THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER January Welcome To The 2011 Interns

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1 HENDRICKS GARDENER THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE HENDRICKS COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS Published By: Hendricks County Master Gardeners, Inc. Hendricks County Extension Office 1900 E. Main Street P.O. Box 7 Danville, IN January 2011 Flower Trivia Eloisa Garza, President egcomposites@aol.com Jim Trocha Vice President VP@HendricksGardeners.com Linda Rogers, Treasurer Treasurer@HendricksGardeners.com Kerry Cates, Secretary Donna Mears, Editor Editor@HendricksGardeners.com Ed Freeman, Webmaster webmaster@hendricksgardeners.com Jon Cain, AG and Natural Resources Educator jcain@purdue.edu Welcome To The 2011 Interns Let your horizons broaden as a gardener by joining us, your fellow gardeners in this years programs, events and projects. Volunteer opportunities abound and your participation will continue to be a fun learning experience. Interns, thank you for joining the team and may you succeed in reaching your goals in Did you remember to Renew? Dues are now being accepted for the 2011 year. Your current membership expires December 31,2010. If you are a student who started classes last winter, your tuition paid your membership for You need to renew for 2011 to remain a member. Mission statement: The mission of the Master Gardener Program is to provide current, research-based, home horticulture information and education to the citizens of Indiana through Purdue University Extension programs and projects. The largest flower in the world (the Rufflesia) grows to over 3 metres in diameter. Tulip bulbs can be used in place of onions for cooking. Becky Troutman

2 Page Christmas and Awards Banquet Hale! Hale! The Gang s All Here A Few Close Ups of some of our members The Crums The Mears The Weddles Becky Troutman The Jacksons The Stoners

3 Page Christmas and Awards Banquet Happy Birthday Jon, and best wishes for a wonderful year ahead Master of Ceremonies Chuck Dallas The Avon Middle School Choir

4 Page 4 NEW LEVELS OF ACHIEVEMENT AND AWARDS Advanced Master Gardeners 60 volunteer hours 45 training hours: Beth Ainsworth, Kerry Cates, Donna Moore, Suzy Freeman, Debbie Gilmore, Rick Gilmore not pictured Joe Beyer, John Rardin, Martha Rardin Bronze Advanced Master Gardeners 200 volunteer hours 60 training hours: Eloisa Garza, Pat Harmon, Aleta Griffin, Anny Selvy not pictured Martha Gooldy Silver Advanced Master Gardeners 500 volunteer hours 75 training hours: Elosia Garza Debbie Ashby was presented with "Master Gardener of the Year 2010" for an outstanding job as newsletter editor by President Eloisa. Master Gardeners 35 volunteer hours 35 training hours: Donna Moore, Mary Clark-Haase, Beth Ainsworth. Back row Stephen Jones...not pictured Ralph Maillet President Eloisa Garza awarded Joe Beyer the "Intern of the Year 2010" for his work during the year educating both adults and children.

