Special points of interest:

90+ MGA Still Serving

History of AMGA

Scholarships

Awarded

Inside this

issue:

90+ Master 1

President’s Message AMGA Scholarship

4

4

2012 Conference License Plate Baldwin County

5

6

6

Board Meeting 7

Awards Happenings Around Alabama

7

8

History of AMGA

19

Links 20

Pathways

Alabama Master

Gardeners Association

Garden Fall 2011

Volume 12 Issue 48

Matharee Boles Blount County MGA

Olean Smith Blount County MGA.

Tom Corley Lee County MGA

Ken Whitaker Capitol City MGA

Caroline Dean Lee County MGA

MASTER GARDENERS

STILL

SERVING AT

90+90+

Caterina Kenworthy Baldwin County MGA

Ottie Dailey Baldwin County MGA

Mary Gibson Baldwin County MGA

(COTINUED ON PAGE 2)

Garden Pathways Fall 2011 Page 2

90+ MASTER GARDENERS STILL SERVING

(Continued from page 1)

BLOUNT COUNTY By: Sara Pass

Matharee Boles is a charter member of Blount County Master Gardeners and has served four terms as president. Following a long career in education, Matharee be-came one of the most active and well-known volunteers in our county. She has enlightened, inspired, delighted and moti-vated the members of numerous organiza-tions. Slowed but undefeated by macular degeneration, Matharee has continued to serve. She epitomizes the thoughts ex-pressed in the song ―Oh My, All Who

Come Behind Me Find Me Faithful‖. Olean Smith was born to be a Master Gar-dener. She was born and raised on a fami-ly farm in the New Home community. In the tradition of the American farmer, she and her husband went on to raise cattle, poultry, and endless field crops. She is well-known for sharing abundant blue-berries. She worked at Blue Bell in Oneon-ta and later worked with cooking and nutri-tion for new moms in a program of the Blount County Cooperative Extension Ser-vice. Her hard work, enthusiasm and warm disposition have added greatly to Blount

County Master Gardeners.

LEE COUNTY MGA By: Dennis Pinkard

Caroline Dean, queen of Alabama wild-flowers, Botanist, photographer, author, web-master and lecturer only begins to describe Caroline Dean. She was an active member and past president of the Alabama

Wildflower Society. On her 110-acre farm in Opelika, AL, with the help of her son Dan, she has created garden spots that are home to hundreds of wildflowers and native plants uprooted by development and saved by the diligence of plant rescuers. She has creat-ed gardens of wildflowers. Many of which are endangered. Friends have sent her seeds or specimens, but many of her plants were rescued from construction sites. Rectangular beds are scattered informally

throughout her large, flat front yard. Some beds are lined with pine limbs and contain odd trilliums and other ephemeral natives. She also created bog gardens by sinking kiddie swimming pools into the ground. These latter moist areas are home to rare pitcher plants. At the edge of the piney wood-land stretching the length of the front yard, Dean planted native azaleas in a riot of colors. These deciduous shrubs — some of them as tall as 15 feet — produce yellow, orange, red, white and pink flowers throughout the spring months. This 90+ year-old dynamo who worked on her web site till the wee hours of the morning, Caroline Dean is a wildflower lover extraordinaire. Long interested in native plants, she meticulously photo-graphed and cataloged Alabama wildflow-ers. She has cataloged more than 10,000 slides and photographs she has taken of flowers in the wild. Via her web site, she shares her knowledge and enthusiasm with nature lovers around the world. http://diglib.auburn.edu/collections/wildflower/ This great-grandmother regularly gave lectures on native flora, traveling the state of Alabama and beyond. She taught herself about computers when she was 77 and has been keeping up with the latest technology ever since. She converted her presentations to Power Point after realizing that her slide and projector seemed passé. This education and outreach award winner, taught at the Osher Life-long Learning Institute at Auburn Uni-versity and traveled from state to state to raise awareness about the importance and beauty of wetlands. Reaching out to schools and community groups, she taught audiences about wetland flora and invasive weeds. The Caroline Dean Wildflower Collection features images of wildflowers native to the Southeastern United States that are identified by both common and scientific names and are accompanied by a description. The majority of the images in this collection were photographed in the wild lands and along roadsides throughout Alabama. This extensive wildflower collec-tion has been created to share the beauty

and knowledge of our most colorful of all natural resources, and to promote the ap-preciation, use, and conservation of native plants. It has been made available to the Auburn University Libraries by Caroline R. Dean and Robert A. Dean of Opelika. ( Auburn University Digital Library) The collection, which has received increasing attention, is designed to promote the appreciation and preservation of native

wildflowers.

Tom Corley was born April 25, 1921 in

Coosa County. He graduated in Agricultural Engineering from Auburn University (API) in 1943 and served 3 and a half years in the Army, seeing action in France and Ger-many. He returned to Auburn University for an MS degree. He then served 36 years on the staff, 18 years in Agricultural Engineer-ing Research and 18 years in administra-tion, retiring in 1984 as Associate Dean of the School of Agriculture and Associate Director of the Alabama Agricultural Experi-

ment Station. He was widely recognized as a pioneer in the mechanization of cotton production. Auburn University honored him by naming the Agricultural Engineering building the Tom E. Corley Building in 1998. He received the Outstanding Alum-nus Award in Agricultural Engineering in 1995 and was elected to the Alabama Agri-

culture Hall of Honor in 1990. He has been a member of the Kiwanis Club of Auburn for over 60 years, and the Club named him a George F. Hixson Fellow. He is a charter member of the Auburn-Opelika Men’s Camellia Club and The Chattahoochee Rhododendron Society. He was active in the Auburn Beau-tification council, serving as Treasurer for

10 years. In 1982 he had a 150 year old log house near his birthplace dismantled and

re-erected on his land in Loachapoka. He propagated and planted over 3000 camelli-

as, rhododendrons, native azaleas and Japanese maples on the land surrounding the log house. He graciously shared his

garden by request with garden groups and

(Continued on page 3)

Garden Pathways Fall 2011 Page 3

Continued from page 2) other organizations from all over, and is still giving tours today. In 2002 members of the American Rhododendron Society visited

from their annual meeting in Atlanta. His garden has been featured in six magazines, including Southern Living, and one book, ―Alabama Gardens Great and Small‖. Tom received the W. Kelly Mos-ley Environmental Award for preserving a bit of the past and improving the environ-ment. He loves to share his plants and they can be seen all over Auburn, not to mention in the gardens of hundreds of gar-deners who were fortunate to visit and leave with free plants. He and Dr. Dennis Rouse donated many plants to Kiesel Park at its beginning, and now a small garden in the park is dedicated to them, called the

Rouse Corley Garden. In 2004 he registered a camellia with the American Camellia Society, naming it ―Mary Corley‖ for his wife, who is now 87. In 2007 one of his hybrid native azaleas

was registered with the Royal Horticultural Society, called ―Corley Cardinal.‖

CAPITOL CITY MGA By: YVONNE EVANS

Ken Whitaker of Montgomery has been an Alabama Master Gardener for 19 years. Now 91 years young, Ken was born in Tennessee’s Cumberland Mountains during the Great Depression. His family produced everything they needed on their farm. They had gardens, orchards, cellars, beehives, syrup mills and timber. They raised sheep

for wool and mutton. Ken remembers watching his grandmother spin yarn to

make his socks. When Ken and his wife Marjorie downsized to a patio home from an estab-lished residence several years ago, they left behind large trees, herb gardens, vege-table gardens, and many heirloom plants. But within two years Ken had landscaped the new property with ―rooms‖ of flowers, shrubs, herbs, vegetables, and water fea-tures, and today he enjoys sharing his

gardens with friends and neighbors. A charter member of the Capital City Master Gardener Association, Ken is a legend at the Alabama National Fair held every October in Montgomery. He has won hundreds of awards over the years for his plants in the Fair’s Annual Flower Show.

