The Ogle County Illinois Master Gardeners thank all of you for sharing your amazing county projects to inspire all of us!

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2 The Ogle County Illinois Master Gardeners thank all of you for sharing your amazing county projects to inspire all of us!

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4 Bag Garden Got rocky or difficult soil? Bremer County Master Gardener, Larry Kafer of Plainfield, demonstrates a bag garden in our Extension garden. He and other club members read about this technique used in England so they decided to try it on top of gravel and mulch next to the building. They are growing well and we're looking forward to the results.

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6 Bus Tour Cerro Gordo MGs on their 2nd annual MG Bus Tour at Towns End Winery in Hansell, IA.

7 Demonstration Garden

8 Ridgecrest St. Francis Garden A request was made to change this sad little garden with a statue of St. Francis into something more pleasing. Our plan was to turn this small garden into an Italian courtyard that showcased St. Francis and could be used to display a Christmas tree in the winter. We think we did it! They still need to stain the deck to match the mulch, but that must wait until the wood has a chance to dry out (if it ever stops raining!)

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12 Native Garden The Community Outreach project for Scott CC is complete and the College is VERY pleased with the result. The planting went well and the garden looks great, even though a number of the plants were just plugs and will take time to show. Just inside the doorway the original presentation for this project is presented on a flat screen TV so that everyone entering can see the plant design, plant information, and MG involvement in this Native Garden.

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18 School Teaching Garden Dakota County Master Gardeners have been working to comprehensively provide gardening information and experience to a group of students and parents affiliated with Cherry View Elementary School, located in Lakeville, MN. A Minnesota Master Gardener Grant provided funds for a wheelchair-accessible, raised-bed Enabled Teaching Garden at Cherry View, surrounded by a wheelchair-accessible path.

19 Dakota MN School Teaching Garden Dakota County Master Gardeners have been working to comprehensively provide gardening information and experience to a group of students and parents affiliated with Cherry View Elementary School, located in Lakeville, MN. Lakeville is a suburb of the Twin Cities. Cherry View Elementary serves 628 students in grades K-5. The school also serves as a significant portion of the school district's special needs population. For this reason, our work with Cherry View has focused on providing opportunities for children of all ability levels to have positive experiences learning about horticulture-and everybody had a chance to get their hands dirty! A Minnesota Master Gardener Grant provided funds for a wheelchair-accessible, raised-bed Enabled Teaching Garden at Cherry View, surrounded by a wheelchair-accessible path. A special-needs Eagle Scout candidate provided construction support for the garden project, which was facilitated by the Dakota County Master Gardeners in This garden was the centerpiece around which a teaching program was conducted benefitting our special needs students and their families. An Adaptive Nature Night was held at Cherry View in May Dakota County Master Gardeners worked with the school occupational therapist providing activities for the children such as planting the raised bed garden with plants chosen to provide sensory experiences for the students. Each student also planted their own pot of flowers and was able to make a pot ornament craft. The students had a cognitive ability level in equivalent to that of a 5-7-year-old. While one set of Master Gardener worked with the children, additional Master Gardeners taught educational workshops for the parents. Workshop topics focused on adaptive gardening ideas, raised bed vegetable garden ideas for children, and fun flower gardening tips that could be done with children. An additional session dealt with suggestions for planting "sensory gardens" with children. Additional opportunities for all of the Cherry View students came through a tulip planting educational project in Oct The children at Cherry View brought in quarters to purchase a tulip bulb for each student. Then students were able to come outside for instructional time, led by Dakota County Master Gardeners, focusing on the history of tulips, how bulbs grow and about how plants grow from seeds, bulbs and corms. Then the students planted their tulip bulbs. All 628 of the tulips came up, providing a cheerful garden of red to delight the kids! The tulip gardens served as a backdrop for the third annual Cherry View Nature Week in May Dakota County Master Gardeners spoke in all 25 classrooms at the school about topics ranging from gardens for hummingbirds, to "Yikes! What Stressed My Tree?" All of the students spent 30-minute blocks in the school Nature Area, working with Master Gardeners on three activities. Students spread mulch around the Nature Area bird feeders and planted areas. The mulch consisted of "recycled trees" (wood chips) donated by a local electric cooperative after trimming branches around power lines. Students also made balls of mud and rolled them in wildflower seeds and planted their Wildflower Mud Balls in the Nature Area. Each student planted a flower in a pot to take home as well. The mud balls were a big hit-and EVERYONE got their hands dirty! Regular messages and take-home updates provided University of Minnesota horticultural information for parents focused on a goal of encouraging families to try gardening activities with their children at home.

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25 Discovery Garden Goodhue Master Gardeners helped design and now continue to plant and maintain the Discovery Garden at Colvill Park in Red Wing, MN. The gardens are part of a huge project for all children and especially children with disabilities. We were originally asked to head the Discovery Garden project by the mothers who spearheaded the Universal Playground project, they had always envisioned a sensory garden next to the playground.

