We hope this month’s update will connect you with people, events, and resources that others have found useful and interesting this past September (2012) through this national Extension Master Gardener blog, and also through conversations on Facebook and Twitter.
Extension Master Gardeners Supporting Each Other and Their Communities
This month the following programs shared stories of collaboration between state programs and in their communities, specifically:
- A touching story of collaboration between master gardeners in Buncombe County, North Carolina and Hill City; Virginia, hear how these two groups were able to Reach Across State Lines to Honor Passing of a Beloved Master Gardener.
- Caught in Action on Wordless Wednesday> Tallapoosa County Master Gardeners Transform Courthouse Landscape. Read the comments section to find out how these Master Gardeners implemented the landscape, but had clean shirts for the photo!
- Overhead on Twitter, we learned how Palm Beach County Master Gardeners created a therapeutic garden for local veterans. Click the bit.ly link in the Twitter image below for the full article:
Palm Beach County Master Gardeners create a therapeutic garden for local veterans, more in the Neighborhood Gardener: bit.ly/fmgSept12
— FL Master Gardeners (@FloridaMGs) September 14, 2012
Update from the National Extension Master Gardener Coordinators Conference
Over 100 state and county Extension Master Gardener coordinators came together in Spokane, Washington this month to discuss how to strengthen volunteer program management training and resources. Coordinators were also able to gain additional insights into several current trends in horticulture at several preconference tours, one of which we shared on Wordless Wednesday: Community Gardens Tour in Spokane Washington.
2012 Extension Master Gardener Coordinators Conference. This year's topic: Volunteer Management (Click to enlarge photo)
The September ’12 Scoop on Gardening in Extension: Research, Trends, and Resources
Emerging Research on Net Houses for Backyard Vegetable Production
Emerging Research: Net Houses for Backyard Vegetable Production, a blog posts from Alabama Cooperative Extension, prompted insightful discussion in the comments section about using this developing research.
Advice for keeping trees and shrubs healthy in drought and heat. WVU agent, John Porter, shares how plants have been responding to drought and heat stress in the landscape this summer and is interested about resources or advice you may have been providing.
Wacky Weather and Stress Flowering – Garden Professor Bert Cregg (Associate Professor and Extension Specialist, Michigan State) discussed the effects of wacky weather and stress flowering in plants. Are your lilacs, magnolias, and rhododendrons blooming at weird times this year?
A Few Prime Resources
Landscape Design: Do it Yourself or Hire it Done? With landscape design, sometimes you need a little help deciding how much to take on yourself or who you enlist for help. This resource is complete with a list of interview questions for helping you determine if you should do it yourself or hire it out, as well as a chart to help match any professional expertise you seek with the appropriate landscape professional.
National Indoor Plant Week (& websites) – This blog post discussed the benefits of indoor plants and indoor air quality. Through an exchange on Twitter, we compiled some favorite resources for growing indoor plants from across Extension, which are now listed in the comments section.
What resources did you find particularly useful this month? Why?
Going Forward
As we mentioned above, if you’d like to share a story about what you are learning as a Master Gardener volunteer or a story about your program via a blog post here on the blog, let us know through Facebook, Twitter, or contact our social media team by email at emg@extension.org.
And….last but not least, if you didn’t catch it earlier this month, we will leave you with a little garden whimsy, as Connie Schulz shares her Wordless Wednesday: Flower Faces.
-Karen Jeannette
eXtension Consumer Horticulture Content Coordinator
-Editorial Reviewer
Linda Brandon, Extension Master Gardener Volunteer Coordinator
NC Cooperative Extension/Guilford County Center
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