He has also won Creative Living awards for canning, cooking and crafts. Ken helped to establish an herb garden for his church, and

for many years he dedicated himself to developing and maintaining a garden in Centennial Hill, one of the oldest neighbor-hoods in Montgomery. The garden pro-duced vegetables and herbs for the

residents of the area. When asked about the secret to his long productive life, Ken has two guide-

lines: 1) Stay active in community and church life, 2) Volunteer for projects that are helpful to

others. This cheerful gardener practices

what he preaches!

Baldwin County By Dr. John Meyer

Baldwin County Master Gardeners are proud to have three 90+ young women, who combined, have over 273 years of life experience which they bring to our organi-

zation. Ottie Dailey, 92, has been a life long south-ern lady. She married at 21 and is the proud mother of two boys and two girls. She has gardened since she was a little girl with the help of an aunt who taught her how to root hydrangeas at a very young age. Early in her married life she lived in Mobile and was active with Festival of Flow-ers and the Mobile Botanical Gardens. In 1964 she moved to Spanish Fort, Alabama where she loves to work with her roses as well as a variety of other plants. Ottie be-came a Master Gardener in 1997 and re-members years of other Master Gardeners sharing plantings and their expertise. She feels the greatest contribution she has made as a Master Gardener is sharing her experiences with others; especially working with roses. "Folks are so willing to learn from others". Mary Gibson, 91, is also a life long south-ern lady. Mary has two sons and their family has lived all over the south. She became a Master Gardener in 1990 in Jefferson County while living in Hoover, Alabama. Mary's first interest and specialty was working with day lilies. Later however,

her interests turned to roses, heritage in particular, and today roses still dominate her gardening time. Mary has also been involved in garden clubs in Fairhope where she has lived for the past 13 years. She feels her greatest contribution as a Master Gardener has been volunteering to serve the garden community by sharing her

years of knowledge and experiences. "How rewarding to be able to answer

folks’ questions and give them solutions to their problems and needs". Caterina Kenworthy lives in Foley, Ala-bama.. She is originally from Italy. She often speaks of the wonderful flowers in her native country that are like those in South-ern Alabama. She loves to garden but one of her major contributions to Master Gar-deners is her ability to feed large groups of folks who gather to work on projects like our plant sales. Cooking for 30 to 40 people is no challenge to this 90 year young per-son. Caterina became a Master Gardener in 1995 and always sits in the front row to learn as much as she can from our guest speakers. She always has that caring smile. She enjoys traveling to Michigan to visit family but when back in Baldwin

County, she never misses a meeting.

Baldwin County Master Garden-ers is so proud to have three dedicated members who model caring, experienced

gardeners.

ALABAMA MASTER GARDENERS ASSOCIATION

FOR 30 YEARS OF SERVICE

Garden Pathways Fall 2011 Page 4

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE By John Baker

In the Summer edition of the Garden Pathways I men-tioned some new and exciting things that were happening with the AMGA and promised to

keep you all up to date - so here it is… The database program is finally getting ready to happen. We now have a signed memoran-dum of agreement between the AMGA, The Extension Service and Hemispheres Internet. Hemi-spheres Internet is the organization that developed and installed the electronic hours reporting system for the Extension Service.) We have contracted with them to modi-fy the system so that it conforms to all of our database information. Work on these modifications should begin soon, and we are hoping to have it in place by the first of the year or shortly thereafter. Once

completed, it will greatly reduce the required time and work for the Da-tabase Managers in your local or-ganizations. The Alabama Master Gardener License Plate is not a dead issue YET. We still have until November to come up with the required two hundred and fifty applications. That is a long way to go, but if eve-ryone who has expressed an inter-est in ordering one would decide to do so, I believe that we could still reach our goal. Considering all the time and effort invested in the design and development of this beautiful plate, it would be disap-pointing to see it fail. There has been a change to the AMGA Conference schedule. As planned our next AMGA 2012 Conference will be held March 22-24 in Birmingham. The 2013 Con-ference had been scheduled to be held in Auburn (Lee County). However, Lee County had to with-draw as the conference host due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control. That left us scrambling to

find a local organization willing to step up and host the 2013 confer-ence. When we approached the Shoals Master Gardeners about hosting, they stood up and said ―Yes, we can do it‖. So the 2013 AMGA Conference will be held April 15-17 in Florence. If you attended the conference in 2006 you will perhaps remember what a great job the folks up in the Shoals did! So we will be looking to see if they can top that one – no pressure on you folks in the Shoals. Thanks Shoals for stepping up and agreeing to host the conference. It looks like the Summer heat has finally broken, and we should be on our way to a beautiful Fall. Most of us are starting to get some rain (occasionally). Those who do f Fall gardens should have them in the ground by now and hopefully they are doing well. We are all looking forward to a bountiful har-vest from our gardens! Have an enjoyable Fall & Winter… John

It was my pleasure to at-tend the College of Agriculture An-nual Scholarship Recognition Pro-gram on August 20

th. The 2011

recipient of the Alabama Master Gardeners Horticulture Scholarship Endowment is David Reeves of Hartselle, Alabama. David is a jun-ior this year. He was reared on a peach farm, and plans to continue with the family farm. In this age of declining family farms, it is refresh-ing to find young people still dedi-cated to maintaining this age-old ―vanishing‖ way of life. I also stood to recognize the recipients of other

Master Gardeners Association Scholarships which include Tusca-loosa County, Etowah County, Cherokee County, DeKalb County and Mobile County. Looks like there’s a good crop of new Horticul-tural Specialists on the horizon and I’m happy and excited Master Gar-deners around the state are helping with the cultivation! Is your organi-zation involved? If not, here’s your opportunity. At the 2011 Confer-ence in Mobile, Dee Hubbard of the Shoals Master Gardeners issued a challenge. Through some hard work at fund raising, Shoals MG’s

were able to contribute $5,000 to the Endowment. The challenge was for local organizations to raise an additional $5,000 for the Endow-ment by the next Conference. At this time, there have been contribu-tions…but we’ve not yet met the challenge. I ask all organizations to give this thought and considera-tion…contribute what you can…large or small. Every penny counts. I know, I, and our future Horticultural Students, can count on you too! All contributions should be sent to Jane Shalhoop, Treasurer,

AMGA.

SCHOLARSHIP By Jeanon Massien

Page 5 Garden Pathways Fall 2011

Experience “The Magic of Gardening” at the

2012 AMGA Conference By Tricia Farris

Every gardener has experi-enced the magic of gardening, from the first sprouts that push up from within a buried seed to the way that everyday stresses and cares seem to vanish when we labor in our gardens. Jefferson County’s Master Gardeners invite you to join us at the 2012 Alabama Master Gardener Conference as we celebrate ―The Magic of Gardening.‖ We are looking forward to welcoming our fellow Master Gardeners to ―The Magic City‖ for the 22nd Annual Conference on March 22 - 24, 2012. Conference activities will be centered at the Bir-mingham Marriott, located on U.S. Highway 280, near shopping and a variety of attractions. Pre-conference activities begin just after noon on Thursday at Birmingham Botanical Gardens with registration and roundtable discussions on several Master Gardener subjects. On Thursday afternoon attendees will also have an opportunity for guided tours at ei-ther Birmingham Botanical Gardens or Aldridge Gardens, a public gar-den in nearby Hoover featuring 30 acres of hydrangeas and native plants. Return to Birmingham Bo-tanical Gardens at 5:30 p.m. for a Welcome Reception and Barbecue Dinner with musical entertainment by the Sonny Harris Trio, made up of members of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. The official opening of the 2012 AMGA Conference will take place on Friday morning at the Bir-mingham Marriott. Complete your registration, enjoy a continental breakfast, shop a wide selection of vendors, and place your bids on items in the Silent Auction. The Plenary session begins at 9 a.m. with our keynote speaker Dr. John Floyd, renowned horticulturist and

former Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of Southern Living Magazine, who reveals ―Ten Things that Might Shock You.‖ The business meeting will follow. Enjoy a boxed lunch and a talk by Fred Spicer, Jr., Executive Director of Birmingham Botanical Gardens. A native of New Jersey, Mr. Spicer was transplanted to Bir-mingham in 2001 and now eagerly shares ―Why the Heck I Stay in Ala-bama,‖ with his fellow Alabama gar-deners. Take a break after lunch to visit with Master Gardeners from around the state while you peruse the vendors and exhibits. Breakout sessions will begin at 1:45 p.m. For

these sessions, we have planned an interesting and diverse group of speakers who will show you tricks to create magic in your own garden. Early registration increases your chances of receiving your first choice of two of the following topics: Cottage Garden Design, Vermiculture, Native Plants - Spring Ephemerals, Incorporating Herbs and Vegetables in the Landscape, and Growing Great Tomatoes. Mingle with your fellow Master Gardeners at a Cash Bar beginning at 5 p.m., followed by the Awards Banquet at 6 p.m. Enjoy a delicious dinner, then sit back and get ready to be entertained as our speaker, nationally-known storytell-er and avid gardener Dolores Hydock presents ―Dishing the Dirt.. Stories about Gardening.‖ Our evening concludes with the installa-tion of officers and presentation of awards.

