The Edmonds Floretum Garden Club invites the public to attend its monthly meeting on Monday, Dec. 19.  The speaker will be WSU Master Gardener Bruce Bennett, sharing his talk, “Herbs for the Northwest.”

“Herbs are a wonderful thing, Bennett said. “They can range from 25-foot trees to shrubs, vines, ground covers, perennials and annuals. They can be used as ornamentals, medicines, dyes, teas, seasonings and food. For the purposes of this program, we’ll focus on culinary herbs that are easily grown in gardens and containers.

“Our USDA Zone 8 provides us with the great weather to raise many different kinds of herbs,” he continued. “We’ll also look at which ones are especially good for the three main cuisines of our area:  Asian, Mediterranean and Mexican.”

Bennett is a Seattle-based, award-winning garden designer, consultant and instructor who has plied his craft in the Pacific Northwest for nearly 30 years. He trained as a WSU Master Gardener and rain garden educator, a Washington State certified professional horticulturalist, as well as a University of Georgia certified nursery consultant. After retiring as the University of Washington’s director of instructional programs in social sciences, he served as the director of education for the Master Gardener Program Foundation of King County for several years and serves as the managing partner for his own landscape design firm.

Bennett’s talk is part of Washington State University’s Growing Groceries Program.

Floretum’s meetings are held in the Brackett Room at Edmonds City Hall, 121 5th Ave. N. in Edmonds. Doors open at 10 a.m. for social time. The meeting begins at 10:45 a.m.

Learn more about the club at floretum.org, or on Facebook and Instagram.