26 Goodhue MN Discovery Garden The Goodhue County Master Gardeners (Minnesota) helped design and now continue to plant and maintain the Discovery Garden at Colvill Park in Red Wing, MN. The gardens are part of a huge project for all children and especially children with disabilities. We were originally asked to head the Discovery Garden project by the mothers who spearheaded the Universal Playground project. They had always envisioned a sensory garden next to the playground and asked us to help make their vision a reality. The Goodhue Cty. MGs with the help of local garden centers and local organizations took their original vision and ran with it. The completed Discovery Garden is a wheelchair-accessible raised bed garden for children and people of all ages and abilities. Our garden was created to please all the senses and we encourage every visitor to not only look, but to stop and smell, touch and even listen to the plants. There are nine gardens that make up the Discovery Garden. The four outside gardens are each planted with two colors: The Ladybug Garden (red/pink), the Moon Garden (silver/white), The Sun Garden (yellow/orange) and the Water Garden (blue/purple). The other gardens are: The Fragrance Garden, the Faerie Garden, the Butterfly & Hummingbird Garden, the Cook's Garden and the Rainbow Garden. Master Gardener and artist Peg Hansen has just placed the first sculpture in the Sun Garden and will make a unique piece of art for three other outside gardens. We have also worked on putting together a program where children visiting the garden can take laminated photos of the plants blooming and find those plants in the gardens. This not only stimulates the children to learn the names of plants, but also gives adults visiting the gardens a way to find out the names of the plants blooming. You can find more information on our garden at

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31 Rain Gardens The Lake County Master Gardeners secured a $350 grant from the Minnesota Master Gardener Grant Program to design and construct two rain gardens at the Minnehaha Elementary School in Two Harbors. The project was done in conjunction with a larger landscape plan to incorporate an outdoor classroom learning environment complete with native trees and shrubs. The rain garden site was one of the featured stops on the 2009 North Shore Mystery Garden Tour.

32 Lake MN Minnehaha Elementary School Rain Garden Education Project The Lake County Master Gardeners secured a $350 grant from the Minnesota Master Gardener Grant Program to design and construct two rain gardens at the Minnehaha Elementary School in Two Harbors. The project was done in conjunction with a larger landscape plan to incorporate an outdoor classroom learning environment complete with native trees and shrubs. The project was initiated by the PTA's Green Team who received additional assistance from Tree Trust. The Master Gardeners designed the rain gardens, purchased the plants, and assisted students and adults in planting the gardens in early June. Two weeks earlier, the students worked with volunteers and Tree Trust staff to plant a variety of trees and shrubs on the school property. During the summer of 2009, a large deck with perimeter seating was constructed to complete the project. The Lake County Master Gardeners were recognized for their role in developing the new outdoor classroom area at an October 13th Dedication Ceremony held at Minnehaha Elementary School. The students were very excited about the new outdoor area and sang two songs - Thank You & This Land Is Your Land. Kit Sitter, Lake County Master Gardener Chair, took advantage of the ceremony to present a rock engraved with the phrase, "2009 North Shore Mystery Garden", because the rain garden site was one of the featured stops on the 2009 North Shore Mystery Garden Tour. 1. North Shore Mystery Garden Tour: Spectacular gardens thrilled the eighty-three people who participated in this year's 4th Annual North Shore Mystery Garden Tour. The three-hour evening tour featured three local gardens plus the newly completed rain gardens at Minnehaha School. Despite a cloudburst with five minutes remaining at the final garden stop, the evaluations of the tour were outstanding and echoed a similar theme - "Great Tour, Outstanding Gardens, What Creative & Talented Gardeners, Thank You!" Overall, the participants loved the opportunity to tour the gardens, make new friends, and learn about new research-based information from the University of Minnesota Extension. At the close of each garden stop, the hosts were presented with a Lake Superior rock engraved with the phrase North Shore Mystery Garden. 2. Community Education Classes - Vegetable Gardening Against All Odds & Landscape Design: Over 50 people participated in the Vegetable Gardening class offered in Two Harbors that included tips for beginners as well as experienced gardeners. The Lake County Master Gardeners did an excellent job of teaching and the evaluations were excellent. Following the class, an organizational meeting was held for gardeners interested in forming a Two Harbors Garden Club. Sixteen people participated in a Landscaping Class in Silver Bay. The goal was to provide tips for lower maintenance gardening through the use of curvilinear designs of flower beds with a soft enough curve to provide ease of mowing; use of soaker hoses to make watering easier and direct watering to specified areas; and guidance of plant selection and placement to not only have plants that might bloom but also have sun loving plants in the sun and shade loving ones in the shade to enhance successful gardening. Nine families availed themselves to the offer of an on-site visit by a Master Gardener.