Saturday morning starts with a continental breakfast. You’ll have plenty of time to visit the vendors for one more round of shopping before the Plenary Session begins with a preview of the 2013 Conference. Our first speaker Robert ―Buddy‖ Lee is fa-miliar to many southern gardeners as the inventor of the Encore Azalea® and current Director of Plant Innovations at PDSI. Our final speakers, Paulette Ogard and Sara Bright, have spent more than a decade traveling the Southeast studying and photographing butter-flies. Their book, Butterflies of Al-abama: Glimpses into Their Lives, provides a fascinating window into the lives of these extraordinary creatures. Following the conference, we invite you to stay and experi-ence more of Birmingham’s magic, including Vulcan Park and Museum, the Birmingham Civil Rights Insti-tute, the Birmingham Museum of Art, Barber Motorsports Park, and Ruffner Mountain Nature Center. Information about several area at-tractions will be included in your registration packet, and more infor-mation about Birmingham’s attrac-tions is available at: http://www.birminghamal.org/ttd-attractions.html. Look for specific conference details and a registration packet in the Winter issue of Garden Pathways and on the Alabama Master Gardeners’ website at: http://www.alabamamg.org and mark your calendars now to be part of this ―magical‖ experience.

Garden Pathways Fall 2011 Page 6

ALABAMA LICENSE PLATE By Kathie Bass - Fundraising Chair

Master Gardeners Distinctive License Plate

The “Commitment to Purchase” process ends on November 30, 2011. If you have not been to your Department of Motor Vehicles to sign up for the Master Gardener license plate you have just a few

short weeks to do so. Proceeds from the plate will be split 50/50 between the Master Gardener Endowment Fund at Auburn

and the Master Gardener Program. Did you know that your $50 is tax deductible? So what are you waiting for, take a trip to the DMV

and:

Ride with Pride with the

AMGA License Plate

Questions???? Call or email: Kathie Bass, AMGA Fundraising Chairman AMGAFundraisingChair@gmail.com 256-457-6530

The 12th Annual Baldwin County Master Gardener scholarships were award-

ed recently to six local area students. ―We are pleased with the quality and quantity of this year’s applicants,‖ say Sam Andrews who heads up the Scholarship Committee. ―We were able to give $5,500, and more than half of the winners were

previous scholarship recipients.‖ The recipients and their respective area of study are: Seth E. Allen of Loxley, Horticulture; Austin Fulmer of Gulf Shores, Wildlife and Forest Management; Steven R. Green of Daphne, Landscape Design; Miranda L. Holmes of Loxley, Landscape Operations Management; Kristen D. Pegues of Fairhope, Agronomy and Soils; and Justin A. Strong of Gulf Shores,

Forestry. Although there is an increasing interest in home gardening, there are fewer students making a career in horticul-ture, farming and forestry. As a result, there have been some years when the scholar-ship selection pool was small. ―We first send previous scholarship winners an invi-tation to apply for a renewal scholarship,‖ reports Andrews. ―If there is additional mon-

ey after those scholarships are awarded, we reach out to Baldwin County High Schools with horticultural classes. We made a big push in 2011 to get the word out to high schools, colleges and universities as well as

Kiwanis, Garden Clubs and other groups.‖ To be eligible, students must be Baldwin County residents and enrolled in horticultural-related studies as a full-time student. Current winners attend Auburn University and Faulkner State College. Funds for the scholarships come from the Baldwin County Master Gardeners’ Annual

Plant Sale. The Baldwin County Master Gar-dener Program is an educational outreach program provided and administered by the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. The Baldwin County Master Gardeners, with 185 active members, are engaged in programs ranging from community land-scaping projects to educational opportuni-ties for gardeners of all ages. They also contribute to the HelpLine – a telephone service that provides answers to your per-plexing gardening questions. Call toll free 877-252-4769, Monday through Friday from

10am to 4pm.

Seth Allen

Justin Strong

Steven Green

Austin Fulmer

Miranda Holmes

Kristen Pegues

BALDWIN COUNTY MGA SCHOLARSHIPS AWARDED

Page 7 Garden Pathways Fall 2011

Kerry Smith reported that the distance education on Sustaina-ble Backyards has been very successful and there are plans to continue this series.

Harold Deason of Jefferson County reported that Alabama Power has a $1,000 grant for the purchase of trees (only). When applying for the grant they look at maintenance and long term planning for the trees. Information is available at http://www.alabamapower.com/foundation/good_roots.asp

ACES is partnering with UAB in ―Harvest for Health‖. This is a grant that will partner a cancer survivor, chosen by UAB with a gardening mentor, chosen by ACES. A trial of this program has been done in Jefferson County with great success. Plans are to do this across the state. Master gardeners inter-ested in participating can take

an online survey which can be found at www.surveymonkey.com/harvest4health . Note: every-one who responds may not be needed, as this is dependent on grant funding and other factors.

The 2012 AMGA Conference will be in Birmingham, March 22-24. Registration will begin the first of January. Thursday activi-ties will be at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. There are two free tours on Thursday – one at the Botanical Gardens and one at Aldridge Gardens. If you plan to tour either of these gardens you will need to ar-range for your own transporta-tion. Maps will be provided. Also, the Thursday evening dinner, which will be at the Botanical Gardens, is limited to 270 due to code regulations at the facility; please register early to ensure a spot. Friday and

Saturday activities are at the Marriot Grandview on Hwy 280. Parking is free. The 2013 AMGA Conference is hosted by the Shoals Master Gardeners in Florence, Alabama on April 15-17. Please note that this will be a Monday - Wednesday confer-ence. The 2014 AMGA Confer-ence hosted by Baldwin County will be at the Daphne Civic Cen-ter, April 28-30, which is also a Monday – Wednesday confer-ence. Please note that all orders for Reach for the Stars program, including stars, gold, platinum and lifetime badges and Advanced Stars are to be sent to the Awards Committee Chair. Order forms are available on the AMGA website. Our cur-rent chair is Karin Carmichael – jkcarmi@bellsouth.net. Any AMGA dues-paying member is welcome to attend any board

meeting.

NOTES FROM BOARD MEETING By Patti Householder

It is not too soon to be thinking about submitting nomina-tions for the AMGA Awards. That will be given out in 2012, at the State Conference in Birmingham. Encourage your Members to keep their hours updated using the on-line Volunteer Service Reporting System or to register if they have not done so already. The deadline for awards submissions is January

31, 2012. County agents must certify candidates for the Lifetime hours and Top Hours for the Year Awards. It is hoped that each local associa-tion will submit a nominee for these two awards and are encourage to assist Extension Agents with prepa-ration of these submissions. Local associations may submit these nominations directly to

the Awards Committee with the Agent’s signature; the Extension Agents are not required to submit them. Please insure that it is clearly stated to which association a nomi-nee belongs and which county he/she represents. In addition, each local association is encouraged to sub-mit nominees for the Mary Lou McNabb Alabama Master Gardener of the Year, the Gary Murray Out-standing Service and Dedication to the Alabama Master Gardener Pro-gram and the Outstanding Newslet-ter Awards. Details of the criteria for these awards have been updat-ed for the Local Association Hand-book and the AMGA website www.alabamamg.org. Submissions for all awards must be postmarked no later than January 31, 2012, and

should be sent to Karin Carmichael, Awards Committee Chair, 3508 Lancaster Lane, Montgomery, AL 36106. Reach for the Stars Program platinum and gold badges and Advanced Gemstone Stars Orders are also due January 31, 2012, as well as orders for Bronze, Silver and Gold stars. Order forms are available on the AMGA Web-site through the link on the Homep-age. Stars Program submissions and checks are to be made directly to the AMGA Awards Chair, Karin Carmichael, 3508 Lancaster Lane, Montgomery, AL 36106. This is a new procedure. Please DO NOT send these to the AMGA Treasur-

er.

