What began as a short-term stopgap for in person programming during the 2020 Pandemic, has become a much-attended weekly horticulture program. 

Describe the Outreach or Educational Program Response (and Partners, if applicable).

Due to the continuing popularity of the Horticulture Webinar Wednesdays program a team of Kentucky Horticulture agents have continued to present weekly Wednesday webinars at 12:30 ET (11:30 CT) as a “lunch and learn” horticultural program. This team also includes agents, specialists, and other experts who present a 20-30-minute horticultural class to the public, with a live question and answer session between the participants and presenter at class end.  All the presentations are recorded and posted to the Kentucky Hort News website (www.kentuckyhortnews.com/horticulture-webinar-wednesdays/) along with the slides, notes, a survey, and any other resource materials that the viewer may need.  The live program, advertised via social media and traditional media outlets by agents and specialists, as well as the recordings, draw viewers in from across Kentucky, and the U.S. Viewers are Master Gardeners achieving Continuing Education Credits, farmers fulfilling CAIP grant requirements, and others who enjoy learning trusted horticultural principles from a researched based land grant university.

Provide the Number and Description(s) of Participants/Target Audience.

From July 2024, through June 30, 2025, a total of 762 attended the weekly webinars.  This agent has taught several webinars including: “How to Grow: Squash”, “Chaos Gardening”, and “New Perennials for 2025”, “Focus on Foliage”, and “New Plants: Perennial Edition”.

Provide a Statement of Outcomes or Program Impact. Please note that the outcomes statement must use evaluation data to describe the change(s) that occurred in individuals, groups, families, businesses, or in the community because of the program/outreach.

Webinar Wednesday—a weekly live Zoom series covering a wide range of gardening topics. To reach an even wider audience, each session was recorded and shared on a newly created YouTube channel.

What began as a response to social distancing has since grown into a thriving, nationwide digital learning hub for home gardeners and Master Gardeners.

The goal of the project was to provide accessible, research-based horticulture education to home gardeners and Master Gardeners. The team hosts weekly live webinars during the growing season and upload recordings to a centralized YouTube channel. All topics focus on seasonal, trending, and high-interest gardening practices.

By the Numbers (Channel Lifetime):

• 2,076 subscribers
• 176 videos
• 168,600 total views
• 23,300 hours of total watch time
• 4,400 views in the past 28 days alone

Top-performing videos of 2025 demonstrate strong national relevance:

• “Growing Pawpaws” (2022) – 3,082 views
• “How to Start a Community Garden” (2020) – 1,697 views
• “Gooseberries and Currants” (2022) – 1,477 views
• “Growing Giant Pumpkins” (2024) – 1,228 views
• “Chaos Gardening” (2024) – 1,125 views

  Facebook contacts exceeds 421,082 yearly contacts.

Participants are not only watching, they’re engaging and taking action:

“This helps me greatly! Thank you. I have searched for instruction that is NOT the duplicate of an audiobook. It is refreshing and needed to learn with an authentic presentation.”
 — Viewer, Tree Risk Assessment

“Looking to start a green space project in Wichita, KS with a local group of like-minded individuals. This was very helpful. Thank you.”
 — Viewer, How to Start a Community Garden

What started as a Kentucky-based outreach tool has become a national resource, supporting new and seasoned gardeners across the U.S. Webinar Wednesday continues to demonstrate the power of collaboration, consistency, and adaptability in Extension programming.