ECHO

Save the Date!

the

A Newsletter from the Collin County Master Gardeners Association

A Word from Dr. Church . . .

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Dear Collin County Master Gardeners,

The New Year is off to a good start with planning and conducting educational and outreach projects all over Collin County. There are a lot of opportunities to get involved in and where you can make a difference. Our project leaders and I can use all the help we can get to reach our goals. Check out the eMinder’s email and dashboard for the latest opportunities, or contact a project leader to see how you can help.

There are lots of reasons why you participate in the Master

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Proper Pruning

February 22

Monthly Meeting

February 27 Be sure to join us for the February CCMGA monthly meeting at The Heard Museum.

See eMinders for details.

Home & Garden Expo

March 1 The Heritage Ranch Home & Garden Expo will be held in Fairview on Saturday, March 1st.

See eMinders for details.

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

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from the President’s Garden

We are providing much needed horticulture information to our neighbors. That’s a challenge here in Collin County due to the wonderful challenges gardeners face. It gets rather warm in late summer causing many of our plants to beg for shade. We never get much rainfall, and lately it has been very scarce. We are reaching the point where there won’t be enough water to go around, and I think gardening will suffer. Our soil clings to our shovels and is not always conducive to root growth. How does a homeowner not just survive, but thrive.

I know! They can ask for help! Who is better equipped to help them than master gardeners? Experts in horticulture train us, especially as it applies to our county. There are many questions to be answered and master gardeners can answer them.

Because we have done great in the

— continued on page 2

Interactive Adult Education is offering a “Proper Pruning Techniques” class.

See eMinders for details.

image courtesy of Winnond/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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A Word from Dr. Church . . . (continued from page 1)

Gardener Volunteer Program. Self-improvement through continuing education opportunities is one of many reasons why we get involved. The desire to improve our knowledge and skills, to either make it easier or be more successful, is part of being a master gardener. Starting with the Master Gardener Training Program, master gardeners learn many ways to be a better gardener.

However, being a master gardener is more than just gardening. Master Gardeners learn to look past the garden to see how natural systems work and how it is all interconnected with our environment. That is why the Earth-Kind® Environmental Stewardship Program is such an integral part of Extension Horticulture and the Master Gardener Program in Collin County. I encourage you to participate in continuing education programs that the Extension Service and the Master Gardeners offer each and every year. Remember, 6 education hours are all we ask, but there is no reason to stop there.

So I’ve talked about taking advantage of volunteer and educational opportunities, but it should be mentioned that it is my desire that you adopt these principles and practices in your own landscapes and

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from the President’s Garden (continued from page 1)

past, we have had more and more members join. Many of our members work or have a family to care for. This makes it difficult for them to join in many of our daytime, weekday activities. They are good master gardeners; they have the knowledge and the desire to help. But many of our current habits and activities make it difficult for them.

We need to put our heads together and come up with expanded activities that will allow these members the ability to have as much fun and gratification as the rest of us. I need each and every one of you to come up with creative ways to use each and every member. You can’t wait for project leaders or board members to come up with solutions. You need to act.

So . . . what are your ideas?

— Jim Ewoldsen CCMGA President

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gardens. The Extension has always attempted to measure the adoption rate of recommended practices. A program we started last year was designed to address water conservation and measure adoption rates. This regional program is entitled Earth-Kind® Water Conservation Demonstration Program. The concept is simple: provide education and training on water conservation within the home landscape; then we ask the participants to monitor their water bills over a year to see how much water you’ve saved compared to last year.

I challenge you to save more water than last year, by either implementing a new technology, like drip irrigation, performing an irrigation checkup, installing drought tolerant plants, or simply changing your mind set about how much water your plants really need. In addition, I challenge you to fill out your water use report and send it to me at the end of the year. I will post more information on eMinders. Please consider taking the time to participate and do your part to conserve water in Collin County.

