Greene Garden News. Joy Gatlin GC Master Gardener of the Year. Greene County Master Gardeners Newsletter. July 16, 2018 Volume 19, Issue 7

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1 July 16, 2018 Volume 19, Issue 7 Greene Garden News Greene County Master Gardeners Newsletter Joy Gatlin GC Master Gardener of the Year Special Interest: Plant It Forward Player: Freida Kelly July Birthdays: July 24: Vicki G. Aug. Birthdays: Aug. 6: Cora F. Aug. 8: Linda G. Aug. 23: Joy Gatlin Refreshments: Pauletta Tobey & Tacie Huffman Individual Highlights: Pres. Notes/TR 2 Minutes 3 Projects/Com. 4 Daylily Farm 5 Mbr. Pic 6 Greene County CES 201 W. Court St. Rm. 205 Federal Building Paragould, AR Phone (870) Fax (870) Officers: President: Pauletta Tobey Vice President: Tacie Huffman Secretary: Linda Glickert Treasurer: Jean Crossno Joy Gatlin has devoted 15 years to the Children s Homes Rainbow Garden Project, and her efforts were finally recognized at the state level when she was awarded State Project of the Year at the June 24 th meeting. Joy was also our Greene County Master Gardener of the Year, and nominee for the state award. Joy Gatlin embodies what every Master Gardener should strive to be. With her sweet demeanor, Joy likes to remain in the background when it comes to her efforts; but anytime there s a project or event with Master Gardeners, she s ready to help. Having completed Master Gardener training classes in 2002, Joy is now a seasoned 16 year Lifetime Member. From the very beginning Joy has been active and involved, committing herself to many leadership roles. Joy served as Secretary three years, is current Project Coordinator for the Children s Homes Rainbow Garden, worked as Plant Sale Coordinator two years; continues to serve as Sunshine Committee Lead; served as Nominating Committee Lead, served on the Bylaws Committee to make revisions and updates; was a committee member of our first Advanced Training Class, always present, providing valuable input in developing this class; and volunteers for the Greene County Fair Flower Entries Booth during Fair Week. As a retired teacher, Joy s love of children has kept her active in the Children s Homes of Paragould, and she was recognized as 2005 Childcare Person of the Year in Spectrum Magazine for her support. In 2017 she was acknowleded for her dedication to the Greene County Master Gardener Program in Premier Magazine for her oustanding work and committment. Joy s involvement in our program is recognized as something special, but her gifts extend far beyond that. As a natural educator and nurturer, Joy is loved by many. When Greene County attempted a Junior Master Gardener Program in the spring of 2010, she was the first in offering to be a child advocate, completing all the required paperwork and a background check. As a home economics teacher and librarian at Crowley s Academy for twenty six years, Joy impacted countless numbers of children. Following her retirement in 1990, Joy remained active for years in her teacher s sorority, Alpha Delta Kappa; as a volunteer at CRA, Children s Homes, and Greene County Museum. She truly believes in community service! As Project Coordinator for the Children s Homes Rainbow Garden, Joy has extended the project to include the entrance sign, Balcom Center beds, and a raised bed; providing many gardening opportunities for the growth and enrichment of the children there, involving them in planting, weeding, and caring for the beds. Joy is truly a gem, and well deserved as our Master Gardener of the Year.

