Master Gardener Information

Hi Everyone....I just thought this information would be helpful to any of you folks who are interested in the Master Gardener Program. This website I am posting is a map of Michigan and if you click on your county, it will give you your county extension office information. Its not just for Master Gardeners, but for other information that can be helpful to you. You can call your county extension office for any type of horticultural information you are needing...

http://web1.msue.msu.edu/mastergardener/Counties/00-Michigan-map--counties-MG-2003.html


Deann

Hey thanks@@

Deann
Why don't uou ask Terry to make this a "sticky"

Paul

Paul.....don't mean to sound doumb, but what's a stickey

Paul.....Ok.....Terry put a Stickey in for us on this page......thanks for suggesting it, great idea!!

Deann

My EX-friend just called from Fla. and told me the temp. It was nice knowing her.

This message was edited Mar 7, 2006 2:31 PM

Thanks Deann..... I checked it out. I'd sure love to attend 5 classes down in Lansing, but it's just too far. Double darn. What do you mean chat chat chat MARTHA (ooops, I mean NOT!) Don't you have anything better to do than CHAT! Winter has been a real downer for me! Just put me in a funky mood. I don't even care about gardens at this point. Does anyone else have this same feeling or should I just set the whole darn thing on fire and run?
I have an envelope with a dinner plate hybiscus in it. I just looked at it and it looks like a brown pod. What do I do with it? Does anyone have a start for an Angel Trumpet. Does anyone want to come and clean up my gardens this spring? If you do, you get something REALLY WONDERFUL! You get the satisfaction of helping out a lazy crabby ol' woman! It'll make you feel really good and earn you roses in Heaven. Have a good day peoples....... Jacklynn

sorry about the 2 exact posts........ I guess I REALLY meant what I said!!!!!!'

hugssssss, Jacklynn

Got an email a day or two ago regarding the MG classes in Michigan.

It appears that Mary McClellan the state MG coordinator wants to elimanate the MG classes in each county and set up an online MG course.

I think that would be a big mistake, meeting and talking with other gardeners is a big part of the program. I made a ton of new freinds through the classes.

Hopefully it won't happen.

Paul

Paul......wow I am gone two days and I just heard this.....I agree with you, but I think the name of the game now is cutting cost. That is why they keep dragging their heels here In Iosco County to start another MG class. They say they don't have the funds, even thought the last 3 classes were handled by Advanced Master Gardeners in our County....go figure....

Deann
I bet even though the class will be online, the cost will still be over $200.

MSU is using the MG program as a cash cow.

Paul

I looked into it but the $275. cost put it on the back burner. :(
Just bought a new computer and I have to pay for that.

Hey Deann,
Thanks for the info on Michigan MG, I still want to take that class. I don't think my rose mallows made it through the winter or the freeze we had a week or so ago, I will just keep watch. I am finally returning after my total knee replacement surgery February 28th. For a long time I could not set at the computer, painful. Nice to see everyone again. I am now 9 weeks postop and doing very well. Just got a new bicycle and riding it, wow that hurt the first few times but I think I have it mastered now. Now to get to my gardens and get the weeds out. The spring bulbs are sure beautiful, I am so glad I planted several last fall. Did everyone get their new DG mug? Thanks Deann for the well wishes and prayers for my surgery, I am doing great!
Fancee

Here are some spring flowers, not all though. My peonies are now really tall and full of blooms and the purple aliums that I have in a row behind all of these pansies and tulips and opening. Sure is pretty, isn't spring just the best!! Such a new birth of all things green and colorful.

Fancee

Francee......I am so surprised your Rose mallow did not make it. It is coming up all over the place in my garden, and I keep digging it up like a weed. If you want some more, let me know and I will send out some for postage....

Deann

Deann,
Unless I don't know what I am looking for I don't think one came up and you sent me plants last year.........hmmmmm. Send me a photo of what the new ones coming up look like, would ya? Maybe I am thinking they are weeds since I am not familiar with the plants yet.

Question? My rhododendrons are not blooming yet. They all look as though they have big buds on them everywhere but they are all tight as a drum. Is it not time for them to bloom in zone 5 or is something wrong with my plants? This is their third year and the first they have not bloomed, I am sad because they are so beautiful ususally but I really don't remember what month they bloom in? HELP???
Fancee

hello I'm new to Daves Garden. I live in Plainwell. I kinda agree with the writer up a few replys. With all of the extra snow and stuff all the colder weather. A lot of the plants were looking pretty bad but now they are really springing back. The yard is looking very pretty now. With the primroses which are the biggest they have ever been they are so colorful. My creeping dead nettle is starting to blossom. the tulips and the daffiodils are in blossom I dont know maybe Im not so down in the dumps. Spring is my favorite time of year. Well I'll "talk" to you all later on I have lots of shade plants. If any one is interested. Have a wonderful summer and growing season. Ronna

This message was edited Feb 24, 2010 8:29 AM

Watching in amazement as marigold seeds spilled where the camper sat this late fall bloom like summer, and mint and lemon balm that was cut down in September readies to bloom again, and sweet annie and bee balm seedlings from this year's plant blooms are nearly ready to bloom!

Strange indeed!

Sometimes the Master Gardener Program will offer partial scholarships, which can bring down the cost considerably. This probably isn't something that is advertised, just call up your local Extension office and inquire. That will only cost you the price of a phone call.

