2007 ncmgv conference october 8-10, 2007 raleigh, north … issues... · 2010. 8. 2. · gardens,...

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Fall 2007 2007 NCMGV Conference October 8-10, 2007

Raleigh, North Carolina

Master Gardeners and new trainees will gather in Raleigh from across the state for three days of networking, dynamic training, nationally known speakers, seminars, garden tours and fun. Monday, October 8th – Optional bus trips to public/private gardens in Wake County, Orange/Durham County or half day NC State University campus tours to visit the Horticultural Science Green houses, Soil Testing Lab, NC Wildlife Commission, etc. Space is limited and filling very fast. An evening Reception/Pig Pickin’ will be held at the JC Raulston Arboretum.

Tuesday, October 9th – Bryce Lane, Pam Beck, Tony Avent and other plant professionals will share their views on everything from “British Gardens” to “Tough Plants for Tough Times”. Learn the truth about home garden remedies. During breaks, browse the book sales and signings, trade show vendors and silent auction items.

Wednesday, October 10th – Sign up for five of your favorite sessions given by popular professors and professionals. Topics range from rain gardens, vermicomposting, turfgrass, making good soil, plant names, groundcovers, wildlife management and more. After the conference you are invited to an Open House at Plant Delights Nursery and Juniper Level Botanical Garden.

Registration: The reduced rate of $115 for the entire conference is in effect until September 1. One & two day options are available as well.

Additional information and the registration form for the Master Gar-dener conference can be found online at www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/masgar/conference.html

Ten More Reasons to Attend Free, daily Continental breakfast available in NCMGVA Hospitality Suite in Holiday Inn Brownstone Hotel Free copies of garden magazines: Fine Gardening, American Horticulture, Success- ful Gardener and free catalogues form numerous companies. Optional bus tours take you into gardens and venues not always open to the Public. Networking with fellow Master Gardeners from all over the State is priceless Free plants from Proven Winners, garden planter from Classy Groundcovers and discounts on future purchases from several companies. Win door prizes and purchase silent auction items

Buy 2008 garden calendars and books signed by their authors for holiday gifts Opportunity to talk directly to professors and professionals about specific gardening concerns you and your county are experiencing. J.C. Raulston Arboretum. Tour it in early October and view its long-range landscape design plan. Searching for an unusual plant? It’s probably at Plant Delights Nursery. Stop by and take a few of them home.

The North Carolina Master Gardener Volunteer Association Newsletter

A Note from the NCMGVA President Shirley Waggoner-Eisenman

How is your garden this summer? In my area of the state it has been so dry my garden has not done very well this year. Items to be voted on by Association members during the NCMGV Conference will be mailed to you shortly. Please take the time and read them prior to the business meeting being held on Tuesday night at the banquet. If you have changed your address let our membership chair, Barbara Walters, know so you will continue to re-ceive the newsletter and other information from the As-sociation. If you have an e-mail address we would appre-ciate having it as it makes getting information to you quicker. Does your county have a delegate to the NCMGVA Board of Directors? Each county with a MG program is entitled to one delegate and one alternate delegate (who votes in the absence of the delegate). The only NCMGVA requirement is that you be a dues paying member of the Association. A delegate position description is printed on page3. For more information contact me (see contact in-formation on next page). Our next Board of Directors Meeting will be held in Lee County on November the 5th. Have you made your conference reservations yet? The conference is packed with good information of interest to all Master Gardeners. I look forward to seeing you there. ~Shirley

In this issue… Page 2… President’s Message, Name that Face Page 3… Board Members, Delegates Page 4... Newsletter Staff & Deadline, Success to Share Page 5… West District Report Page 6… Southwest District Report Page 7… Advisory Council Goes to DC Page 8… South Central District Report, Gulf Coast Project Page 9… Good Times at the IMGC Page 10… North East District Report Page 11… Gardener’s Glossary The Back Page… Membership/Subscription Info

Do Your Recognize These Faces? Look Below to check your answer.

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These are just a few of the speakers you will find at this year’s NCMGV Conference! 1—J Gillman , 2— Ted Stevens, 3— Tony Avent, 4— Bryce Lane, 5— Pam Beck


Does your County send a Delegate to the NCMGVA Board of Directors meetings?

Be in the Know * Have a Say Share in the Fun

NCMGVA Delegate Position Description Each Master Gardener Program representing a single county or multi-counties is entitled to one Delegate and one Alternate. The Delegate or Alternate is elected or appointed by the respective county/counties in which they serve. Dele-gates and Alternates are members of the NCMGVA Board of Directors. Notification of Delegates/Alternate election or appointment should be provided to the President of NCMGVA so they may receive appropriate information of NCMGVA functions. NCMGVA requirements for county delegates and alternates are as follows:

1. Be a NCMGVA dues paying member. 2. Be elected or appointed by their Master Gardener Pro- gram (single county or multi-county) in which they serve. 3. The alternate delegate may only vote in the absence of the delegate. 4. Be able to attend Board Meetings. 5. Be liaison between NCMGVA and county/counties. 6. Promote continuing membership in NCMGVA and recruit new NCMGVA members.