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36 Gardening with Kids Glacial Gardeners Master Gardener Volunteer Association of Florence County, WI (also members from Iron and Dickinson Counties in MI and Marinette County in WI) began a Gardening with Kids Grant Program a few years ago and every year distributes up to $1,000 to local elementary/middle school classes and groups, 4-H groups and others. Projects include students learning to compost, planting vegetables, bulbs, fruit and decorative trees and flowers, restoring old flower beds or starting new ones, help with extensive nature trails, planters for nursing homes and a county fair. Funds to cover the projects are raised by an annual plant sale and wreath workshops.

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40 Free S.P.I.R.I.T. Riders Sensory Gardens The gardens include a butterfly area, meditation garden, taste area with vegetables to taste, a touch area with plants to feel for different textures, a smell area with aromatic plants, and a bird sanctuary. It is all handicapped accessible for clients of Free S.P.I.R.I.T. and their parents or caretakers. Free S.P.I.R.I.T. Riders, Inc is a non-profit organization committed to enriching the lives of children and adults with disabilities from Fond du Lac and surrounding area through safe, therapeutic interaction with horses.

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45 Green WI South Central Wisconsin Master Gardeners favorites volunteer projects The new Green County Justice Center received attractive landscaping using a local business for natural plantings. Local MG volunteers worked with professional landscape architects to design and beautify two areas of the new building; the entrance to the UW-Extension office and multipurpose public meeting rooms as well as the area surrounding the flag poles. Green County purchased the plants with Master Gardener Volunteers doing the installation and maintenance. Planting started in the fall of 2009 after completion of the building; additional plants were added in the spring of Green County donated mulch to be used during the 2010 growing season. Pleasant View gardens, Green County property including the Nursing Home and the Government Services Building, are maintained by Master Gardener Volunteers, plantings have all been donated through the years from our gardens. Seven areas are maintained at the Complex. The entry sign, has grasses and day lilies and is basically self maintaining, except for trimming, this gives a nice appearance upon entrance to the Complex. The entry planters to the Nursing Home, under the guidance of MG Volunteers, was planted and maintained by a 4-H volunteer group of 9 yr olds as their gardening project. There is the garage patio, where Master Gardeners always purchases the flowers for a wheelchair planter. The resident's plant it as a project and they do the deadheading and a little weeding that is needed. This year a Boy Scout, as his Eagle Scout Project, did a wheel chair planter. A copy of the planter plans was received last year at the WI State Convention. The Boy Scout obtained funds from the local Garden Club & lumber yard, and built the planter and had it moved to Pleasant View. Last week, he did the official presentation. It was impressive that this young man coordinated to get the Garden Club, Scouting & MG working together for a gift to the Nursing Home. It was a great project. The Veteran's Service area, which has a bench for sitting in the shade, surrounded by the canna bed and annual blooming flowers, has been used for counseling sessions. The Human Services & Health Department entrance/flag pole is planted with left over hostas for the shade part and sun loving perennials in the flag pole and basically gives some color and soothing plantings for folks needing help from these departments. Lastly, we have the courtyard gardens for the Nursing Home residents to see from Spring through Fall, with changing plantings and herbs. Residents can look out of their windows from 3 wings and watch MG volunteers care for these gardens and it is reported that many conversations happen when we are out there working. It brings back many memories for the residents. All gardens are low maintenance and each week a different set of volunteers is scheduled to help do the maintenance.

46 Justice Center Green County MG volunteers worked with professional landscape architects to design and beautify two areas of the new Justice Center; the entrance to the UW- Extension office and multi-purpose public meeting rooms as well as the area surrounding the flag poles. Green County purchased the plants with Master Gardener Volunteers doing the installation and maintenance.

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51 County Gardens Pleasant View gardens, Green County property including the Nursing Home and the Government Services Building, are maintained by Master Gardener Volunteers, plantings have all been donated through the years from our gardens. Seven areas are maintained at the Complex. All gardens are low maintenance and each week a different set of volunteers is scheduled to help do the maintenance.

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58 Raised Garden Box The Lafayette County Master Gardeners created a raised garden box. The raised bed was made at a local lumber yard and used it first at our Lafayette County Fair as the Master Gardener exhibit using plants you would use in a butterfly garden. After the Fair, the bed was donated to the Lafayette County Manor (nursing home) for the residents to plant and care for and just look at - easier for those in wheelchairs than an in the ground garden. We donated plants again this year and encouraged residents to help plant everything this spring; including flowers, vegetables and herbs.