AMGA AWARDS PROGRAM By Karin Carmichael - Awards Chair

Autauga County MGA By Nancy Waggoner

Garden Pathways Fall 2011

HAPPENINGS

AROUND

ALABAMA

MASTER

GARDENER

Page 8

Under the able leadership of Janet Lohman, our Helpline Coordina-tor, 22 Autauga County Master Gar-deners took 193 Helpline calls from March through August this year. We are proud to assist Extension in providing gardening information to the public! Autauga County Master Gardeners were pleased to welcome Marie Pacheco-West, director of Lanark in Millbrook as guest speaker at our July meeting. Lanark is now the official home site for the Alabama Wildlife Federation and has beautiful gardens and nature trails. Marie’s program focused on the use of herbs to make sprays for plants to treat fungal disease and insect infestation. Garlic, chamomile and chive sprays were discussed. Quite a few of our members attended excellent extension work-shops on plant propagation and ad-vanced tomato growing this Summer. The tomato workshop covered plant

diseases, insects, preservation and grafting. All enjoyed tomato samples and a great lunch provided by Central Alabama Master Gardeners Associa-tion. Five Autauga County mem-bers had a wonderful time volunteer-ing at the Chilton County Expo in Au-gust. We wore our brand new Autau-ga County Master Gardeners’ aprons, which are hunter green with white logo and lettering. Our Demonstration Garden continues to produce an abundance of fresh vegetables. We are now picking our second crop of zipper peas and have just planted our Fall round of cabbage, broccoli, collards and rutabagas. Carroll Bonifay, direc-tor of the garden, continues to take the vegetables to a local care center to feed the needy. Plans are underway for our exhibit at the Autauga County Fair to be held in October.

Baldwin County MGA By Dr. John Meyer

The Fall season, if you can call it that, in southern Alabama, brings many exciting activities for BCMGs. The weekend of October 7th our organization supports the Weeks Bay Reserve Fall plant sale with dozens of our members unload-ing and organizing plants for the anticipated hundreds of folks buying their Fall plantings. October 20th is our annual Fall education seminar, this year featuring Felder Rushing

along with other notable speakers. In honor of Arbor Day's 100th anniversary and the 30th anniversary of AMGs, we are plan-ning a very exciting project. Rather than planting a tree in commemora-tion of these two events, we will be planting a "forest". Along with Weeks Bay and the State Land Commission, we will plant approxi-mately 1000 Long Leaf Pines on a 4 acre plot at Weeks Bay. This should keep our Master Gardeners

busy for awhile! And of course we are very proud of our three 90+ year ―young members‖: Mary Gibson, Ottie Dai-ley, and Caterina Kenworthy, featured in this newsletter. With their combined more than 50 years of experience they are an inspiration to all with their knowledge and dedi-cation to who we are as Master Gardeners.

Family

like the branches of a tree,

we all grow in different

directions, yet our roots

remain as one.

Garden Pathways Fall 2011 Page 9

Blount County MGA By Sarah Pass

The sizzling Summer heat has not stopped our MGs. They have braved the hot temperatures to keep projects around the county watered and attrac-tive. Over the Summer we had a ―Junk Art‖ work-shop where we learned to reuse, recycle, and repur-pose. Participants went home with wonderful items of garden art made from pieces of broken up sidewalk. At a Water Wise workshop we learned how to water smarter and conserve this precious commodi-ty. Volunteers have been gearing up for Fall Fest benefitting our local 4-H. Fall Fest, October 22 is like an old fashioned coun-try fair. MGs take an active role in this event, both in preparing Cane Creek for the day and helping at the event itself.

We have had great monthly meetings over the Summer. Kerry Smith introduced us to some bene-ficial insects for our garden in July. MG Sheila Webb spoke about a variety of edible plants in August. She even brought us some dandelion jelly to sample. Lunch and Learn has been well attended. Hayes Jackson led a ―Build Your Own Rain Barrel‖

workshop in July. 35 attendees built rain barrels. Tim Chesnut of Chesnut Forestry spoke to us in August about the duties of a forester. We finished our 2011 Lunch and Learn series in September with a ―Fall Color and Tree ID‖ tour with David West. By the time this newsletter is published we hope you have had beneficial rains and

some cooler weather.

Calhoun County MGA By Sherry Blanton

Swann Covered Bridge, in Blount County, The longest surviving covered bridge in

Alabama

Blount County Alabama is well-known for its covered bridges and until a few years ago they were in public use. Unfortunately, after the bridges were closed to traffic, the area around them suffered. A local group has been formed to pre-serve and restore the bridges as well as clean up and enhance the areas near them. This group, Friends of the Covered Bridges of Blount County (you can Google), has been joined by Blount County Master Gardeners for several re-cent work days. In addition to the magnificent beauty of the rivers, the banks nearby are home to count-less native plants. The Blount County Wildflower Society, whose members are primarily Master Gar-deners from Blount, Cullman, Mar-

shal and Jefferson Counties, are excited to explore, record, and share this wonder. In keeping with the current interest in native plants, Blount County Master Gardeners are hosting a Fall mini-conference at Palisades Park in September. Registration has already filled for ―WILD THINGS! Native Plants that Enhance our Lives.‖ Our guest speakers are Brian Keener, Paulette Ogard & Sara Bright, Chip East, and Dr. David West. Other September activities include the beginning of our Fall Master Gar-deners’ class and the Blount Coun-ty Fair. Traditionally, more than half our membership serve as volun-teers at the fair.

Garden Pathways Fall 2011 Page 10

2011 has been a very pro-ductive year for Capital City Master Gardener Assn. Under Suzanne Reaves’ leadership, CCMGA has developed partnerships with Habi-tat for Humanity, to educate new home owners on the ins and outs of landscaping. Hempstead Farm/Downtown Urban Farm is another partnership where we are helping turn unused urban land into food production gar-dens. In the coming months we will assist in the develop-ment and teaching a garden-ing curriculum for 3rd and 4th grade schools children. But our new Autumn venture is as equally exciting. The Rose-Morris House at Old Alabama Town Located in Old Alabama Town is the two story, rustic dogtrot structure, The Rose-

Morris House ca. 1840. CCMGA has teamed with Old Alabama Town to create a garden in the back of the house, which opens out onto the North Working Block of this popular historical complex. CCMGA chose the Rose House site because all school tours to the complex pass through

this area. This garden will be viewed by school children from all over Alabama who will be able to see and experience what a 19th century garden looked like and get a feeling of what life was like back then. Barbara Forsythe, Dianne Bush, and the committee have cre-

ated a landscape design that uses native plants consistent with the mid-1800 historical period. The garden installation will be done over a three week period and is scheduled to be finished in early November. CCMGA members will maintain the garden throughout the year and hopefully an added benefit of the garden is than it can become a source of plant material for our annual plant sale.