Approved at the April 23, 2007 Executive Board Meeting held in Iredell County.

The NCMGVA Board of Directors is comprised of the Association’s Officers and a delegate from each

MG program in the state. Meetings are open to all MGVs & Agents.

Your participation is welcome. Contact your County Delegate or an

Officer for more information.

President Shirley Waggoner-Eisenman

Brunswick County PO Box 312

Shallotte, NC 28549-0312 Ph. 910-754-4148

[email protected]

President Elect Bob Kellam Wake County

731 North Rogers Lane Raleigh, NC 27610 Ph: 919-231-2827

[email protected]

Vice President George Quigley

Cumberland County Ph: 910-485-2980

[email protected]

Past President Linda McLendon

Wayne County 115 Cedar Street

Dudley, NC 28333-9205 [email protected]

Recording Secretary Brenda Bernhardt

Iredell County 222 Wildwood Cove Dr. Mooresville, NC 28117

[email protected]

Corresponding Secretary Madeline Collier Onslow County

635 Independence Dr. Jacksonville, NC 28546

Ph. 910-346-6235

Treasurer Barbara Walters Onslow County

1649 Halltown Rd. Jacksonville, NC 28546

[email protected]

2006-2007 NCMGVA Officers

NCMGVA County Delegates

John Graham - Bladen Carol Wilson - Brunswick Alt.

Rose Gambill - Carteret Cathy Hunter - Cumberland Sheilah Lombardo - Forsyth Aloma Lemasters - Iredell

Bill Adams - Johnston Phil Griffin - Lee

Sondra Fox - Lenoir Dr. Gloria Polakof - Moore

James (Jim) Haywood - Nash Lorraine Carter - New Hanover

Polly Kopka - Onslow Maureen Bryant - Pitt

Frank Boyette - Robeson Peggy Polak - Vance Susan Wyatt - Wake

Connie Kammier - Wayne Brenda Carter - Wayne Alt.

Upcoming Events Does your group have an event they’d like to publi-cize? Send it in to your Dis-trict Reporter today!

September 2007: « Deadline for on-time registration

for the NCMGV Conference. « September 29th, Buncombe

County Fall Garden School. See the West District Report or call the Extension office at 828-255-5522 for more information.

October 2007: « NCMGV Conference, 8-10.

November 2007: « 5th: NCMGVA Board Mtg.

Editor: Beth Nelson, Cumberland County Ph: 910-429-2740 [email protected]

District Reporters: West District

(Cherokee, Graham, Clay, Swain, Macon, Jackson, Haywood, Transylvania, Henderson, Buncombe, Madison,

Yancey, Mitchell, Avery, and Watauga Counties.) Betty Lockwood, Henderson County

[email protected]

Northwest District (Ashe, Alleghany, Surry, Stokes, Forsyth, Yadkin, Wilkes,

Davie, Davidson, Rowan, Rockingham, Guilford, Alamance and Randolph Counties.) Peggy Lyle, Forsyth County

336-924-9687 [email protected]

Southwest District (Rutherford, Lincoln, Cleveland, Gaston, Mecklenburg,

Cabarrus, Union, and Iredell, Catawba, Alexander, Caldwell, Burke, McDowell, and Polk Counties.)

Lynn Lawton, Iredell County [email protected]

North Central District

(Caswell, Person, Granville, Warren, Vance, Franklin, Orange, Durham, Wake, Johnston, Halifax, Nash, Wilson,

and Edgecombe Counties.) Bill Adams, Johnston County

919-934-1254 [email protected]

South Central District (Cumberland, Robeson, Bladen, Columbus, Hoke,

Scotland, Harnett, Moore, Lee, Chatham, Richmond, Montgomery, Anson, and Stanly Counties.)

Sandy Ritter, Cumberland County Ph: 910-875-2706 [email protected]

Northeast District (Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Pasquotank, Hert-ford, Northampton, Tyrell, Dare, Pitt, Beaufort, Gates, Hyde, Martin, Perquimans, and Washington Counties.)

Ruth Uecker, Pasquotank County 252-331-1495 [email protected]

Southeast District (Craven, Greene, Lenoir, Jones, Onslow, Pamlico, Duplin,

Sampson, Carteret, Wayne, Pender, New Hanover, and Brunswick Counties.)

Linda McLendon, Wayne County [email protected]

The Newsletter Staff

The next NCMGVA Newsletter submission deadline is November 5th.

Success to Share Success to Share is a new column that will run in each edition of our newsletter. Has your group recently completed a successful program?

Have an idea for a great fundraiser? This is the place to share it! Send the Who, What, Where, When, and Why to the Newsletter Editor, Beth Nelson, using the contact informa-tion at left.

