Plant Partnerships
Teachable Moments
If you were visiting the Reserve towards the end of July, you might have seen a film crew at work. This is an example of the one of the many ways Bloedel Reserve partners with educational institutions and other community organizations to be a resource for plant knowledge, conservation, and stewardship. In this case, a video crew from the Washington State University Extension Program came to Bloedel Reserve in order to film segments that will be part of a larger horticulture training video. The WSU Extension Program offers training on a variety of different topics for horticulture professionals, including Integrated Pest Management (IPM) classes.
The video the WSU team was filming this time focussed on mitigating plant diseases with pruning and featured WSU instructor Bess Bronstein demonstrating proper pruning techniques. WSU came to the Reserve specifically because the Bloedel staff knows the grounds and plants extremely well and so were able to help the crew and the instructor locate appropriate examples for filming.
This wasn’t the first time Bloedel Reserve has supported the WSU Extension Program in making an IPM video. In fact, the first time WSU filmed at Bloedel, the video was specifically about Ramorum Blight. The WSU crew actually won an industry award for this video, which you can see on YouTube. You can find more information about the video awards here and here.
Taking It On the Road
In recent years, Bloedel Reserve has shared its plant knowledge with other experts in the field, both here in Washington state and elsewhere around the region. In June of 2016, Horticulture & Grounds Associate and Moss Garden Specialist Darren Strenge spoke at the seventh Sudden Oak Death Science and Management Symposium in San Francisco, attended by researchers and officials from the USDA and other state departments of agriculture. Bloedel Reserve began studying Ramorum Blight when it showed up on rhododendrons on the grounds. It turns out that the fungus Phytophthora ramorum that causes Ramorum Blight also causes Sudden Oak Death, which had devastated California forests. You can find a link to a summary of the Bloedel presentation here. (Note: The date in the web link says 2020, though the original presentation was in 2016.).
In February 2017, Darren spoke at two WSU IPM training sessions in Bremerton and Seattle about Ramorum Blight, discussing both the disease in general and how Bloedel Reserve is dealing with it. And in March of 2019, Darren gave a presentation about Ramorum Blight at Bloedel Reserve for the South Sound Chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society. The group had originally approached Dr. Gary Chastanger, a Phytophthora researcher at WSU Puyallup, who referred them to Darren. These opportunities to share our knowledge, resources, research, and facilities are vital parts of fulfilling Bloedel Reserve’s commitment to conservation, stewardship, and sustainable horticulture, not only on our own grounds but throughout our community, state, and nation.
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