Great Gardening,

Greg Church, Ph.D., County Extension Agent — Horticulture Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service – Collin County

Echinacea was chosen as the perennial for the National Garden Bureau’s 2014 “Year of” program because of the vast assortment of flower colors and shapes. To learn more about Echinacea, please visit:

www.ngb.org/year_of

photo courtesy of the National Garden Bureau

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Project Spotlight: CCMGA Volunteers

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So what are some of the ways you can earn your volunteer hours by working “behind the scenes”? Well, as the newsletter editor and communications team coordinator, I can tell you where we need some help:

• Organizing/categorizing our database of photos from past events

• Writers for seasonal, timely, researched based articles for GWG of interest to our readers

• Photographers to take pictures of the Myers Park research/demo gardens in different seasons

• An eMinders liaison for the newsletter • A MailChimp admin - this person would accept/review

requests for MailChimp communications (i.e., up to three MailChimp emails for an event - Save the Date, In Two Weeks . . . Day Before reminder)

• Social media liaison for each project (Martha Fipps and Kathleen Brooks are doing this for CCMGA right now, but each project should have someone who emails Martha and/or Kathleen with project updates that would be of interest to the gardeners of Collin County.)

That’s just a short list for one project and team. Not interested in working with the newsletters or communications team? No problem! Just talk to one of the other project leaders. (They are listed on the last page of this newsletter.) I know that Janet Kirklen needs volunteers to help with our website. Kathleen Brooks would be happy to talk to you about ways you can assist Interactive Adult Education behind the scenes. I’m sure other projects have opportunities as well.

I invite project leaders to send me a list of their “behind the scenes” opportunities as soon as possible. I’d love to include those lists in the next issue of The Echo.

In the meantime . . . The Garden Show 2014 is just around the corner. And it’s on a weekend! I know their team would love for you to volunteer to help wherever you can because . . . we love our CCMGA volunteers!

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by Bonnie Landon, Newsletter Editor

Someone once said, “Volunteers aren’t paid, not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless.” As a CCMGA project leader, I couldn’t agree more! You, our volunteers, are the very heart of our organization. Without the countless hours you devote to CCMGA activities each year, we would be unable to fulfill our mission. What is our mission, you ask? It is to “to assist our horticulture agent by educating the citizens of Collin County.”

How do we assist Dr. Church? In countless ways! We interact with the public at our three annual events: The Garden Show, The Plant Sale and the Bulb & Perennial Mart. We work the phone and email on the Help Desk. We also work behind the scenes to enable our CCMGA activities to succeed. And we get to earn, and be recognized for, our volunteer hours as a bonus!

There are a lot of opportunities to earn your volunteer hours coming your way in the next few months. In March, there’s The Garden Show 2014, followed in April by The Plant Sale. Then, in October, there’s The Bulb & Perennial Mart. And those are just our big events! There are so many more ways to earn those volunteer hours.

By now, I know some of our interns, and even some of our Master Gardeners are thinking, “I work full time, how am I supposed to earn my hours?” Or, “I take care of my elderly parents (or a child with a disability), I need to be able to volunteer on my own schedule, not someone else’s.” I hear you!

A little over a year ago, I was a brand new intern who was also taking care of my elderly, handicapped father, helping run our graphic design business, as well as being a wife and mother. I was grumbling thinking the same things! So I looked for opportunities that would fit my schedule. That’s how I became involved with The ECHO and The Garden Wise Gazette. And — to make a long story short — I ended 2013 with nearly 350 volunteer hours! And the majority of those hours were worked according to my schedule.

