David Deardorff & Kathryn Wadsworth
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Overview
2023 East Sims Way #170 Port Townsend, Washington 98368David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth are authors, photographers, and much sought after public speakers who deliver dynamic presentations featuring gorgeous photographs of beautiful flowers and interesting insects as they travel across the country.
w: What's Wrong With My Plant?
e: view email plantdoc@ddandkw.com
Description
Deardorff and Wadsworth
David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth are the award winning authors of the best-seller What’s Wrong With My Plant? (And How Do I Fix It?). Their second book in the series, What’s Wrong With My Vegetable Garden?, is scheduled for release on December 1, 2011. They are currently hard at work on What’s Wrong With My Fruit Tree? to be released in 2012. They are also the authors of Chapter One: Sustainable Solutions in The New American Landscape: Leading Voices on the Future of Sustainable Gardening, another best-seller from Timber Press.
Deardorff and Wadsworth are free-lance writers and photographers, who travel extensively to inspire and entertain audiences with their dynamic presentations and gorgeous photographs. They are sought after speakers for flower shows, garden clubs, Master Gardeners, and college campuses across the country. As garden coaches they offer consultation on garden problem solving, plant identification, plant selection and landscape design. They have appeared on numerous radio shows throughout the U.S., including Martha Stewart Living Radio, Joe Lamp’l’s Growing a Greener World, Ken Druse’s Real Dirt, and Ciscoe Morris’s Gardening with Ciscoe.
Deardorff holds a Ph.D. in Botany from the University of Washington, where he studied under Dr. Arthur Kruckeberg and Dr. C. Leo Hitchcock. He served on the faculties of the University of Hawaii as a research scientist in plant pathology and Washington State University, where he led the Master Gardener Program. Deardorff began gardening as a boy in Ohio, and soon became a rose breeder when his family moved to Western Washington. He has been a leader in the sustainable garden movement since 1977, when he co-founded Plants of the Southwest, one of the first native plant nurseries in the nation.
Wadsworth is a writer and naturalist who loves to explore the outdoors, in the garden and in the wild, and share it with others through writing and photography. She studied film-making and communications in graduate school at the University of New Mexico. Wadsworth grew up in Washington, DC, and has led natural history expeditions and gardened in many locations around the world.
Deardorff and Wadsworth have also owned and operated an orchid nursery and tissue culture laboratory in Hawaii where they grew several thousand orchids. They were orchid judges with both the American Orchid Society and the Honolulu Orchid Society, and developed orchid hybrids, which are registered with the Royal Horticultural Society at Kew.
Topics
David and Kathryn's talks are generally 45-60 minutes long, but the time can be altered to suit your need. Slide shows are Power Point presentations. Here are their most popular topics:
Garden CSI Series: When innocent garden plants get mugged or murdered you can investigate the crime, grill the suspects, and arrest the culprits. Five different talks based on the award winning best sellers in their “What’s Wrong With My … ?” books: Garden CSI, Vegetable Garden CSI, Fruit Tree CSI, Rose CSI, and Orchid CSI.
Food & Flowers: Secrets of natural plant communities that help you garden without pesticides
Sustainable Solutions: New organic remedies are introduced each year. Which ones work best and how do you use them
Bugs: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly. An intimate peek into the secret lives of garden insects
Plants of the Southwest: Gorgeous native wildflowers and shrubs of California and the desert Southwest for water-wise gardens
Plants of the Northwest: Gorgeous native wildflowers and shrubs of the Pacific Northwest for water-wise gardens
Audience Testimonials
“Dr. Deardorff and Ms. Wadsworth are truly excellent speakers. Their images are spectacular and their language clear. Their class had the most attendance of any class we’ve held, and received excellent evaluations.” Diana Goforth, Education Coordinator, San Diego Botanic Garden.
“What a great class David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth gave. We are a group of avid gardeners whose experience ranges from rank beginner to expert professional. All of us learned something today.” Robin Corwin, President, Avid Garden Club, Los Angeles Arboretum.
“Well Done. Thank you so much for your entertaining and informative class today. I hope you can come back next year.” Susie Spanos, Program Chair, The Village Garden Club, La Jolla, CA
“David and Kathryn are the most knowledgeable and popular speakers at our Garden Center. Customers ask daily when they’re coming back to give another talk. Their easy-going, low-key style, backed up by solid science, is perfectly suited to any audience.” — Michael and Michelle Henery, Owners, Henery’s Garden Center, Port Townsend, WA
“David and Kathryn have spoken to us many times and their talks are always very informative, clear, and easy to follow. Great slides give a good look at both the problem and the culprit. Their enthusiasm for their topic and their love of the subject are contagious. They are both willing to answer questions and discuss various individual problems. As program chair, I found them incredibly easy to work with.” — Barrie Gustin, Communication Chair, Amateur Back Yard Garden Bumbler, Port Ludlow Garden Club
“I’ve attended many presentations they’ve given to various local garden clubs, and always find David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth’s pleasant manner and vast knowledge make quite an impression on the several hundred attendees. I cannot say enough good things about David and Kathryn; they are wonderful, have unparalleled expertise, and always impress audiences with down-to-earth delivery of their information.” — Teresa Forrest, Port Ludlow, WA
“If Dr. David Deardorff had not decided to become a botanist, the gardens of our town would be the victims. He and Kathryn are great presenters, their presentations are well researched and they know how to speak to real people. Their photography and slide shows are incredible.” — Barbara Ansley-Vensas, Endless Song Water Gardens, Ellensburg, WA
“Dr. Deardorff and Ms. Wadsworth are engaging speakers who can take a dry subject, such as botany, and make it come alive. One of my students told me she’d studied botany in college but never knew it could be so much fun. David and Kathryn’s classes have received excellent evaluations from my Master Gardener trainees. Gorgeous slides always score big points, too.” — Elaine Anderson, Master Gardener Program Coordinator, WSU King County Seattle, WA
“I always enjoy David and Kathryn’s casual, upbeat style while simultaneously receiving a download of facts that only come from experience with your subject. I can always feel the enthusiasm building in the audience.” — Linda Landkammer, Project Coordinator, Washington Native Plant Society
Locations
Washington State.
Frequently travels to:
Southern California
Northern California
Seattle
Portland
Santa Fe New Mexico
Washington DC
New York
Audience Reviews
great speaker!
sheila armstrong from Santa Fe, New mexico - 07/29/2011 09:23:18
I heard Deardorff and Wadsworth on the radio here last summer. They were really knowledgeable but also very entertaining. I didn't mean to listen to the whole thing but I got caught up. Really worth the time!
Saturday classes
Daria Frank from Port Townsend, WA - 07/17/2011 11:36:56
I am so thrilled to have found Kathryn and her husband David as their classes are fun and I have learned soooooo much since moving to the Pacific Northwest through their classes. They have a way of delivering the information so that it is easy to understand and actually seeing and handling plants is very helpful. They obviously love what they do and I feel blessed to have found them!
Simply the Best!
Jake Bickley from WA - 07/16/2011 21:53:20
When you combine doctoral level knowledge with years of practical experience, and add generous dollops of wit, charm and even wisdom, what more could you ask for in professional garden speakers?
David and Kathryn are dynamite. (And Oh-those-luscious photos!)