What: Buncombe County Master Gardeners Garden Tour When: Saturday, June 30, 10 am to 4 pm Contact person for more information: Ernie Henshaw, [email protected]

By all accounts, the first Extension Master Garden-ers Garden Tour was a smashing success! A planning committee selected the gardens and over 90% of the county’s EMGs participated in this in-augural event. Master Gardeners worked to market the event, secure sponsors, arrange logistics, prepare the gardens, prepare educational materials, create and print the brochure, print and sell tickets, transport attendees to hard to reach gardens, direct traffic and served as docents on the day of the tour. The Committee decided to hold the ticket sales to 500, ensuring a smooth and pleasant experience for each participant. An almost ‘sell-out’ crowd pur-chased the inexpensive $15 ticket providing access to the nine different gardens: Demonstration Garden at the Manna Food Bank, Heirloom Garden at the West-ern North Carolina Nature Center and five other pri-vate gardens designed and planted by EMGs: a Butter-fly Garden, a Woodland Ridge Garden, a Cottage Cot-tage, a Private Park and a Birdland. Local community businesses provided financial sup-port to the event and to print the brochure containing detailed information on each garden, plants lists and educational features on attracting butterflies and birds, growing roses, selecting the right plant, grow-ing ornamental grasses, propagating with cuttings, gardening in shade and bogs and growing fruit trees. Since the tour was an educational and public rela-tions success, as well as a financial one, the group plans to hold the event every two years, allowing all to enjoy the feeling of success for a short while be-fore the hard work begins again.


The County Line: West District Report (Cherokee, Graham, Clay, Swain, Macon, Jackson, Haywood, Transylvania, Hender-son, Buncombe, Madison, Yancey, Mitchell, Avery, and Watauga Counties.) Welcome, Betty Lockwood, our new West District Reporter! Betty is a MG in Henderson County

Buncombe County Submitted by Janice Kennedy, Buncombe County MGV (Editor’s Note: Buncombe County is the first county to submit something for the new column: Success to Share! Does your county have a success they’d like to share? Send it in to the Editor using the contact information on page 4.) Even a little bit of precipitation could not dampen the spirits of Buncombe County Extension Master Gardeners at their annual summer social held at the WNC Nature Center Wednesday, July 25. A local restaurant provided the main course for the potluck and attendees contributed a passing dish. EMG Sarah Rubin and Mike Reeves provided the night’s entertainment leading a sing-a-long. The inclement weather curtailed some of the planned outdoor games, but was the catalyst for good conversation and camaraderie under a sheltering pavilion. However, all did appreciate the rain! People who missed the Annual Gardening Symposium, “Gardening with Native Plants,” co-sponsored by The North Carolina Arboretum and the Buncombe County Extension Master Gardeners on July 14, missed a fabulous opportunity to expand their knowledge of native plants in the sustainable landscape. They also missed out on the opportunity to learn more about mosses and ferns, to propagate native plants, to grow and use herbs and to make wildflowers a part of your garden. However, they can attend the September 29th Buncombe County Fall Garden School: Morning sessions will cover basic fall and winter activities, mountain challenges to gardening and extension of the fall growing season. Afternoon sessions will include pizzazz in the winter landscape, garden renovation and native options to exotic invasives. Attendance is limited and free, but participants must register in advance by calling the Extension office, 828-255-5522. This year’s program will be held at the Folk Art Center, on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Henderson County Submitted by Betty Lockwood, Henderson County MGV This year saw a great class of new Master Gardeners here in Henderson County, which enabled us to not only staff the hot-line for more hours, but to embark on several new projects out at the Bullington Center. This educational garden near Hen-dersonville is partially funded by the Cooperative Extension Service and with only one paid employee, is heavily dependent on volunteers. The garden provides our Master Gardeners with wonderful opportunities to fulfill their volunteer hours, planting, planning, teaching both adults and children and – need I say it – weeding. I encourage all of you to check out the garden’s web site at www.bullingtoncenter.org. Weeks of above normal temperatures this spring brought trees and shrubs into leaf and bloom well ahead of normal. This was followed by temperatures in the teens for a couple of nights over Easter weekend, then several days of gale-force north winds. While gardeners throughout the county lamented the loss of much loved plants - Japanese maples seemed to be among the worst hit - the effect on commercial nurseries and fruit growers was truly devastating, with losses in the millions. Brainstorming by our Master Gardeners brought us to the conclusion that how to avoid such losses in the future could be summed up in two words – plant natives! This year saw our group turn their fingers to raising another variety of green – cold hard cash! Each year Main Street is host to many decorated bears. This year the Bullington Center sponsored one of them, which was beautifully painted by our own Master Gardener and talented artist, Joanie Covell. At the end of the season, the bears are auctioned off and the money raised for each one is donated to the charity of the buyer’s choice. We are currently busy raising enough money to buy back our dear “Bullington Bear” so that he (it was voted that our bear seemed to be a he!) may come and live permanently in the lovely gardens that we tend, and the money be used to improve the gardens. In addition to our various projects we continue to be a very sociable group, and twice a month from April through Septem-ber we gather at each other’s homes for an informal garden tour and potluck supper, where much fun is had by all. This fall we will again be presenting a series of lectures entitled “Master Your Garden.” These lectures will run from Au-gust through October at the Bullington Center and will resume in the spring. This fall’s subjects will cover Success with Lawns, Selecting Ornamental Grasses, Garden Preparation and Compost, Beauty from Bulbs, and Winter Interest. Full de-tails may be found at http://henderson.ces.ncsu.edu. October 6th will once again see many of us manning a booth at Hen-dersonville’s Farm City Day in Jackson Park. In addition to answering questions from the public, we will be selling plants, garden gloves, and various other items to raise funds for our future programs.