5 A Letter From Our President Page 4 The gift of the New Year is promise and hope that fills you with optimism and enthusiasm. My hope is that you will all support this association and continue to come to the meetings and other activities this coming year. I sure enjoyed working with everyone last year. Eloisa Garza President; Hendricks County Master Gardeners Association Reminder: Please contact the president 5 days prior to meetings about business or committee reports so that it will be put on the agenda for the meeting. Thanks to all who came to the Christmas/Awards Banquet. The room was full of sweet ginger men, and the choir sang joyfully into the evening. We all had a great time. The best part was visiting with fellow Master Gardeners who are very kind hearted and fun people. Congratulations to the following individuals: Master Gardener of the year Debbie Ashby and Intern of the year Joe Beyer. Certificates of appreciation went to Lynn Cochran, Ginny Brandgard, Martha Gooldy, Vicki Coleman for Gardening for all Ages; Barb Zupan for the Garden Tour and Rosie Lenihan for Best Education Idea. I would also like to extend congratulations to all our members who have received new badges and to all of last year s officers and chairpersons whose dedication and efforts made our committees and projects so successful. A notice to all master gardeners; if you would like to volunteer as a project chairperson, or committee leader, or need volunteer hours, this is a great time to let us know what you are interested in accomplishing for the year. We have new classes starting January the 4th, so don t delay contacting us! Let's reach out to welcome and encourage the newest members to join us in all our activities. Please sign up to introduce yourself at one of the upcoming classes. Winter is a time for reflection, planning and appreciating the winter garden with the beautiful snow when it lines each branch and twig. Joy and Success Eloisa Thanks for the Christmas party to: Planning committee: Pat Harmon, Becky Troutman, Debbie Gilmore, Kerry Cates, Pat Dallas and Chuck Dallas. Set up and decorating committee. Pat Harmon, Debbie Gilmore, Donna Moore, Karen Halas, Jackie Rosales, Melissa Pearman, Becky Troutman, Terry Meingasner, Kerry Cates, Ann Selvy, Chuck Dallas. Welcoming committee: Debbie Gilmore and Rick Gilmore. Master Gardener Christmas Tree in Auditorium Danville Beautiful Christmas Tree decorated with natural items from your gardens by Becky Troutman, Ann Selvy, Deb Gilmore and Jackie Rosales. Becky Troutman created the garden garland with ornamental grass wrapped with raffia...what a great idea!! We have such talented members...thanks to you gals and to those who saved dried material... *note material cannot be stored at complex; so next summer remember to dry stuff for 2011 tree!!!

6 Page 6 Getting to know you.. Rosie Lenihan Gardening was always a time when I could feel relaxed but I needed to learn more about gardening besides spending lots of money at plant stores and digging a hole and watering it twice. So I took the Master Gardener course and I still spend lots at plant stores, but now I know a whole lot of really nice people who do that too! Master Gardener projects: I initiated Trash Gardening, Eco-Friendly Container Gardening Sweepstakes, and the Sycamore Services Gardening Project. These were all efforts to broaden the scope of Master Gardeners Through the committees on these projects, the contributions of Hendricks County Extension Master Gardeners have become more recognized in the county. In 2008 when MG were looking to rejuvenate what had been called the Flower & Patio Show, Cecilia Blazier and I co-chaired the new Gardening For All Ages (GFAA). Chairmanship evolves, and this show keeps getting bigger and better. During 2010 I have served as Vice President, but 2011 I want to just sit back and enjoy the meetings, the organization and get to know the new intern members better I think MG could be more embracing of the newer interns. I have no idea how many hours I have completed, but I am Silver Level. I love to garden with my grandchildren as they watch seeds grown (like the necklaces from GFAA), or plant a potato, or pick a pumpkin but we really like to make bouquets and sometimes our stems are really short! I am widowed and have moved into a smaller home and yard. This yard is new, so everything is on a different scale and I ll learn to work with that too. Talk about learning through MG in 2010 at the GFAA we created a Garden Wizard booth for the show. Simplest gardening ideas... the people welcomed our booth and collected our information. Which brings me back to MG interns. When I first came to MG meetings I knew very few people and, like some of you, wasn t always as involved as I thought I should be but not sure how to tackle that barrier. Well, now I m one of the old MG s with a new idea now and then so if you want to tackle a project please call me. I sure hope no one feels that they can t be involved. Please holler! Each year Rosie Lerner and Mary Welch-Keesey puts together a series of horticultural updates primarily intended for County Coordinators like myself. However, Master Gardeners and Interns are also invited to attend. They are all scheduled from 12:00 Noon to 1:00 pm and will be viewed via adobe connect at the Fairgrounds. I am scheduling the following update sessions: January 11, PPDL (Plant & Pest Diagnostic Lab) What Was Hot 2010 by Tom Creswell & Gail Ruhl February 8, Invasive Plant ID and Management - Glenn Nice, Botany and Plant Pathology March 8, Permaculture For Gardeners - by Brent Ladd, Center for the Environment April 12, Tree Appraisal - by Lindsey Purcell, Forestry If you are interested in attending any of the above sessions please RSVP to Janet Cunningham at and tell her which session(s) you plan to attend.