Capital City MGA By Jerry Belcher

Cherokee County MGA By Janice Knight

We are a young group, with only two graduat-ing classes so far, but our 23 active members are very busy! This year, we have had speakers on endan-gered plants, fire ants, begonias and orchids, ferns, alternate containers, and propagation, to name a few. We also took a day trip to Rome, Georgia, to see Mar-shall Forest, the largest virgin forest within a city limits in the world. It is virtually unchanged since before the colonization of the United States. It is now overseen by the Nature Conservancy. Our members were active in our second annu-al plant sale, even though we had to delay it two weeks because of the April storms. We made enough money to help underwrite the cost of the next Master Gardeners class in this county, and we also made a donation of $500.00 to Auburn to a horticulture student

from this area. We have worked with the Little River Canyon National Preserve, in planting trees and landscaping grounds. We planted flowers and shrubs at the Centre Post Office, the Centre City Hall, and the Dixie Youth ball field, which recently hosted the state tournaments. We got lots of compliments from the community on how pretty the areas look. Fall is a busy time MGA around here. We will have speakers on greenhouses, composting, and suc-culents in the near future. On November 16

th, we are

hosting a talk on ―Fall Gardening‖ with Jason Powell from Petals from the Past . All area Master Gardeners are invited to his talk. Call 256-779-6995 for reserva-tions.

Wisdom is knowing what to do next,

skill is knowing how to do it, and virtue is doing it. - David Starr Jordan -

Page 11

Coffee County MGA By Charlie Block

Garden Pathways Fall 2011

Claybank MGA - OZARK/DALE COUNTY By Chuck Auman

Hot dry weather kept us busy in our own gardens most of the Summer. We managed to do a few things, and plan a few other things for the public good while our rain gauges dried out. We continue to build rela-tionships at Vivian B. Adams School. We have constructed five large cold frames and an irrigation system for them and continue to move plants as needed. Exciting plans are underway to renovate the greenhouse very soon! Several members partici-pated in a day camp training ses-sion where we assisted an ACES

staff member in training young chil-dren. Several were also asked to participate in a survey session by ACES as to which of their many functions should require special fo-cus in the coming year. October means our partici-pation in the Claybank Jamboree, a huge street festival in downtown Ozark. We staff a booth to answer public questions, provide pam-phlets, recruit members, and of course, share a few plants for a do-nation. Make a Difference Day, the nation’s largest charity effort falls on October 22 and we will partici-

pate for the 16th consecutive year. We are in demand as many pro-jects across the city require garden-ing and landscaping experience and we are well known for our past assistance. On September 29 our past president, Kimberly Ylitalo who no longer lives here, will present ―The 3 R’s Living Green” REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE” a public program with great appeal. Don’t forget to check our blog at: www.claybankmastergardeners.com.

Cullman County MGA By Loretta Gillespie

The Coffee County MGA continues to be active and involved. In August we received a frantic call from a new Principal of a local ele-mentary school seeking assistance in landscape design and planting techniques for her school. I re-ceived the call which was followed up by another call from the school asking we be present 3 days later. Our team responded and we had three folks meet with her and pro-vide a landscape plan. Education at its best! We continue to work with the Habitat housing project,

and have made contact with the building committee, and will be assisting in landscape design and planting in the near future. This will be our second Habitat landscape project. One of our members visited with the owner of the first home we worked on and was informed that our instruction had led her and her children to become involved in the care of the landscape in their yard. We have also teamed with Wire-grass and Claybank MGA’s to host a Fall Seminar on ―Living Green‖. This event will be held on Septem-

ber 29th at the Dale County Exten-

sion building. In response to the ―Plant a Tree‖ effort we contacted the city horticulturist and discussed options. It was decided that we will look into replacing 4 trees that have died in the city park. Of note, our Enterprise City Park has a collec-tion of native Alabama trees, each marked with the common and bo-tanical name. We are also assist-ing in the ongoing MG class and hope to recruit additional members for our association.

ACCOLADES to Cullman

Master Gardeners

This sign was presented to the Mas-ter Gardeners by the Cullman Area Beautification Committee and the Cullman Area Chamber of Com-merce in recognition of the dedica-tion and hard work of the Cullman Master Gardeners in turning a va-cant plot of ground into a beautiful place for the whole community to enjoy.

Page 12 Garden Pathways Fall 2011

East Central Alabama MGA By Martha Burnett

Elmore County MGA By Iva Wells

Our trip to Kiesel Park, in June, was a nice change of pace. In July, we had a presentation by Anne Randle from Hampstead Farms on Sustainable gardening. Also in July, we hosted a plant propagation workshop. Our August meeting was held at the Central Alabama Elec-tric Cooperative Building where we had our business meeting, and graduation of the latest Interns. A great lunch was provided by Master Gardeners. Certificates were presented and several in-terns were recognized for having

over 100 hours. On August 5

th, we hosted a well

attended ―More About Tomatoes‖ workshop which included a taste testing and hands on identification of tomato insects, diseases and disorders. Our Master Gardeners provided lunch consisting of all to-mato dishes including salsas, pasta dishes, tomato pie, tomato spice cake, tomato basil biscuits and to-mato ice cream. There were many favorable comments on the lunch as well as the workshop. The Help Line is winding down for the season. Work contin-

ues in the learning gardens, at the Wetumpka Middle School, and the Humane Shelter. Produce from the learning garden was contributed to the Food Bank. Our September program will be presented by Rod Douglas of the Elmore County Bluebird trail. We will also participate in the Fall continuing education workshop ―All About Trees‖ to be held in Mont-gomery. The Fall intern class is underway with the new interns ea-gerly soaking up gardening infor-mation.

In an attempt to build the gardening section of our libraries, ECAMGA has provided each of our three area libraries with subscrip-tions to seven gardening/hobby type magazines; i.e., Southern Living, Alabama Gardener, Hobby Farm. We have also made a donation to Alabama ReLeaf to purchase seedlings to help rebuild Alabama’s tree population. Profit from our plant sale has been used to fund these efforts. Our More Home Grown To-matoes Workshop on July 15 was an outstanding success, with ap-proximately 45 people in attend-

ance. We had the opportunity to taste and rate 26 varieties of tomatoes and identify/discuss 20 specimens of damaged plants and fruit. Thanks to Chip East, Danielle Carroll-Alexander, Mallory Kelley, Patti West, Shane Harris, and Stan Roark who made excel-lent presentations and an-swered some pretty difficult questions. Special thanks to Chris Hardin and all the mem-bers of East Central Alabama Master Gardeners’ Association for pulling together to make our workshop a huge success.

Autumn is the Spring with every lea f a f lower

Albert Camus

Garden Pathways Fall 2011 Page 13

Jefferson County MGA By Glenda Dicks

Things have really been busy with the Jefferson County Master Gardeners! We welcomed our new Regional Extension Agent in Commercial and Home Horticul-ture – Bethany O’Rear. After grad-uating from Auburn University with a degree in Horticulture, Bethany worked for Landscape Services where her duties included purchas-ing, managing the nursery and consulting with homeowners and property managers. JCMG look forward to working with Bethany! JCMG will co-sponsor the Central South Native Plant Confer-ence which will be held at the Bir-mingham Botanical Gardens, No-vember 4 and 5, 2011. Complete program information and registra-tion form can be found at http://www.bbgardens.org/central-south.php . We look forward to wel-coming all Alabama Master Gar-deners, to Birmingham for the 2012 Conference on March 22-24. JCMG are working hard to make

this a fun and informative confer-ence with a variety of tours and workshops. Make your plans to join us. Currently we are research-ing a location to plant our trees to celebrate the Alabama Master Gardeners 30

th Anniversary.

Wendy Ulrich, ACES Lab Technician, presented our July program on infused vinegars and herbal butters. Her presentation included information on growing herbs, how to make infused vine-gars and herbal butters, and reci-pes for using these items. As an added bonus, she brought gener-ous tasting samples! In August, Eddie Aldridge joined us and reminisced about his experiences in the nursery trade and encounters with gardeners and gardening. Eddie is interna-tionally known for discovering and marketing Hydrangea quercifolia ―Snowflake‖ and is the author of A Garden of Destiny, an account of the development of Aldridge Botan-

ical Gardens in Hoover, AL. A tour of Southern Envi-ronmental Center and Garden on the campus of Birmingham South-ern College was our September meeting. According to their web-site, the purpose of the Center is to show individuals how they can protect and improve their local environments. Complex topics like air pollution and water quality are presented in a way the general public can comprehend. Three times each year the JCMG hosts an evening meeting to accommodate our members who are unable to attend a day time meeting. Hunter Trees owner Phillip Hunter will present ―Trees in the Urban Landscape‖ on September 20

th.