2 At this half-way point of our year the membership has accomplished tremendous achievements; record breaking seminar participation and profits, plant sale record and as I looked over the hours posted and talked with the members, all but a couple have already achieved the minimum hour requirement. We have a name and date of the 2019 Seminar and the committee is actively working on speakers, the plant sale committee is working on date and place of 2019 Plant Sale and our membership person is working hard on new ideas and requirements for the Events Calendar July 21: Annuals to Perennials: Batesville, 9:30-12:30 July 24: MG Meeting, GC Library Legacy Room, 6 pm July 24: County 76 Quarterly Meeting, Little Rock State Extension Office Aug. 17: ATC Heirloom Gardening: Fayetteville, Washington Co. FULL Sept. 10, 17, 24: Beekeeping Course, Jon Zawislak. 6-9 pm, Paragould Community Center Sept : PNG Leadership: Ferndale 4-H Center Oct. 7-13: MG Week Oct. 13: 30th Birthday Celebration for Arkansas MG Program, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., P. Allen Smith's Moss Mountain Farm, Roland. MG s only + 1 guest. Greene Garden News Page 2 of 6 Presidents Notes 2019 trainees. All the projects look great except the fairgrounds and since reorganization, things are starting to fall into place in getting it acceptable for a Master Gardener Project. Thank you project coordinator and project leads for doing such a fantastic job taking care of Greene County Master Gardeners Projects. With the PNG coming up another first, a total of 10 people that I am aware of are planning to attend. Registration has started for Master Gardeners Appreciation Day at Treasurers Report Moss Mountain and Greene County Master Gardeners will be well represented. We still have our annual craft sale and the Greene County Fairgrounds flower project. Sue Gilmartin has volunteered to lead a bylaws review committee and will be asking for volunteers at our July meeting. The Executive Board is going forth in planning for a growing program, with new and different avenues to attract new members with new ideas and new interests to enhance and grow our program in new and different avenues. At our last executive meeting a reminder of our first priority, Education. Educate ourselves, our community and FNB Beginning Balance 6/01/18-7/01/ Debits 6/26 Check #1085 Hannah Williams-Binders /26 Check #1086 Cora Flanery-3 stamps & 3 BD cards 7.40 Credits None Ending Balance Respectfully submitted 7/15/18 Jean Crossno, Treasurer Joy Gatlin, Dave Freeze, Eric Alexander with children & house parents, Rainbow Garden Project Raised Bed our future (children). The three projects we have going this year are just a beginning of what our membership is capable of doing. We have done and are doing a lot but there is so much more we are capable of doing. The ideas and possibilities are out there, we just need a commitment from you to go forth and continue growing our program. Master Gardener 30th Birthday Event October 13, 2018 P. Allen Smith's Moss Mountain Farm Roland, AR Information Concerning Guests We have decided that if there is room, we will open up a separate registration for 1 GUEST PER MG beginning August 15. Some have asked if they could bring a group of their friends, and no, it is one guest per MG. The cost for a guest will be $75 which will include all activities and lunch. We will be cross-referencing the list of attendees to make sure people are actually Master Gardeners. This is truly a celebration of the volunteers and agents who give so tirelessly of themselves. It is going to be a fantastic event, and I do hope you are planning to attend. - Janet Provided by Patti Roberts

3 Page 3 of 6 Minutes of June 26, 2018 Greene County Master Gardeners Membership Meeting June 26, 2018 Children s Homes, Inc. The June meeting for the Greene County Master Gardeners took place at the Children s Home in Paragould, to recognize and celebrate the State Award for the 2018 Project of the Year for the Rainbow Garden chaired by Joy Gatlin. In addition to members in attendance (including 3 prospective members), members of Joy s family and friends (17), as well as staff of the Children s Home (22 guests in all) were there to share in her honor. Joy has chaired this present form garden project since its inception in Presenters honoring Mrs. Gatlin were Connie Whitman, author of the application; Micha Brinkley, director of the Home, and Cora Flanery and Patti Roberts, who accepted the award for her in Fort Smith at the State Conference. Following the presentation on the grounds of the Home, the members retired to the meeting hall at 7:10 for the business meeting portion presided over by the president. In addition to the State Project of the Year (for a program of 50 members or less), Mrs. Gatlin was also recognized as the Greene Co. Master Gardener of the Year. Her quiet dedication, expertise, and willingness to pitch