7 Page 7 Native Plant of the Month One of the favorite trees in my yard is the eastern native Scarlet Oak. This tree is a relatively fast grower with a strong taproot. The scarlet oak is a popular shade tree, growing 75' tall, 45' wide with a upright to rounded shape at maturity and brilliant autumn color! Minimum seed-bearing age is 20 years, two growing seasons are needed for the acorns to mature. Acorns are a choice wildlife food, sometimes one half of acorns are removed by birds and squirrels while still on the tree! Deer, Mice and wild turkey also enjoy the treats! Scarlet oak Quercus coccinea Enjoy the shade of this great ornamental tree, while you are providing food for the local fauna. What a smart choice! EDITOR S REQUEST Master Gardeners..Please consider writing an article, or poem, or suggest a gardening book or magazine article with a review, send recipes that pertain to the season, share your gardening ideas or share photos of your own gardens with fellow members in the newsletter. Please copy to the editor no later than 4 days following the meetings. Remember, this is your Newsletter! Thank you.

8 Page 8 Houseplants and Indoor Pollution By Ward Upham Extension Associate Division of Horticulture Kansas State U The indoor pollutants included benzene, toluene, octane, tricholoroethylene (TCE), and alpha-pinene. None of the plants appeared to have been damaged by the volatiles. Superior Removal Efficiency Hemigraphis alternata: Red Ivy Hedera helix: English Ivy Tradescantia pallida: Wandering Jew Hoya carnosa: Porcelain Flower Intermediate Removal Efficiency Ficus benjamina: Weeping fig Polyscia fruticosa: Ming aralia Fittonia argyroneura: Silver Nerve Plant Sansevieria trifasciata: Mother-in-Law's Tongue Gusmania sp.: Type of Bromeliad Anthurium andreanum: Flamingo Flower Schefflera elegantissima: False aralia Poor Removal Efficiency Peperomia clusiifolia: Peperomia Chlorophytum comosum: Spider plant Howea belmoreana: Sentry palm Spathiphyllum wallisii: Peace Lily Schefflera arboricola: Hawaiian Elf Schefflera Codiaeum variegatum: Croton Calathea roseopicta: Peacock Plant Aspidistra elatior: Cast Iron Plant Maranta leuconeura: Prayer Plant Dracaena fragrans: Corn Plant Ficus elastica: India Rubber Plant Dieffenbachia seguine: Dumbcane Philodendron scandens: Philodendron Syngonium podophyllum: Nephytis, Arrowhead Vine Epipremnum aureum: Pothos Pelargonium graveolens: Rose Geranium (WU) Monitor Indoor Plant Temperatures Now would be a good time to check the location of foliage houseplants to be sure the plants don't get too cold this fall or winter. Plants next to windows or in entryways near outside doors are at the greatest risk. Plants sensitive to cold temperatures include Chinese evergreen (Algaonema), flamingo flower (Anthurium), croton (Codiaeum), false aralia (Dizygotheca), and ming and balfour aralia (Polyscias). Monitor and maintain temperatures above 65 degrees F for the false aralia and above 60 degrees for the rest of the list. Many other indoor plants prefer temperatures above 50 degrees. If needed, move plants away from the windows or door entrances to reduce cold temperature exposure. It may be necessary to move some plants from windowsills before shades or drapes are pulled, especially in the evening. (WU)

9 Page 9 Winter in Indiana...Photos by Diana Roy It is the policy of the Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service that all persons have equal opportunity and access to its educational programs, services, activities, and facilities without regard to race, religion, color, sex, age, National origin or ancestry, marital status, parental status, sexual orientation, disability or status as a veteran. Purdue University is an Affirmative Action institution. This material may be available in alternative formats.