Southwest District Report (Rutherford, Lincoln, Cleveland, Gaston,

Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, Union, and Iredell, Catawba, Alexander, Caldwell, Burke, McDowell, and Polk Counties.) Lynn Lawton, District Reporter

Union County Submitted by: Mary Anne Ferrigan –Reporter, UCMGVA Greetings from Union County, fastest growing county in North Carolina! Our biggest news is the retirement of President Mike Hafey. After seven years at the helm, Mike has turned over the charge to former VP Sandy Yakob. Mike logged thousands of hours as a volunteer and donated freely of his time, talent, and plants. We will miss his leadership and threw him a great party to let him know. Seventeen MGV trainees graduated May 17th after a 2 year hiatus in the MGV program. Horticulture agent Jeff Rieves has a waiting list of “volunteer opportunities.” Our annual Spring Plant Sale was a huge success. We had record-breaking sales, gorgeous plants, and tremen-dous community support. We have begun a new tradition of monthly, covered-dish garden parties at various member’s homes. We enjoy fellowship, a garden tour, amazing food, and an educa-tional hour. So far we have learned about propagating geraniums and organic gardening. We continue to support several ongoing projects: 1. Maintaining the raised beds at Turning Point, a bat-

tered Women’s Shelter in Monroe 2. Staffing the Gardener Growline which responds to

phone calls on gardening concerns. Call 704 283 3822 with your question!

3. Enhancing and maintaining the “Serenity Garden” at South Providence High School, an alternative school in Waxhaw. The project has produced gardens, a pond, sitting areas, and a habitat for birds, frogs, turtles, and teenagers. This garden was the 2005 MGV class pro-ject and is spearheaded now by Sandi Vinton.

4. Once a month we visit the Waxhaw Farmer’s Market to answer questions and sell a few leftovers from our tree sale. Again, we are noting a large community response.

Our new projects are diverse and fun: 1. We will teach a Junior Master Gardener class in one

week this summer at 4-H camp. We have 4 eager teachers lined up and a busy, hands-on schedule. We hope to give out Junior Master Gardener certificates on the last day of class.

2. Many MGV’s are volunteering with a 2 month urban

forestry project, i-Tree. Volunteers will train for 6 hours, and then conduct either a street tree inventory of Marshville or an environmental analysis of Indian Trail. I-Tree is run by David Grant, our urban forester, through a grant.

3. With a new president, Sandy Yakob, we are shaking out the rule book and old routines. Who knows what we will come up with next quarter? I’ll keep you posted.

Mecklenburg County Submitted by: Deborah Moore Clark, EMG Newsletter Editor Mecklenburg County Extension Mas-ter Gardeners are happy to report the hiring of a new Consumer Horticulture Agent, Scott Ewers, who began his work on April 30, 2007. Scott came to Mecklenburg County with 11 years ex-perience as an agent in Virginia where he worked with and trained two groups of EMGs. Scott appreciates EMGs. Many of the EMGs from Mecklenburg County, along with their invited guests, got to spend the day with Scott on the EMG Annual Field Trip on May 16, 2007, which included coach transportation to three Winston-Salem gardens: Reynolda Gardens, the private Garden of Nancy Spencer and the Historic Gar-dens of Old Salem. Iredell County Submitted by: Martha Hazelton July was popping for MGVs in Iredell. The 2007 Show-place Vegetable Garden Contest and Tour sponsored by the Iredell County Cooperative Extension Service and Master Gardener Association was Saturday, July 7 from 9 AM to noon. Three MGVs served as judges and visited the six contest gardens on Friday along with Don Breedlove, Horticulture Agent. We had 96 home vegeta-ble garden tours in this program which was revised from a 1980’s format. Six MGVs served as tour hosts along with the garden owners. These gardens feature dozens of vegetable varieties from unique greasy beans and New Zealand spinach to more common garden perennials in-cluding asparagus, horseradish, rhubarb and strawber-ries. Visitors compared many staking and trellising sys-tems for tomatoes and vine crops. From huge cabbages to stone mulched beds, there were lessons and ideas to pon-der from these showplace gardens. Winning gardeners were awarded certificates and prizes donated by local farm and garden shops. Monday, July 9 was jam-packed. In the morning our 2007 class of 26 Master Gardeners were graduated and feted (see photo next page). Congratulations to Don and his very large class! At our noon membership meeting,

(Continued on page 7)