Etowah County MGA By Carol B. Link

Throughout the Summer, in Etowah County, smoldering heat and humidity were daily occurrenc-es;. During June, small doses of rain fell regularly. Working in the landscape was extremely difficult, but as usual, diligent Master Gar-deners took care of their necessary gardening chores. In June, at our regular monthly meeting, David Agee, Vice president of Geo-Stone Retaining Wall Systems, of Birmingham, gave a presentation on hard-scapes. In July, local M G, Carol (Bonnie) Link presented a Power-Point of photos on a trip to Athens Greece, which she and fellow mas-ter gardener, Betty Hall took, in March.

Extreme heat and drought forced the postponement of land-scaping of several new construc-tions for Habitat for Humanity, but plans are underway for work to resume as soon as cooler weather arrives. To provide answers to area resident’s horticulture ques-tions, from April through Septem-ber, area Master Gardeners staffed the Etowah County Extension System/Etowah County Master Gardener Horticulture Helpline. All Summer, a group of Etowah County MGs maintained the Etowah County Extension Sys-tem’s Demonstration Garden locat-ed adjacent to the Helpline.

Plans are underway for Etowah County Master Gardener’s Greenhouse Sale, April 2012. MGs have volunteered as greenhouse supervisors, managers, and work team leaders. In addition, a list is being compiled of dedicated daily greenhouse workers to begin work in January. The Alabama Cooperative Extension System conducted several workshops and seminars in Etowah County this Summer, which were well attended by local MGs. Thankfully, Fall is on the horizon, and Etowah County MGs anxiously await the arrival of cooler weather.

Learn from yesterday,

live for today,

hope for tomorrow.

Albert Einstein

Page 14 Garden Pathways Fall 2011

Late Fall and early Spring Lee County Master Gardeners branched out with several new fund-raising projects. Plants and garden-related crafts created by Lee County MGs brought in more than $1,300 from sales at the Christmas Bazaar at a local church and a craft show at the local art museum. Even more successful has been the sale of compost mulch/donated from an area sawmill. The cost to have it trucked to the Auburn pasture of an MG member seemed daunting, but with the donation of a tractor loader to use and the hard work of a num-ber of MGs, the mulch pile is bare, and our coffers are increased by more than $3,000. Now we turn to using these funds in the service of

the community. We have already started preparations for our Garden Tour sched-uled for spring 2012, and a committee of MGs are busy identifying other potential projects. Recently, members helping at Auburn Universi-ty’s Davis Arboretum had the unique opportunity to gather and install bog plants in the facility’s new bog garden. Other high-lights include a tour of the Bonnie Plant Farm in Union Springs and a visit to Pio-neer Park gardens at the Lee Coun-ty Historical Society grounds in Loachapoka.

Lee County Master Gardeners (l. to r.) Debbie Hartman, Pixie Dillard and Linda Nowlin work on Grandma’s Garden at Pioneer Park before the May MG meeting at the Lee County Historical Society grounds. Photo credit: Jolly Roberts

Lee County MGA By Tomi Dugas

Jackson County MGA By Lily Noble

After the July 7, 2011 meeting, where blueberries were discussed, members of Jackson County Master Gardeners (JCMG) took a field trip to speaker Wesley Hardman’s blueberry farm where they further pursued talking about and enjoyed picking blueberries

for themselves. YUM! On July 19, 2011 we visited J. Sparks Hydroponic Farm near Gurley, AL to learn about the fascinating process of hydroponics. That’s growing plants in a soilless environment. It is awesome to see the large selection of tasty vegetables and other plants he has growing

and they are for sale! CMG field trip September 8, 2011, was to the Nature & Walking Trail on the campus of Northeast Alabama Community

College in Rainsville, Alabama. NACC groundskeeper Travis Farmer, was tour guide. Farmer describes maintenance of the trail as challenging, as he works to eradicate invasive privet, overcome damage caused by

beavers, and add new plants. The paved .7-mile long trail circles a four-acre lake and contains outdoor classroom, picnic area, and foot bridges, and many species of native plants, including oak-leaf hydrangea,

dogwood, coreopsis, goldenseal, black gum, and beauty berry. The trail is open to the public during daylight hours.

Each year the JCMG participate in the annual Jackson County Fair sponsored by American Legion Post 30 and Veterans of Foreign

Wars. The Jackson County Fair was September 6-10, 2011. The JCMG's prepare an adult booth for education, promo-tion and encouraging gardening with an emphasis on the environ-ment. This year with the theme ―Salute our Troops‖ we honored the military and displayed red, white and blue flowers with plants, flags, yellow ribbons and pictures of MG’s who served in the military or

their family members. Members enter flowers and plants in the Flower Exhibit Building to be judged, while other members serve as judges. We volunteer at the Flower House Exhibit every evening of the fair to

educate the public, answer questions and promote our programs.

This year we won the Blue Ribbon (1st Place) for our booth.

Garden Pathways Spring 2011 Page 15

Marble Valley MGA By Josi Silla

Our little club is chugging along, finding things to do and places to be! Several members of our club again attend-ed a Raised Bed Garden demonstration to hand out ACES literature in Munford, Ala-bama. The event was held at Kelley Springs Baptist Church. It is reported that the 4 x 8 beds were two boards high and full of peas, green beans and squash. 10 more rows in a garden plot were filled with okra. The church started this garden 2 years ago to feed church members. Every-one is involved – the kids are the produce pickers! There will be another demo gar-

den here in October. We also loaded up the ACES pamphlets and attended a morning at the Sylacauga Farmer’s Market. It was a very nice day – although HOT, but that was made a little better by the big fan blowing on us at our end of the row. We enjoyed handing out the Fall Garden information

and had nice conversations with shoppers. Finally, our club worked very hard to put together a presentation for Mayor Sam Wright for a small triangular area on Fort Williams Street in Sylacauga. We recom-mended that a small marker be moved to

the center of the bed and raised on a block of Sylacauga Marble. For those of you who don’t know, Sylacauga Marble is compared to that of marble from Italy and we wanted to use a block of our natural resource to showcase the monument already in the triangle. Around the marker, we’d plant Knock Out Roses. In each corner of the triangle dwarf Loropetulum, under planted with seasonal bulbs. Blue Rug Juniper fills in the rest of the planting area. This plan was submitted to the Mayor and we hope to see work start soon to beautify this section

of Sylacauga.

Marshall County MGA By Joyce Davis

Following a hot dry Summer, the recent rain was a welcome relief and now the cooler weather is here at last. J. D. Swartslander and Master Gardener Volunteers had a very productive CASA garden this year. We were a little late getting the garden planted in the spring due to the late rain and we had some trouble with the wild life getting in the corn but every-thing produced well and now we are making plans to increase the size of the garden for next year.

The Master Gardeners class was canceled due to low registration but we are still hopeful that we will be able to have a class before next spring. We enjoyed a program in July on the uses of many native plants by Ms. Linda Reynolds who was the naturalist at the Guntersville State Park for many years. In August Tommy and Joyce Davis presented the program and demonstrated how to make a self watering planter using a plastic tote.