We CCMGA Volunteers

image courtesy of Simon Howden/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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CCMGA 2013 Volunteer Recognition

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Andy Estes Pat Fenton

Durinda Fisher Scott Harmon Jo Henderson

Linda Hull Carol Joy Jeffries

Kari Kennedy Flowers

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Karen Algrim Frank Alegria

Martha Cavazos-Fipps Kathy Commer Lechell Currin Sharon Dietz

Gordana Djumic Jeanie Erwin

C l a s s o f 2 0 1 2

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Amy Krupka Blake Kunkel

Bonnie Landon Max Maxwell

Traci McAlister Susan McNeal Maureen Miller

Becky Montgomery

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Rita Murph Lynn Nored Teresa Pool Bettie Riall

Kimberly Schultz Melodie Smith Shelly Stevens

Lee Street

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Bridget Trosper Carlisle Walters Curlytop Welch

Cathy Westmoreland Bill Whitfield Randy Wilson

Edward Wolfgang

Master Gardener of the Year

Robin Lankford

Master Gardener Tenure Awards

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Ten Year Badges & Pins

Beverly Adkins Becky Alexander

Erin Hoffer Janice Miller Pat Piaschyk

Kathrin Ponder Linda Secor-Johnson

Fif te en Year Badges & Pins

Carrie Dubberly

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Five Year Badges & Pins

Cindy Bachli Jean Bassett

Kathy Bosworth Jennifer Burk

Don Engelbrecht Sherry Fabricant

Terri Lytle Joanne Pospisil David Spadoni

Kathryn Stevens Pam Thompson Marilyn Van Pelt

Sue White Dolores Williams

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Diane Kufert Bonnie Landon Penny Leblanc

Bill Lily Traci McAlister

Charlie O’Halloran Joanne Pospisil

Kimberly Schultz Carol Wooten

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Joy Bradford Rebecca Brown

Joyce Cleary Marilee Crawford

Judy Ewoldsen Renee Ferguson Durinda Fisher

Linda Hull Carol Joy Jeffreys

Janet Kirklen

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Beverly Adkins Judy Stalcup Aerdts Chrissy Applegate

Jean Bassett Shelley Benz

Kathleen Brooks Gigi Brookshire

Marge Bryan Vicki Burk

Vicki Ann Burkley Martha Cavazos-Fipps

Kay Clifton Kathy Crommer

March Davenport Tony Dennis

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Beth DiGioia Jeannie Erwin

Pat Fenton Rodger Fortney Nancy Harmon Scott Harmon Jo Henderson

Mary Nell Jackson Amy Krupka

Katy Lacy Kathleen Lo Sapio

Max Maxwell Mary Means

Becky Montgomery Rita Murph

Master Gardener Annual Service Awards and President’s Service Awards

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Lynn S. Nored Dawn Oldfield Jo Ann Poore

Suzanne Powell Bettie Riall

Jacalyn Schwitter Lee Street

Jo Linda Thompson Sheri Twiggs Jamie Upson

Curlytop Welch Sue White

Bill Whitfield Randy Wilson

Edward Wolfgang Marcie York

Master Gardener Career Service Awards

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>1,000 Career Hours Bruce Batman Joy Bradford

Robin Lankford Charlie O’Halloran Linda St. Romain

Susan Owens Diane Poston

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>5,000 Career Hours Diane Sharp

David Spadoni

>3,000 Career Hours Renee Ferguson

>2,000 Career Hours Jim Ewoldsen

>100 Volunte e r Ho urs >500 Voluntee r Ho urs

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Diane Sharp David Spadoni

Linda St. Romain

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Bruce Batman Jim Ewoldsen

Robin Lankford

>250 Voluntee r Ho urs

Intern of the Year

Bonnie Landon

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Project Spotlight: CCMGA Scholarship College Scholarship to be awarded

article by Joy Bradford, Scholarship Committee Chairperson image courtesy of cooldesign/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Collin County Master Gardener Association (CCMGA), an integral part of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, will award a $1,000 scholarship to a Collin County Texas high school senior for the 2013-2014 academic year.

This award is available to a graduating high school senior (Class of 2014) who is a resident of Collin County and who intends to select any one of the following as a college major: Botany, Entomology, Environmental Science, Forestry, or Horticulture.