Scott Ewers, photo by

Deborah Moore Clark


NC Cooperative Extension State Advisory Council Goes to Washington

On April 22nd six North Carolina Cooperative Extension State Advisory Council members; Noland Ramsey, George Quigley, B.A. Smith, Charles Moseley, Reid Pollard and Pete Miller, accompanied by Dr. Marshall Stewart, Assoc. Director, Department Head and State Program Leader for 4-H and Family and Con-sumer Sci-ences at North Caro-lina State Uni-versity, Dr. Ed Jones, Associ-ate Director and State Pro-gram Leader, ANR and CRD – North Carolina State University and Joy Staton, NC Cooperative Extension State Advisory Leader, Larree Cherry, Strategic Planning Council - A & T State University and Sheilda Sutton - A & T State University left for Washington, D.C. to attend the annual Public Issues Leadership Development Conference. This year’s theme was Connectivity: Community to the Capitol. This three-day conference provides the opportunity for interaction with federal decision makers and local volun-teers. The Joint Council of Extension Professionals sponsors this annual conference to keep Extension Professionals and State Advisory Members, abreast of changing public issues that impact our communities and affect Extension program-ming. The third day of the conference was a trip by the SAC members to capital hill where they visited all members of the North Carolina Congressional Delegation. The SAC teams lobbied for full funding for the Farm Bill which includes Co-operative Extension, faculty and programs. George Quigley, from Cumberland, and BA Smith, from Stanly, with Dr. Ed Jones visited Elizabeth Dole, Bob Etheridge, Mike McIntire and Robin Hayes. Specifically the lobbying was asking for full funding, at the 2007 Continuing Resolution level, for the Hatch Act which funds research and for the Smith-Lever Act which authorizes ongoing support for extension services. BA has had a hip replacement with a titanium fitting. He set of the metal detector at every door way and he had to be physically checked by guards which provided opportunity for some interesting comments by Dr. Jones and George. So far the results of the trip are positive.

President Paulette Kenley announced that our volunteer association had completed all requirements and was officially designated a 501c3 tax-exempt nonprofit corporation, thus allowing us to apply directly for grants. An exciting public program on vege-table gardening to complement the tour fol-lowed on Monday afternoon. After a virtual tour of our contest gardens and getting ques-tions answered, all were invited to visit Co-operative Extension’s BackYard Demonstra-tion Garden to see further examples of sound management practices. Further infor-mation about the tour and workshop can be found under Lawn and Garden events at http://iredell.ces.ncsu.edu. Our BackYard Demo Garden has been very productive this summer. We are busy tending and harvesting the vegetables and fruits. The next public program was held August 13 and presented by Master Gardener Wanda Isenhour entitled, "The Green, Green Grass of Home." This was a guide to insuring that the grass stays greener on your side of the fence. Topics included were next summer's lawn begin this fall; ten most important things you can do for next year's lawn and lawn pests (diseases, insects and weeds), followed by a question and answer session. We are also planning and potting up plants for our September Plant Sale. We are look-ing forward to meeting you at the 2007 Con-ference and personally inviting you to join us for the 2009 Conference hosted in the Southwest District.

(Southwest District Report Continued from page 6)

The 2007 class of Iredell County Master Gardeners with Extension Horticulture

Agent, Don Breedlove (lower left).


We Want to Know, “What does your group

have planned from December to February?”

Send information about your upcoming events to your District Reporter before

November 5th and we’ll include it in the next newsletter.

What better way to get connected to MGs across the state?

South Central District (Cumberland, Robeson, Bladen, Columbus, Hoke, Scotland, Harnett, Moore, Lee, Chatham, Richmond, Montgomery, Anson, and Stanly Counties.)

Sandy Ritter, Reporter

Cumberland County Cumberland County Master Gardeners are happy to welcome Shauna Haslem as the new Consumer Horticulture Agent and MGV Liaison. She recently graduated from NC State University with a BS in Agriculture Extension Education, Extension concentration. She received a minor in Horticultural Science. Her main interests include propagation and floriculture. She did various experi-ments with soil and assisted with a nutrient deficiency study involving hibiscus and rudbeckia which taught her a lot about signs of stress related to nutrient deficiencies. Shauna is an Army wife whose husband is currently serving his second Iraq tour. Cumberland MGVs have had exciting programs this quarter, including an orchid workshop and greenhouse tour in May conducted by Keith Clayton. In June, Liz Driscoll, Horticulture Specialist from NCSU 4-H spoke on “Garden Grazing.” In July, continuing on this year’s theme of Master Gardeners Training Master Garden-ers, Lorette Hollinshed presented “Flower Arranging from Your Garden.” Many Master Gardeners worked at the Cape Fear Botanical Garden Plant Sale this year. It was the most successful sale ever for the Garden. The MGVs were able to donate a nice monetary sum to the garden due to the sale of gloves. Many assisted with answering gardening questions from the public or selling the plants. Moore County Millie Boyd and Gloria Polakof, both Master Gardeners in Moore County, went to Washington DC a few months back lobbying congress on Global Warming Issues. Before they went they had talked about Global Warming to the 5th grade class at Sandhills Farmlife School and how it effects all of us right here in North Carolina. The chil-dren were very excited to write their letters and have them taken to Wash-ington DC. Each senator and congress-man received at least 8 to 10 letters and were impressed that the children were so knowledgeable about the subject of global warming and how it effects farmers and gardeners all over the world, especially its effects here in North Carolina. Millie and Gloria invited Congressman Coble to learn more about gardening and visit the children who sent the letters. June 1st Congressman Coble came to Farmlife School and expressed his delight that the children took time to write. Helen Munro, Marisa Back, and Gloria Polakof presented Congressman Coble a certificate for a "Master Gardener Designed Back Yard Habitat" along with drought tolerant plants that would give him a good start in his garden. The Congressman is very excited about working with the Master Garden-ers of Moore County and looks forward to this new experience with drought toler-ant plants. The children were thrilled and have expressed an interest to have a garden at their school.