in sets quite a fine example for what it takes to be a Lifetime Master Gardener. Thank you, Ms. Joy. Old Business: First Order of Business was to (L-R) Joy Gatlin, Cora Flanery, Patti Roberts accept the minutes of the May meeting as published in the June Newsletter. Hannah moved to accept, Vicki seconded, motion carried. Second item was to accept the Treasurer s Report, read by Jean, as published in the Newsletter. Cora made the motion to accept, Debbie seconded, motion carried. Debbie reported the guidelines as developed by the committee for the Act of Kindness. There was some discussion and clarifications following this report, such as the possibility of cleaning up a garden for a member who s expecting out of town mourners following a death in the family. The committee needs nominations Greene Garden News when there s a need seen. Overall the membership is satisfied with the idea. Patti provided the report on the Trial Plants located at the Caboose. Greene Co. was selected as only one of four counties across the state. Quite an honor. The plants are looking spectacular overall. One isn t as healthy looking, but they all get a lot of sun and heat. Richard reported on the Tomato Trial being run for the Extension Office. In all 20 counties are conducting this research. It s going great. He s already picked a 7ounce tomato from a pruned specimen. The boys are having fun looking for hornworms. Hanna reported on the Crape Myrtle project. To date only Crittenden County and Greene County are conducting this research, it not a statewide effort. On May 10 and again on June 12 she has inspected the treated and untreated shrubs closely with a magnifying glass to look for crawlies. Then she inspected again on June 16 just to be sure. She couldn t find crawlies either time on treated plants. The bark still looks black, but the systemic doesn t affect that, it has to be scrubbed off. New Business: The Fairgrounds Project Tacie, as Project coordinator reported. Guidelines were developed after 3 visits to evaluate this huge project status. The recommendation is to divide it into 7 different sections, with each section having a project chair. By the meeting, some people had already volunteered to take sections. #1, front and back entry gate beds Katherin; # 2 the 7 beds along front driveway north and south Frieda; #3 - the 4 beds along the Armory drive Sue; #4 the 2 beds along the fence at front entry, in front of office and at end of office Vicki; #5 - The butterfly garden Connie; #6 South end of commercial building and 2 against fence at South entry gate Pauletta; #7 large pots placed at front of Family Living Building - Jean and Debbie. A 100 hose will be needed for watering. If any project chair needs communication with the Fair Board, please remember to go through Project Coordinator Tacie, who will serve as our spokesman to the Fair Board, to keep it to a minimum and avoid confusion. Jean moved to accept this recommendation, Patti seconded, motion carried. State Convention was held at Fort Smith- report given by Cora. Those attending Cora, Patti, Sue, and Ken and Holly. This year s was a different format with the first day being all tours, the second day one general session for all attending with several great speakers. The one Cora found most interesting was a speaker on ethnobotany he is a Cherokee Indian. His topic was that not only do we need to save seeds, but the language associated with it, thus also preserving heritage and traditions. Attendance for this year was 450. Next year s convention will be in Hope, April 30-May 1, 2019 with the same format. Apparently, this change in format is due to the transition period with the Horticultural Specialist is to be in Jonesboro! PNG formerly Leadership Training. Item for discussion stemming from recommendation from the Executive Board (Continued, Page 5)

4 PNG Leadership Training September 18 & 19 Greene County Members attending are Jean Crossno, - Sue Gilmartin, Tacie Huffman, Vicki Griggs, Joy Gatlin, Holly Fletcher, Connie Whitman, Linda Glickert, Pauletta Tobey; and advisor, Dave Freeze. Holly and Connie will be presenting the Project of the Year power point for Joy, and doing so will be given a $ check for Greene County from County 76. Caboose Annual Trial Plants Into the third month of reporting the progress of the plants. Even with this extreme heat and a little of nature s watering, Jean and Tacie have managed to keep all the plants there thriving, healthy, and full of blooms. To date the trial plants are holding their own and hopefully will continue to do so thru the summer on into the fall. Patti Roberts Trial Plants Recorder Janet's blog noted that MG Appreciation Day is October 9th in El Dorado Admission is free with your name badge. Lunch and t-shirts are not. Travel information said distance is 268 miles, 5 hour drive and Cabot is halfway. Registration is out for MG 30th Birthday Celebration at Moss