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60 Community Projects Each year, the South East Wisconsin MG volunteers implement a wide array of community projects in partnerships with various organizations requesting their assistance. Assisted the Horticulture Education Center at Boerner Botanical Gardens Teaching through demonstration gardens and food production gardens Gardening with children

61 Eloisa Gómez Director Milwaukee County Cooperative Extension 9501 W. Watertown Plank Rd. Bldg. A Wauwatosa, WI (fax) 711 for Wisconsin Relay eloisa.gomez@ces.uwex.edu 1. Activity Each year, the SEWMG volunteers implement a wide array of community projects in partnerships with various organizations requesting their assistance. In 2009, 40 community gardening projects were completed and 22,424 hours of volunteer service provided in Here are some examples of their volunteer projects: Assisted Extension s Horticulture Helpline by providing research-based information to strengthen the positive impact of gardening and explain safe environmental practices; Over 1000 persons were served over the phone or from walk-in visits; This volume of service could not have been attained without the help of our MG volunteers; Assisted the Horticulture Education Center at Boerner Botanical Gardens, a free plant diagnostic telephone and walk-in service; Staffing educational exhibits at the Zoo, State Fair Park and other key public locations; Gardening with children at various sites including the Havenwoods State Forest; Conducting educational workshops such as teaching affordable landscaping techniques to Habitat for Humanity homeowners; Making gardening accessible to people with disabilities at Wil-O-Way Centers at Grant and Underwood Parks; Teaching through demonstration gardens and food production gardens specifically for area food pantries Fundraising to help support some of Extension s Horticulture programming, provide scholarships for lower income residents to take the MG Training and provide a donation to several educational projects; In 2009, volunteers trained via a Speaker s Bureau gave over 57 presentations to children, adults and seniors in Milwaukee County on such topics as: composting, starting a rain garden, and Emerald Ash Borer identification and control. These presentations were given to local governments, neighborhood groups, schools, seniors. In order to maintain MG volunteer certification, a person needs to complete the 3-month general program (and pass exam), provide a minimum of 24 hours of volunteer service and complete 10 hours of continuing education annually. Volunteers must formally submit their volunteer hours and continuing education hours each year to the organization to remain in good standing. 2. Need The Cooperative Extension office has only one full time Consumer Horticulture staff member and 3 part time staff; however, we administer numerous horticulture trainings and programs, making our Horticulture program one of the largest in the state. An example of one of our office s many needs for MG volunteers is our popular Horticulture Helpline. The Helpline provides users with research-based information to assist them in the most effective care of their trees, lawns, fruit crops, vegetable and flower gardens and houseplants. With funding for only one part-time horticulturist, our 12 MG volunteers help to manage this service throughout the year and have done so for numerous years. The program responds to over 1000 phone call inquiries and meets with residents during our summer evening walk-in clinics. The MG volunteers utilize these calls or meetings to maximize these inquiries to provide additional horticulture information that may include explanations on safe environmental practices. These personalized sessions have long term impact as residents make more informed decisions and implement practices that are better for the environment over time. Reasonable accommodations for disabilities or limitations are available. University of Wisconsin, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Wisconsin counties cooperating, UW-Extension provides equal opportunities in employment and programming including Title IX and ADA.

62 3. Initiative(s) There are a number of notable initiatives started or supported by our MG volunteers. An innovative Pot Recycling Program started by Patti Peltier, a UW Extension staff member was wholeheartedly supported by the Friends of Boerner Botanical Gardens (BBG) and our many MG volunteers. For the past two years, over 75 volunteers helped collect, sort, clean, and transfer 62 tons of plant pots (polystyrene cell packs, trays and black plastic edging) to a company that recycles them into landscape timbers and, thereby, reduces the need to put them in landfills. Two other noteworthy initiatives are: n late December of 2009, the SEWMG association approved of an endowment at four post-secondary institutions, one of which is MATC. MATC will receive $25,000 to assist one or more lower-income students in completing the schools horticulture program. In addition the association initiated a partial training fee subsidy for 10 lower-income individuals who would not otherwise be able to afford the MG 3-month general training program. 4. Impact There are many wonderful impacts the MG volunteers have in this community. More space would be needed to define them all. The aforementioned activities and initiatives have immediate and long term impact on the individual seeking help, to families wanting to learn how to garden for food production or home beautification, to implementing and supporting community projects which enhance the lives of many. With the new endowments and the commitment to help lower income individuals access the MG General training program, an even broader array of citizens will become educated in horticulture and have more skills in environmental stewardship. Another example exemplifying MG volunteer impact is the Secret (healing) Garden for the children in treatment in Milwaukee area hospitals and their families who stay in the Ronald McDonald House. The 4- season garden is maintained by the MG volunteers as both a tranquil space but also invites exploration to lifts the spirit and provides daily regeneration. The volunteers offer a Family Garden Education program and garden tours. The Secret Garden is utilized and appreciated daily. The Garden recently received the International Society of Arborists Gold Leaf Award in recognition of a beautification project that makes a significant community impact over the years.

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