Unfortunately...nothing in life is free. With technology changing everything on an almost weekly basis, money is in deed a factor. Many counties in Michigan have smaller populations and a quickly vanishing economy. The Master Gardener program and it's volunteers are becoming a much needed commodity. Contrary to what paulgrow stated, that MSU looks on the program to be a cash cow, it in fact is not. MSU gets very little money from the student fees to continue to advance the program into what it actually can become. There is no money coming from MSU, the State of MI or the Feds either. It is a self supported program, getting its $$$ from the small amount that each student is charged on a county level in their class fee. Most of the $$$ in the class fees stay in the county to cover everything from the class materials to instructors. Some counties have to spend big bucks just in mileage $$ for an instructor to even go to them. There have been fewer and fewer classes held each year and those classes have had fewer and fewer students in each one. What is really needed is for there to be some sort of funding from other sources for this program to continue. State and Federal funding should be looked into. There has got to be a way to acknowledge the efforts of the program's 'cost saving' to local communities. For every 1 hour of a volunteers time, that actually computes to over $17.00 of 'free' labor in the communities. Goodness knows, it is really needed in this day and age. A little support, instead of a handout would make a great difference. The 'little people' in the local communities really need the Master Gardener program and they are the ones hurt the hardest by the lack of support.

My daughter and I started the Master Gardener class of 2009! Wednesday night was the first class, 5:30 - 9:00 PM. (Right here in Robinson Township, 4 miles from our house in the country, which is 10 miles from nowhere! LOL! How cool is that?)

I realised after the first 5 minutes that I had just been adopted into a new family, and OH OH I LOVED it!

The teacher this week was a Pathologist, and he got quite emotional about plants and their "gifts" to us. I get emotional about plants too, and truly there are days when plants are better than chocolate to lift my mood!

Heh! I spent the afternoon going through my plant books trying to find the new "cutting" that I found, and pronouncing every botanical name.

Congratulations, I've been a MG since 1997, in fact I get my 3,000 hour pin at our banquet next month.

I'm sure both of you will have a ball.

Ask your MG coordinator how to sign up for the MSU CAT alerts.
Great info on all types of plants sent out during the growing season.

Keep up posted on how you're doing

Paul

Pjadams you'll love the info and people associated with the Master Gardener program. I have been an Advanced Master Gardener since 1992 and have tons of gardening friends and lots of opportunities to learn more about plants. Not that I remember it all, but it's fun and keeps me out of trouble LOL. There are plenty of opportunities to share your knowledge with others. Our MG society has a county wide garden tour every year and a plant sale in the spring, which is rooted cuttings and seedlings or divisions from our own gardens. That's our major fundraiser for the year.

Oh PJ i am hearing you and reliving every happy moment when in my MG classes!! It opened my eyes!!
I felt kindred spirits i had never known before!! I made a bunch of new friends and had the best time!
I tell everyone to go if they can. It is a gift to yourself. If you are a plant lover the SCIENCE of things you already know/do is revealed to you. It is a kin to someone explaining the science behind baking and all of a sudden you know why some things work and don't work. OH revelations!!!
Can You tell I LOVED every moment and your telling of it brought me back to 2000 when I got my certs.
Have a good time!! It Is Fabulous!
Julie

We had our MG awards banquet last night.
150 MG's, great food, great speaker. Tons of door prizes.

I got my 3000 hour volunteer pin.

Paul

great news Paul.....congrats on your pin ^_^

Good job, Paul!!

CONGRATS, Paul! I hope our county does things like that. Even if they don't, this has been one of the top 10 best things that I've ever done! I won't stop. Some of the continuing ed classes here are very inexpensive, as low as $6.00! And I can't wait to do the volunteer work. I'm even getting excited about sending in a soil test! LOL! we've been here since 1996 and I've never tested it. It's just so obvious that it's mostly sand that I sorta gave up on a garden. But this year I'll try again. Only every spot here that's situated well for a garden is surrounded by oak trees. HA. EVERYTHING here is surrounded by oak trees.

OK, Julie, I know what Certs are, but what are certs? LOL!

master gardener certifications....maybe?

correct, once you get your volunteer hours in you get basic certification and after some more you get the advanced cert.

Paul

Paul is correct about the 'certs'. After you pass the class and final exam you need to complete 40 hours of garden related volunteer work in the community within 1 year. Of those 40 hours, you must complete 20 MSU required/approved hours. This awards you the Basic Master Gardener Volunteer Certificate. To earn the Advanced Certificate, you have a total of 5 years to record an additional 50 hours of volunteering and 25 hours of advanced education ABOVE what you need on a yearly basis to maintain your original certification.

Paul received his 3000 hour pin last Friday. Another of our good friends received his 3500 pin that night as well. There are MG's in our county who have received their 5000 hour pin as well.

Anyone know if the final is open book, or is it from memory?

Here in Wayne County it is now open book.

When I took it in 1997 it was closed book.

Paul

When I took mine in Iosco County, 2001 it was open book

Deann

Ours is open book and we have a month to do it.

When do the MG sign ups for next session begin??

kris at the top of this thread is a link...click on it and find your county and all the info....

Delane

It depends on the County.
Here in Wayne County the winter class is just finishing.
The fall class begins in August.

Paul