Craven Hudson, Helen Munro, Congress-man Coble, Marisa Back, Gloria Polakof

(Photographer)

Gulf Coast Project Update By: Ruth Uecker

On 26 May we held our last How To Do It Gardening fund raiser at The Plant Park in Elizabeth City. We received a $250 donation from Suzanne Stallings (owner of The Plant Park). This money has put us over the $3,500 mark and will be used to fund transportation and expenses for the next MGV group headed to Mis-sissippi in November 2007.

Presently we have ten vol-unteers ready to make the trip. Recent communication with the Hancock County Extension Service indicates that several projects are waiting for us. This will be the last trip and conclude our efforts to assist the people of southern Missis-sippi to restore their green spaces.

Look for a summary of the Project accomplish-ments in the spring 2008 Newsletter. A special “thank you” to everyone who has made this Project possible -- and a real suc-cess!


Only the excitement of attending the IMGC could have Helga Cardenas and me wide awake at 4:00AM ready to fly out to Little Rock, Ark. Bless Helga’s husband, Al’s, heart— he had to rise early to take us to meet the plane. Dur-ing the flight, I asked Helga about reset-ting her watch for Arkansas time. It was then that she discovered that her watch had died at 10:05. After a nice flight, we arrived in Little Rock to be greeted at the airport by lots of “blue shirts”- the hosts. We knew we were in for fun when we admired a huge planter of flowers by their table and we were able to identify the Fiber Optic plant for them. While waiting for the hotel shuttle the first people we met were from Canada, Montana, and Flor-ida. The Peabody hotel was fantastic, the service matched, and our room was great. We checked in at 10:05 and pro-ceeded to register for the conference. One of the first people we saw was Kay who attended our 2006 NCMGV con-ference to invite us to Little Rock. She recognized us! We watched the parade of the famous Peabody Ducks from the fountain into the elevator. Quite a show. By then it was 10:05, so we attended the opening event and dinner. All of the food was outstanding and there was always lots of it. The keynote speaker was Dr. David A. Lipschitz, MD, PhD, author of Break-ing the Rules of Aging. His “wife’s” garden was on one of the group tours. He at-tributes gardening as a great way to age well. We thought that might be a boring speech but it was far, far from it. Each table, and there were many due to there being 1300 attendees, had plant-ers of fabulous foliage plants grown by the inmates at the state prison for women in Ark. I must say, there are some gardeners in that distinguished group! By then it was 10:05 and time for us tired old ladies to turn in. At 10:05 Thursday morning, we were

eager for the main event. We were not disap-pointed! Ark. Governor Mike Beebe welcomed us graciously. Turns out that his wife is a longtime Master Gardener so he was honorary chairperson of the conference. He put the squeeze on a lot of companies in Arkansas for big contri-butions, including Wal-Mart. At 10:05, P. Allen Smith spoke to us. He wandered around in the audience and gave a fantastic presentation. Turns out his family has been in the nursery business in Little Rock for years and years. All of his shows are taped at his home or new retreat which we toured. He was very instrumental in making the conference so great by bringing in his sponsors as vendors and being present for the tours. He even got on each bus to greet everyone and walked around with us to answer questions. Be sure to sign up for his newsletter at www.pallensmith.com so that you can follow the progress of his Gardening Retreat. At 10:05 we began tours and seminars, all of which were outstanding— except one. There has to be one, of course. We enjoyed the vendors who were very generous with such gifts as two pair of Fiskars pruners and many, many seeds. The main event in the evening was by the Arkansas River for Taste of Arkansas at the River Market. All I can say is that Arkansas tastes good! There were ap-proximately 50 restaurants and wineries giving out large samples of their most famous goodies. We were oinking in short order. Then off to the Clinton Library for wine and a tour. Please go on line and look this building up. There are no plants in the landscape except green loriope--millions of green loriope plants. The most boring landscape I ever saw in my life. No one would go there for any reason other than the Clin-ton Library. We were too pooped by 10:05 to at-

