Valerie Easton, author of “The New Low Maintenance Garden,” will explain how to love your garden, save your back and have more time in your life in her keynote address at this year’s Whidbey Gardening Workshop.

The workshop is Saturday, March 20 at Coupeville middle and high schools.

A Langley resident and columnist for the Seattle Times, Easton is the author of four books on gardening, including “Artists and Their Gardens,” “Plant Life: Growing a Garden in the Pacific Northwest” and “A Pattern Garden.”

“I see a lot of grand gardens in my work, a lot of really impressive gardens, and I wanted to see how inexpensively and simply I could make a garden that was very satisfying and personal and productive,” Easton said.

“The book started in my own backyard in Langley, but then we went all over the country, the photographer and I, to find other people — both designers and gardeners — doing really innovative, clever things to cut down on maintenance and simplify their gardening lives,” she added.

“I think as you read the book,” Easton said, “it’s about sustainability, and what makes sense in regard to water and resources, for the earth as well as ourselves. It’s a balance that everybody needs to find and interpret for themselves. You wind up with the garden you love by thinking through what appeals to you and why.”

Presented by Whidbey Island Master Gardeners, the Whidbey Gardening Workshop will feature local experts and 55 classes on a wide range of other gardening topics, from orchard care to beekeeping.

The cost is $35, and lunch may be purchased for an additional $8. Registration begins Feb. 15 online at www.island.wsu.edu or by calling 360-240-5527 to request a registration packet by mail.