Morgan County MGA By Nancy Waldron

Greeting from the Morgan County Master Gardeners! We have endured a hot Summer in north Ala-bama and we are looking forward to the Fall as the temperatures cool down and we can enjoy being in our gardens again. We met in June, on the bank of the Tennessee River, for our annual picnic. It was a chance to catch up with one another as to our Summer plans, and to enjoy delicious food that was provided by our membership. We continue to have informa-tive programs at our meetings, thanks to the effort of MG Janie Hartfield. Our July meeting featured Ruby Throated Hummingbirds and was presented by Melissa Kirkindall. She presented a slide show that provided interesting facts about hummingbirds such as: their heart rate is 1200 beats per minute

when feeding, their flight speed is 30 mph normally (50 mph as an escape speed), and that most Ruby-throated Hummers probably migrate across the Gulf of Mexico two times a year - Spring and Fall. A website to visit is: www.hummingbirdsplus.org. Our August meeting was held at the extension office in Hartselle and Mr. D.A Ray spoke about "Gourds". Mr. Ray has been featured on the TV. program, "Time Well Spent". Several of our members, headed up by our Morgan County Team Leader, Stan Addyman, are helping with the Fall TriCounty Master Gardener Class. There are seven interns from Morgan County. We look forward to them being a part of our associa-tion. Coming up quickly (Sept. 22 - Oct. 1) is the annual Morgan County

Fair. Our membership will be busy reg-istering entries and passing out infor-mation about MCMGA during the fair. Until next time - may everyone have a wonderful Fall!

MCMGA Annual Picnic on the bank of the

Tennessee River in Decatur

Page 16 Garden Pathways Fall 2011

Master Gardeners of North Alabama By Elouisa Stokes

Tornadoes, floods, and 95 degree weather!! From a glorious spring to all this in a month. Thir-teen Master Gardeners of North Alabama were involved with the tornadoes that hit Madison County. Our president, Dottye Pierce, even called one member to warn her she had 7 minutes to get to her shelter. It probably saved her life. Many of our members have been active helping to clean up after the storms.

In spite of all that, MGNA mem-bers have been busy. With the help of many members, the City of Huntsville, and Bennett Nurseries, we have planted our Adopt a Spot in downtown Huntsville. More of us have been diligent with preparing, planting, and harvesting the Demonstration Vegetable Garden (DVG) at the Huntsville Botanical

Garden, in spite of the 90+ degree days. We had a Master Gardener Weekend, gave out materials, and answered questions about vegeta-bles.

One of our biggest projects is landscaping houses for Habitat for Humanity—6-12 houses a year. This spring with the help of donated plants, time, and MGNA line item, we landscaped 6 new houses. We also taught these first time home-buyers what needs to be done to maintain their lawn and we showed them how to put in plants.

The Phenology Research Pro-ject is still going strong. In spite of no electricity and difficulty finding gas for several days, members went out to the Garden and checked the plants and their corre-sponding bugs and mailed in the

results. We have made several trips,

including one to Theresa Smith’s beautiful nursery in Arab called Frog Hollow. Unfortunately she was hit by the Arab tornado. We also visited Betty Hall’s house in Whorton Bend with 350 hydran-geas, and Shirley Nall’s house with a garden party showing off her rose garden. We then went on to a se-cond house of Betty Hall where we saw roses, crape myrtles, waterfall, and a beautiful, peaceful three acres. In May we headed to Mont-gomery where we had a lunch on Lake Martin and visited a magnifi-cent garden on the sloping shores of the lake with 17 different garden rooms.

Enjoy your Fall.

A major change has taken place at the Mobile County Exten-sion Office. Tom Daugherty, who has served as the extension agent for 12 years, retired as of June 30, and County Extension Coordinator Jim Todd is now serving as advisor to Mobile County Master Garden-ers. Tom plans to continue to be involved with the program as a Master Gardener. This year’s MG Mentor Program has gotten off to a great start. Master Gardeners Myrna Sedgeway and Tammy Wittner have done an outstanding job of recruiting and training mentors for the class members so that each intern has a ―special friend‖ in the program. Twenty-four interns are currently enrolled in the MG train-ing program that began on August 3. They are a dynamic group of people who, along with learning the

basics of horticulture, are already volunteering and becoming in-volved in the program. Denise Heubach, who is new to the position of Urban Regional Extension Agent in the Mobile County Extension Office, presented a program for the Au-gust general meeting on potential sources of pollution that can affect one’s health, the community, or the environment. The main focus was identification of risks at home and voluntary actions to reduce those risks. The Junior Master Garden-er program in Mobile has exploded. Jane Hartselle, the 4-H Extension Agent in Mobile County, was con-tacted by a local home-school group about forming a Junior Master Gardener program. She applied for and received a grant from Research, Conservation and Development to start a JMG

program through the Mobile County Extension Service. Master Gar-deners Penny Smith and Tammy Wittner agreed to lead this group, which now has some 30 children from third through twelfth grade and meets the first Wednesday of every month. However, the chil-dren are free to harvest or work in the garden whenever they choose. Several of the children received certification in June.

Mobile County MGA By Nancy Adams

Page 17 Garden Pathways Fall 2011

Mobile County MGA By Patty Scott

Left to right is Wanda Teal (Secretary) Wil-

ma Tanner (V ice President) Cecilia Pullen

(Treasurer) and Jean Duke (President)

Garden Pathways Spring 2011 Page 16

.

Garden Pathways Fall 2011 Page 17

Shelby County MGA By Regena Varvoutis

Shelby County Master Gar-deners have had a busy quarter with regular monthly meetings, several new service projects, the opening of the Teresa Neal lending library and a new class of interns. Freddie Di Placido, from Huntsville and sister of our member Susan Seng, spoke on Native Plants & Plant Identification in July. Fred-die’s presentation was both beauti-ful and informative. After seeing her photos, we were all inspired to hike the wilds for such amazing sights. August’s meeting featured

―Show and Tell‖, which was a roundtable discussion among members about favorite tools, helpful hints, projects, problems and solutions, discoveries, and more. September’s guest pre-senter was Deborah Stone of Stone Hollow Farmstead and Stone Hollow Creamery. Deborah told how they utilize herbs and other plants to create cheeses and botanicals. Her presentation was quite interesting, as she has created botanicals for poison ivy, rosacea, and other skin problems.

Service projects include Sheets for Soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, completion of the Teresa Neal lending library in memory of our former president, a butterfly garden at Aldridge Gardens, the United Methodist Church courtyard garden, and mentoring a boys’ group home Fall gardening project. The Fall class of interns began on August 17

th with 26 en-

thusiastic participants. Their first project will be a display at the Shelby County Fair September 19-24 in Columbiana.

Shoals MGA By Phillip Oliver

The Shoals Master Gardeners have been very busy this Summer. At our June meeting, Chris Becker, REA, did a presenta-tion on his recent trip to Brazil. Our July meeting was a homecom-ing event with visiting members from 1994-2011 classes in attend-ance. The event took place at the historic Buffler House where Master Gardeners have been working on various projects. A BBQ lunch was followed by a tour of the renovated house and newly installed landscaping. The August meeting featured Dwight James,

owner of Coldwater Seeds & Supply, who presented an informa-tive program on Fall gardening. We have a ―Gardening Angel‖ program where our mem-bers help out other members who need assistance with their own gardens. This Summer we worked in the gardens of Gary Akins and Margie Anderton. The Lauderdale County, Extension Office won a Beautifica-tion Award this year given by the City of Florence. This project was one that was started last year by MG interns and this year a drip

irrigation system was added. The Shoals Master Gardeners are once again in-volved this year in the North Ala-bama State Fair and are expecting another great year. Barbara Pate and Kaye Hillis will be in charge of the many master gardener volun-teers that help. This is the fifth year that we have been involved, and each year becomes another learn-ing experience for all of us. Our judges and clerks are knowl-edgeable Master Gardeners under the leadership of Barbara Wilson.