tend the last event, dessert at the Old State House. Imagine us turning down food and wine? We did. Friday was more tours and seminars. Friday evening we went with Lisa Lemza, a former Cumberland County Master Gardener who now lives in Ten-nessee, out for dinner. For those of you who knew Lisa, she hasn’t changed a bit! Being from Fayetteville, NC, many people we met knew all about our fair city because of Fort Bragg but the nicest surprise was Saturday morning when a lady said, “Oh I went to Fayetteville once. Your Cape Fear Botanical Garden is one of the loveliest gardens I have ever seen. It is such a beautiful setting by the river. And you had the most beautiful medians between there and the airport filled with Margarete and Blackie Sweet Potato Vines and begonias!” Helga and I were stunned. She was here in 2004 when the US Open was going on. She even told us that she researched them when she returned home to Mis-souri and discovered that the plants were developed at the JC Raulston Ar-boretum by NC State. By then it was 10:05 and time for us to head home. We couldn’t take our plants that Allen had given us on the plane so we gave them away. Well, we could have taken the plants but not the soil. Of course, something had to happen. We sat in the plane in Charlotte longer than it would have taken to drive home. Poor Helga had the largest man on the plane as her seatmate and I had the cut-est little Soldier you ever saw! We arrived home safely at 10:05 PM full of wonderful memories. We still laugh at the man who said “What the heck is a Nandina?” They don’t grow them up North! We met a lady whose sister attended a bridal shower with Martha and Doris, fellow Cumberland County MGs, the previous weekend and I met a lady from Texas who is spending her vacation this year at Holden Beach and promises to look me up. The next conference in March, 2009 is in Vegas! Anybody want to bet on who will probably be ready to go? And there’s always 2011 in Charleston, West Virginia in October. We can carpool!!!

Good Times at the International Master Gardener Conference By: Sandy Ritter, Cumberland County MG


Northeast District (Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Pasquotank, Hertford, Northampton, Tyrell, Dare, Pitt, Beaufort,

Gates, Hyde, Martin, Perquimans, and Washington Counties.) Ruth Uecker, Reporter

Pasquotank County Submitted by: Ruth Uecker, Historian The Pasquotank County MGVs are pleased to an-nounce the 2007 recipient of our $500 annual scholarship award to Simeon Bray Wil-liams. Simeon is a 2007 graduate of Camden County High School. He will attend NC State University in the fall where he will major in the field of Agriculture. Mrs. Judylynn Hooser, one of our newly certified MGVs, has initiated a number of service activities aimed at getting area teenagers involved. She has organized and is spearhead-ing a 4-H Junior Master Gardener group to maintain the gar-dens around the Elizabeth City Wesley House (home-away-from-home for those who have family members being treated for long-term illnesses at the Albemarle Hospital). At their first in-service session in June, Judylynn was joined by Brian Gervais (another newly certified MGV). Brian taught the teens how to prune evergreens and crepe myrtles and how to sprig St. Augustine grass. This will be an on-going project led by Judylynn where MGVs will join the teenagers to provide education and on-going maintenance of the flower beds, trees, shrubs, and grassy areas around Wesley House. Tom Campbell, our Extension Service MGV sponsor, is leading another 4-H Junior MGV group centered around a local girl scout troop who will be learning how to landscape. The troop will design and install a landscape at a local Habitat for Humanity home being constructed in Elizabeth City. Pasquotank County MGVs Bette Lou Campbell and Ruth Uecker have joined with Tom to help guide the young girls as they learn about plant identification, pruning techniques, proper placement of plants in the landscape, integrated pest management, as well as a variety of horticulture methods. Ultimately, the Girl Scout troop will meet with the recipients of the Habitat Home and work with the family to landscape their new home. The Pasquotank MGVs continue to build their inventory of plants now geared toward our Fall Plant Sale. Our past plant sales have received such rave reviews that we are fast becom-ing a standard here in the Elizabeth City area. While a great deal of effort goes into keeping the plants in good shape, we

