THE DALLES, Ore. — Children examined firefighting equipment, met Smokey Bear and took part in activities while adults learned how plants, vegetation management and home improvements can reduce wildfire risk.
The July 18 gathering at The Dalles Imagination Garden was part of a refreshed summer workshop series led by Oregon State University Extension Service Master Gardener volunteers in Wasco County.
The volunteers’ community education and wildfire-prevention work earned recognition from Mid-Columbia Fire & Rescue through “Kindness Citations” presented earlier in the series.
The free Summer Gardening Series offers short, hands-on Saturday programs designed for gardeners of all ages. Topics range from cherries, pollinators and insects to nature art and an end-of-season harvest celebration.
“We wanted to create something that felt welcoming to families while still giving people useful, research-based information they could take home,” said Hilary Jensen, OSU Extension Master Gardener and community horticulture coordinator for Wasco County.
Workshops are scheduled each Saturday in August at The Dalles Imagination Garden. They will cover marigolds, pollinators, beneficial and harmful insects, nature art and harvesting from the garden.
A long-running series gets refreshed
The summer series has operated for more than a decade, much of that time under the leadership of longtime Master Gardener volunteer Pam Manning.
Attendance started slipping after the COVID-19 pandemic, despite Master Gardener volunteers continuing to offer programming that had been popular in earlier years.
With Manning’s support, Jensen adjusted the format in 2026 to make the workshops easier to attend and even more appealing to families.
The starting time moved from 9 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. so the series wouldn’t compete directly with the opening of The Dalles Farmers Market. Each program also received a clear ending time, allowing participants to plan the rest of their day.
Jensen encouraged presenters to shorten formal instruction and add more demonstrations, activities and take-home projects. The approach reflects the setting: an imagination and storybook garden designed to interest children as well as adults.
“The garden naturally invites curiosity, so we built the workshops around touching, observing, making things and learning together,” Jensen said.
Typically, Master Gardener volunteers plan and teach the sessions.
At the July 25 workshop, a community member demonstrated how to make gabion planters as participants assembled their own with mesh, rocks and plants.
The changes have helped draw more families and younger participants to the garden, Jensen said.
Gardening knowledge serves the community
The July 18 Fire-Resistant Landscapes and Firetrucks event showed how the series can combine gardening education with broader community needs.
Master Gardener volunteers shared research-based recommendations, pointed out fire-resistant plants in demonstration beds and distributed plants that residents could use in their own landscapes.
Representatives of Mid-Columbia Fire & Rescue, the Oregon Department of Forestry and the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s office joined the event with educational materials, emergency vehicles and family activities.
The collaboration built on an ongoing partnership between OSU Extension and local fire officials to teach residents about defensible space and home hardening — changes that can make homes less vulnerable to ignition.
A week earlier, Mid-Columbia Fire & Rescue Division Chief Chris Grant surprised Jensen and 12 Master Gardener volunteers with Kindness Citations from Kindness 911. The nonprofit works with first responders to recognize people and organizations making a positive difference in their communities.
The citations recognized the volunteers’ gardening education, community service and contributions to wildfire-prevention outreach.
For Jensen, the recognition underscored why the summer series matters beyond individual gardening projects.
“When people come to the garden, they can learn something useful, meet neighbors and see how local organizations are working together for the community,” Jensen said.
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