To apply, a student must complete and submit the following no later than 4:00 pm on April 25, 2014:

• an application • a 400-word essay describing his/her college goals, and • two teacher references

The scholarship will be awarded on or before May 21, 2014. The application may be obtained at:

http://ccmgatx.org/community-service/youth-educational-programs

Send completed requirements to:

Dr. Greg Church Collin County Horticulture Agent Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service 825 N. McDonald Street, Suite 150 McKinney, TX 75069 Project Spotlight:

The Garden Show 2014 article by Bonnie Landon, Newsletter Editor image courtesy of CCMGA

The Garden Show 2014 will be held on Saturday, March 22nd from 9 am to 5 pm and on Sunday, March 23rd from 11 am to 5 pm at Myers Park & Event Center in McKinney. On Friday, March 21st, we will need lots of volunteers to help set up for the show. There will be lots of opportunities to earn volunteer hours on each of these days. Friday will be a long workday, but don’t worry. Each area will schedule volunteers in shifts.

Many of our CCMGA projects will have booths and demos including Interactive Adult Education, Water Conservation, Children’s Activities, Bulb & Perennial Mart, to name a few. There will also be speakers’ presentations and tours of the award-winning research and demonstration gardens. Help will be needed to set up and break down the show, in the hospitality area, directing traffic, running errands around the show, and so much more. There’s something for everyone and we need your help!

Stay tuned to eMinders for information on how to volunteer. Just like last year, we will be using SignUp Genius to get everyone signed up. Also, we will be having a training meeting on March 20th at Myers Park in lieu of the General Monthly Meeting. You’ll be able to learn more about all the different volunteer positions and ask questions, so don’t miss it!

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Member News — December 2013 —

Milestone: 50 Hours Congratulations to the following Master

Gardeners who have given 50 hours or more of volunteer time to CCMGA

(as of 12/31/13).

Charles Trudeau

Milestone: 100 Hours Congratulations to the following Master

Gardeners who have given 100 hours or more of volunteer time to CCMGA

(as of 12/31/13).

Tony Dennis Walter Holt

PLEASE NOTE — Important Changes for 2014 Due to changes to the County printing services performed by the Extension

Office IT department, Master Gardeners are no longer able to use these services. We will need to plan to pay for printing services. We encourage the use of electronic media via our website and email distribution services. Please contact Jim Ewoldsen, Bonnie Landon or Janet Kirklen with questions.

Due to the growth of the Master Gardener program and the limitations of the Extension Office facilities, the Conference Room at the Extension Office is no longer available for Master Gardener meetings. There are numerous conference rooms, meeting rooms, fire stations, restaurants, and other facilities that can accommodate your meetings. (Please check with board members and project leaders for suggestions.) Myers Park has offered the use of their facilities for Master Gardener meetings. These facilities are subject to availability and requests should be limited to off peak use. At this time we ask that Myers Park reservation requests be sent by email to Bruce Batman.

The ECHO is moving! Future issues of the ECHO

will be found at:

www.ccmgatx.org/admin

Watch eMinders for more details!

Help Desk Mentor Training Interested in mentoring our new interns on the Help Desk during 2014?

Then please attend one of the training sessions to learn about our new Orientation Guide and new software on our new computers. Training sessions have been scheduled for: • Thursday, February 13, 2014 at 1 pm • Wednesday, February 26, 2014 at 10 am

Choose the one that best fits your schedule. The training will take place at the The Landing at Myers Park and will last 1 to 1.5 hours. If you are interested in getting to meet some of our newest members and helping them get started on the Help Desk, contact Suzanne Powell at:

spowell75071@gmail.com

Proper Pruning Techniques

Interactive Adult Education is offering a workshop on Saturday, February 22 from 9 – 11 am with registration starting at 8:30 am. Rob Wier, pruning expert, will be our guest speaker. This is the season for pruning many plants here in North Texas. Join us to learn about the best cuts and tools for the job.

Master Gardeners can earn 2 continuing education hours for attending this class.

You know you’re a Master Gardener when . . .