are finding the time spent is well worth it. The annual Spring and Fall sales provide us with opportunities to educate the general public on the growth and care of the large variety of shrubs, trees, and flowers we will have available for sale. Another “new” project our Pasquotank MGVs are develop-ing is a Horticultural Lending Library. Fortunately, one of our members, Holly Cook-Wood, has a degree in Library Science so as head of the Library Project; she is a “natural.” The Library will be set up in the Extension Center and books, magazines, periodicals, etc., will be available to other MGVs, earth science professionals, and the general public – in fact, anyone who is interested in horticultural/gardening subjects. To date we’ve had contributions of over 30 books and hope to add many more as the project is developed. Bertie County Submitted by: Mary Tibbs, Secretary Bertie County Master Gardeners are enjoying an active year. We started in the winter months planning our first annual Plant Sale which was held on April 20th. We were very suc-cessful and raised over $650. We followed this with our an-nual Reunion dinner at the home of Becky Bowling. Our County has welcomed a new NC Extension Agent, Jacob Searcy, and we are so pleased to have him working with and assisting the MG Volunteers in their endeavors. Our group of 20 members currently maintains ten community projects as well as a telephone “Hotline” every Monday. We enjoyed a recent trip to Sandra’s Garden Nursery in Hobbsville, NC (near Edenton), and several more trips are planned. Our goal is to conduct another MGV training class this fall in order to increase our membership. Reporter Note: Sandra Parks, owner of Sandra’s Garden Nursery, was one of the contributors to The Gulf Coast Project. She donated over 100 beautiful day lilies and a variety of other plants – all of which were taken to Mississippi in November 2006. Pitt County Submitted by: Pam Mastin Happy gardening and greetings from the Pitt County MGVs. Kathy Whitehead is moving full steam ahead using the new Children’s Garden as a learning tool for the commu-nity. She’s working with Susan Reese, Agent for Family and Consumer Science, on a program entitled “Gardening with Children.” They presented a PowerPoint and activity pro-gram for twenty-one daycare workers in June. The work-shops will better enable them to use the Children’s Garden for teaching. The same program was repeated for Smart Start workers the week of July 16 and will be given to Susan Reese’s NC State group in September. Kathy will be working with 4-H summer campers on July 27th doing a program called “Secrets of the Garden.” Our garden groups continue to maintain the display gar-dens. Vegetables are harvested weekly from the garden and the produce is donated to the local Food Bank.

(Continued on page 11)

Gardener’s Glossary By: Leslie Yarbrough, Cumberland County Can you define these garden terms? 1. Lath 2. Layering 3. Leader 4. Insitu 5. Leaf Roller 6. Legume

Look below to check your answers:


LATH - A structure used to create shade. Made

of any material, evenly spaced to let in some of

the light.

LAYERING - A way to propagate plant material.

A branch is anchored to the ground and it is still

attached to the parent plant. Roots appear, thus

creating another plant.

LEADER - The main growing shoot of a sapling,

it eventually will become the trunk of the tree.

LEAF ROLLER - Different moths that will roll

leaves when larvae. Cannas often get a lot of

leaf rollers.

LEGUME - A plant whose roots form an associa-tion with soil borne bacteria that can capture at-mospheric nitrogen. A good example of these

are soybeans.

Have you moved? We want to be sure you don’t miss an edition of the

newsletter or other Association mailings. Send address or other changes

to the Membership Chair.

Barbara Walters 1649 Halltown Road

Jacksonville, NC 28546

[email protected]

Chowan, Gates, and Perquimans County Submitted by: Joy Caron Our volunteers have nicely balanced garden work and pleas-ure during the last few months. We learned about “Impatience in the Garden” and “Native Plants” as well as attended a re-gional advanced Master Gardener’s training seminar which in-cluded “Rain Gardens” presented by Marjorie Rayburn (Gates County), Area Commercial Horticulture & Water Quality Agent, “Landscaping Septic Systems and General Landscaping Techniques” by Tom Campbell (Pasquotank County), Horticul-ture Agent, and “Invasive Plants – What You Need To Know” by Jan Perry-Weber, (Currituck County) Agriculture Technician. After the program attendees were treated to a tour of the Arbo-retum led by Katy Shook (Chowan, Gates, Perquimans Coun-ties), Area Consumer Horticulture Agent. On-going projects include assisting with the tomato research plot, maintaining the Cupola House and Newbold-White House historic display gardens, and the American Legion organic dem-onstration garden. We’ve assisted with numerous garden semi-nars for both adults and youth in the area. One favorite was helping school children explore the world of butterflies during a six-week science program. MGVs also donated plants for the butterfly garden. For the third year, we sent MGVs to judge State-wide 4-H presentations on horticulture. It was exciting to see the knowl-edgeable effort and results the young people exhibited. “Fun” projects included a plant swap among our members and our annual “Garden Party” complete with crazy hats, tasty food, and a tour of the hostess’ garden. Dare County Submitted by: Julie Hamilton Our coastal Gardening Festival held on May 20th was a big success! The visitors who attended enjoyed tours through our Arboretum, purchased items from the vendors, attended a lec-ture, and stayed to enjoy breakfast and lunch from the Lion’s Club food wagon. Our Arboretum benefits from the profits of this festival. The week of July 23rd will see many of our volunteers going to one or more of the five school 4-H summer camps to work with the children doing gardening-related projects. The theme for this week is, The Living Sea. Master Gardeners will talk with the kids about seaweed and its uses in our daily lives, espe-cially in foods. Students will learn to identify some of the local North Carolina seaweeds and will do some arts and crafts pro-jects that will utilize what they’ve learned. Work continues in the Arboretum with a team of “hot weather die-hards” who meet in the Arboretum on Wednesday mornings. The Aesthetics Committee has recently submitted a proposal for a grant to a local Trust to purchase a new sculpture for the Arboretum. As well, work continues with those prepar-ing presentations for our Speakers Bureau. These presentations should be ready for fall to local groups seeking speakers.

(Continued from page 10)

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