia tubers.

Sharon Swaney is a second-generation dahlia grower with more than 40 years of hands-on experience growing dahlias for exhibitions, home gardens, and floral design. Her love of dahlias began right here in West Akron, where she first learned to grow them in her father’s garden—planting the seeds (tubers!) of a lifelong passion.  Sharon serves on the board of the American Dahlia Society (ADS) and is the ADS webmaster, as well as the webmaster for several other dahlia organizations, thereby supporting education, communication, and outreach within the dahlia community.  With a special interest in design, Sharon encourages others to explore dahlia design and to experience the joy of creating and sharing arrangements and bouquets. She is committed to sharing the dahlia love!

We are mindful of the Covid uncertainty. We will follow all applicable Federal, State, and Local regulations and recommendations to enhance the safety of our members and guests.