•You have to wash your hair to get your fingernails clean. •You sneak home a 7’ Japanese

maple and wonder if your spouse will notice. •You always carry a shovel and a

plastic bag in your trunk as emergency tools. •You buy a bigger truck so you

can haul more mulch. •You spend more time volunteering

than you do at home.

the ECHO FEBRUARY 2014

The Collin County Master Gardeners

Association (CCMGA)

825 N. McDonald Street Suite 150 McKinney, TX 75069 (972) 548-4219 www.ccmgatx.org www.collin-tx.tamu.edu Email: info@ccmgatx.org

Our Master Gardener program is an educational and volunteer program affiliated with the Texas A&M™ Agrilife Extension Service of the Texas A&M University system.

The 200+ members of CCMGA are citizens of the local community who not only take an active interest in their own lawns, trees, and gardens but also strive to promote sound horticultural practices in the community. Members receive invaluable training and continuing opportunities for education, and then share their horticultural expertise through a wide variety of projects benefiting Collin County residents and organizations.

Newsletter Editor – Bonnie Landon Email: newsletter@ccmgatx.org

2014 CCMGA Officers President ..................... Jim Ewoldsen Vice President ............. Katy Lacy Treasurer .................... Nancy Harmon Secretary ..................... Joyce Cleary Membership Hours Coordinator ............. Pat Fenton Volunteer Coordinator ............. Marilee Crawford Past-President ............. Renee Ferguson

2014 Project Leaders Bulb & Perennial Mart .. Diane Kufert eMinders ..................... Linda Carrington Extension/Help Desk Admin ............ Suzanne Powell Horticulture Therapy ... Marge Bryan Hospitality .................. Carolyn Curfman / Joe Poore Information Booths ..... Joy Bradford Interactive Adult Education ................ Kathleen Brooks Master Gardener Training Class ....... Traci McAlister / Kim Schultz Plant Sale .................... Tony Dennis Publicity ..................... Dawn Oldfield Research & Demo Gardens .................. Robin Lankford / Bruce Batman Rooted in the Past ....... Judy Aerdts Scholarship ................. Joy Bradford Social Committee ........ Jean Bassett / ................................... Fran Goldman Speakers Bureau .......... Becky Cavender / Kathy Commer The Garden Show ....... Bruce Batman / Linda St. Romain Water Conservation .... Randy Wilson Website ....................... Janet Kirklen Youth Education ......... Becky Brown / Carol Wooten

Collin County Extension Horticulture

825 N. McDonald Street Suite 150 McKinney, TX 75069 (972) 548-4232 Metro: (972) 424-1460 x 4232

County Extension Agent Greg Church, Ph.D. Email: gtchurch@ag.tamu.edu

Dr. Church joined the Collin County Extension Office on February 1, 2008. He provides leadership and guidance for the CCMGA.

Extension programs serve people of all ages regardless of socioeconomic level, race, color, sex, religion, disability, or nation origin. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service is a statewide educational agency and is a partnership between Collin County Commissioners’ Court, the Texas A&M University System and the United States Department of Agriculture.

In the March issue of the ECHO:

• President’s Letter • Extension Agent Letter

• Member News

• Save the Date • Project Spotlight: The Plant Sale

• Project Spotlight: Help Desk

• Project Spotlight: Social Committee

All articles should be submitted to editor no later than February 8, 2014. Please send your articles to:

Bonnie Lando n, Edi to r a t : news le tt e r@ccmg atx .org

In the March/April issue of the GWG

• Project Spotlight: The Garden Show 2014

• Project Spotlight: The Plant Sale 2014 • Project Spotlight: 2014 Scholarship

• Research & Demo Gardens: Perennials

• Upcoming Events • Gardening Feature(s)

• Monthly Gardening Checklists

• Help Desk FAQ

All articles should be submitted to editor no later than February 15, 2014. Please send your articles to:

Bonnie Lando n, Edi tor at : news le tt e r@ccmg atx .org