Page 18 Garden Pathways Fall 2011

Tuscaloosa County Master Gardeners want to invite everyone October 25

th and 26

th to our Fall

Conference ―Gardening to Restore & Sustain! ― at McAbee Center. Registration forms are being sent MG Presidents to share. Informa-tive and entertaining speakers will help gardeners ―re-grow‖ areas damages by April tornadoes. Shawna Coronado, Author of Gardening Nude , demonstrates sustainable gardening and green living. Shawna is an on-camera correspondent, newspaper col-umnist, health and greening con-sultant focused on teaching and living a green lifestyle. Her garden and photographs have been fea-tured in magazines and books in-cluding Garden Up! Smart Vertical

Gardening for Small and Large Spaces and The Edible Front Yard - Creating Curb Appeal with Fruits, Flowers, Vegetables, and Herbs . Her BlogSpot http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com/p/about-shawna.html Jack Rowe, Arborist & Forester will demonstrate how to protect tree parts when planting. Jack will make suggestions for trees to plant in various locations based on soil conditions and land-scape placement. Andy and Rashmi Grace and Josalyn Ran-dall will introduce the Druid City Garden Project which is a commu-nity-based nonprofit, working to increase access to fresh, locally grown produce. By reinvigorating vacant urban spaces with

community garden plots, facilitating the development of school gar-dens, and implementing education-al programs, the DCGP aims to reconnect residents to local food systems and educate the commu-nity about sustainability and healthy eating. http://www.druidcitygardenproject.org/home/ - Sandra Reaves; ww.sandrareaves.com, contribut-ed to gardening books and was garden columnist for the Birmingham Post-Herald newspa-per. Appearing on WBRC-Fox 6's Good Day Alabama, San-dra shares gardening and food preservation advice.

Tuscaloosa MGA By Pam Sloan

Wiregrass MGA By Patricia Harvey

Here in L.A. (Lower Ala-bama) the last three months have seen most of us trying to escape the oppressive heat and humidity! With week after week of extremely high temps, we quickly learned that early morning or late afternoon are the best times for garden-ing in our area! Still, the heat and humidity of a very dry Summer doesn’t stop our pro-jects from continuing on! Over the Summer, a small group of our members planted, nur-tured and ―grew a house‖…a Sunflower House on the grounds of Landmark Park. Placed in the chil-dren’s play area, the two room house featured 57 sunflower plants, numerous morning glories,

day lilies, and moon flowers. It was a huge hit with the kids and adults alike! Our membership has been in the process of cleaning and re-furbishing our greenhouse and

nursery area on the grounds of the Dothan Area Botanical Gar-dens. We have monthly work days and will begin building new hoop hous-es in time for the Fall chill. We are also prepar-ing for our annu-al Fall Plant Sale which takes place in

October where we sell all the trees and shrubs that have been grow-ing over the Summer.

Yes, gardening has been a difficult task this Summer in the Wiregrass area. But we who love it just put on a hat, spray on the bug repellent, slather on the sun-screen and get out there and do it. Because, as you all know, it’s what we love to do!!

Garden Pathways Fall 2011 Page 19

Kerry Smith State Master Gardener Program Coordinator - Auburn University

Few other Extension education programs have enjoyed the long-running success and giv-en Cooperative Extension the name recognition that the Alabama Master Gardeners volunteer program has.

Congratulations Alabama Master Gardeners

on our 30th

anniversary in 2011.

1973 First Master Gardener class in King Co. (Seattle), Washington. David Gibby and Arlen Davison developed a plan for training volunteers to assist Cooperative Extension. It’s a novel idea for its time!

1981 First Alabama Master Gardener class. Mary Lou and Bob McNabb, former MG’s in New York & new residents to Huntsville, asked Gary Murray, Madison County Extension Agent to begin the program in Alabama.

1985 First State MG Program Coordinator – Dave Williams, Alabama Cooperative Exten-sion Service & AU Dept. of Horticulture. Dave began development of a standardized curriculum.

1986 Tony Glover hired as State MG Program Coordina-tor; finished first edition of state MG Program curriculum Hand-book; developed first MG Pro-

gram Administrative Manual for Extension Agents.

1987 First National Master Gardener Conference held in Washington, DC.

1989 First state newsletter – Alabama Master Gardener Newsletter, started by Tony Glover.

1990 Nine County Extension offices now offering the Master Gardener Program (Baldwin, Calhoun, Houston, Jackson, Jefferson, Lee, Madison, Tuscaloosa, and Walker).

1991 AMGA hosts its first state conference at Birming-ham Botanical Gardens. Dr. Dave Williams returns as Extension Horticulture Specialist and State MG Program Coordinator.

.

1992 AMGA is created and established as a 501 (c)(5) – their first Articles of Inc. and By-laws are filed at the Lee County Courthouse.

1994 Mary Beth Musgrove hired as Extension Associate and State Master Gardener Program Coordinator. Garry Murray starts the first MG Hotline in Huntsville. (later named Helpline)

1996 State Steering Commit-tee established to give over-sight to formation of program policies and materials, and general program growth and development.

2003 Kerry Smith hired by ACES as State Master Gar-dener Program Coordinator.

2004 ACES creates a regional approach to programming and assigns topic dedicated teams. Home Grounds Regional

Agents become responsible for organizing local MG training classes.

2005 AMGA changes the titles of their top honor awards (Mary Lou McNabb MG of the Year, Gary Murray Outstanding Ser-vice & Dedication, Jean Lee Lifetime Hours) as a tribute to three dedicated supporters. The ACES joins the six existing and nine new MG offices for a statewide MG Helpline sharing one toll free number, 877-252-4769

2006 Master Gardeners cele-brate 25 years with many local events and plant a commemo-rative rose garden in Ross Square at Auburn University. AMGA is approved by the IRS as a 501 (c)(3) organization.

2007 ACES adds a new award, Search for Excellence, to recognize outstanding volun-teer projects.

2008 AMGA initiates an endowed scholarship for Auburn University Horticulture Department Students.

2009 The MG Training Hand-book is revised by Kerry Smith

2011 Master Gardeners around the state commemorate the 30

th Anniversary of

the program with local tree plantings –

“Investing in Our Future”

History of Master Gardener By Kerry Smith

ALABAMA MASTER GARDENERS

ASSOCIATION Ona Garwood-

Editor 18381 Highway 134

Enterprise, AL 36330

AMGA Officers

President: John Baker - Shoals

256-764-5527 baker140@comcast.net

Vice President: Dottye Pierce - MGNA

256-881-8053 dottye.pierce@comcast.net

Secretary: Jeanon Massien - Shelby 205-991-3125 nauzer1@aol.com

Treasurer: Jane Shalhoop - Capital City 334-271-2503 jshalhoop@bellsouth.net

Board Members at Large

Term 2009-2012

Celestine Darnell - DeKalb 256-845-4740 cmdarnell@bellsouth.net

Patti Householder - Lee 334-887-2237 pjhouseholder@gmail.com

Ellen Hall - Cullman 256-590-3115 ellenhall55@aol.com

Term 2010-2013

Karen Carmichael - Montgomery 334-271-3084 jkcarmi@bellsouth.net

Sam Andrews - Baldwin 251-929-7922 Hibiscusfiend@mchsi.com

DEADLINE FOR WINTER ISSUE December 15th

Garden Pathways

F Volume 12 Issue 48

Fall 2011

GOT

QUESTIONS?

WE GOT ANSWERS!

http://

www.aces.edu/

questions/

STATE ADVISOR

Kerry Smith, State Master Gardener Program Coordinator

101 Funchess Hall, Auburn University Auburn, AL 36849

334-844-3036; Cell 334-329-1051

smithkp@auburn.edu

Term 2011 - 2014

Larry Gullett - Shoals 256-764-1626 llgullett@comcast.net

Patti Harvey - Wiregrass 334-702-0094 harveyhps@graceba.net

Advisory Council Chairperson - Diana Jones 334-863-8527 dar573@communicom.com

NOMINATING COMMITTEE (Elected Members)

Jean Lee: Madison - Term 2010-2012 256-852-7336 bjlee@aol.com

Fred Evans - Central Alabama - Term: 2011-2013 334-285-0027 lpefte@aol.com Board member, Patti Harvey serves as the Board appointee

OTHER

Newsletter Editor: Ona Garwood - Coffee 334-393-4528 ogarwood@roadrunner.com

Webmaster: Diana Hansen - MGNA 256-430-0693 kleffner@mac.com

Membership Chair: Ellen Hall - Cullman 256-590-3115 ellenhall55@aol.com

Fundraising: Kathie Bass - MGNA 256-457-6530 AMGAFundraisingchair@gmail.com