Mountain, home of P. Allen Smith. Patti Roberts Greene Garden News Page 4 of 6.Rainbow Garden: Joy Gatlin & Richard Yeazel Chairs: The Lantana and Petunias we planted last month are growing into pretty plants with lots of blooms. The Lantana in the Rainbow Garden will be in full bloom by October for our Homecoming. The Rainbow Garden Presentation in June was just beautiful to witness outside by the Garden. Eric had everything cut and trimmed to perfection, and the plants looked so healthy. Trellis Garden: Pauletta Tobey Chair: Beautiful. Cannas, black-eyed Susan s, roses, crepe myrtles, butterfly weeds and goose necks are all blooming. Ready to mulch. East Sign: Pauletta Tobey Chair: Beautiful. Sweet potato vines both lime green and purple are doing great along with the yellow lantanas which have been blooming constantly since they started. GC Museum: Linda Glickert & Wanda Howerton Chairs: The daylilies in front of the building were spectacular! The new hostas added in front of the water trough have taken hold well, as have the iteas that were planted along the south side of the building. Wish I could say the same for the new plants in the raised bed. Main Street Caboose: Tacie Huffman & Jean Crossno Chairs: The Main Street Caboose Gardens are still looking SO Good. Some of the plants are beginning to show some heat stress, but there is still lots of color. Jean and I are enjoying the test plants. Take a drive by and enjoy! South Sign: Ann Bowers, Chair: No report. Project Updates Centennial Park: Debbie Walters & Marilyn White Chairs: Had work day Mon. June 25 GC Library: Sue Gilmartin & Linda Glickert Chairs: Had work day Sat. July 14 th. Airport: Kathy Graber & Tabitha McFadden Chairs: No changes. Historical Herb Garden: Libby Christie Chair: No report. Bland Baseball Park: Kathy Graber & Sue Gilmartin Chairs: No changes. GC Flower Entries Booth: Sue Gilmartin Chair: GC Fair Sept. 3rd. Booth Sept. 4th. GC Fairgrounds: #5/BG: Donna trimmed around the bed. Connie is removing milkweed that s taken over and will keep it in pots for our monarchs. #6:/South End: Workday soon. BBL: Linda Glickert, Chair: Will resume 2nd Tues. in Aug. August 14th at 12 to 1 pm, Greene Co. Library Legacy Room. Bring your lunch and a friend! Programs are being planned now, so get your suggestions in to me ASAP. Linda will present the August program based on the Cooper Union Garden Walk and Doug Tallamey's talk Spring Gardening Seminar: We had the first committee meeting July 11th to plan the theme and start locating speakers. Mark your calendars - Fri., Mar. 15, 2019 at the Community Center Spring Plant Sale: No report. (Continued Page 6) Committee Comments Sunshine: Joy Gatlin, Cora Flanery, & Martha Chiles Leads: The Sunshine Committee continues to send birthday cards to all of our members, and other cards to ones we need to remember with sympathy or get wells. Membership: Hannah Williams, Lead: We are holding steady at 7 potential new members, but would love to hit 10! Continue to encourage others to join every chance you get! I am looking for mentors for our new members, if interested, please let me know ASAP! Once again, potential new members have been invited to attend our monthly meeting. Let s be sure to show them what a great, fun group we are! Hours Management: Patti Roberts, Lead: With the weather moving from warm to hot, this would be a great time to post your hours. The year is half over. There will be reports that Little Rock and our own Extension office will need to turn in. Our many hours that have been worked are not being reflected and that reflects on Greene County Master Gardeners. How short is our year? 4 meetings left, not counting our special pot luck dinner in November. So, please use the hot summer afternoons to get the hours posted. Thanks for the great looking projects (Continued Page 6)

5 Page 5 of 6 June must be The month for daylily blooms! We were invited to visit the daylily gardens of David Jones, Jonesboro (NE AR Daylily Society) on Friday, June 29. We went before 9 AM hoping to avoid the worst of the heat, HA! There s no escape from it. Of course, due to my poor following directions, we made a few wrong turns, which didn t help. I d seen Bonnie Fesler s daylilies earlier that week, and David told me he had (L-R) David Jones, Linda Glickert, Daylily Farm, June 29th Greene Garden News David Jones Daylily Farm A LOT more than Bonnie. I d thought I could see his daylilies at 9 and still get to my church circle meeting by 10ish. Well, we only got to visit 2 of his 3 daylily beds, and I missed circle completely. It seems avid gardeners like to share their beauty, especially when they have a passion for gardening and/or a certain plant. And David personifies the avid gardener. Over the years his expertise and knowledge has grown to very impressive levels. He judges daffodils as we know by the program he gave our group. He s currently training to judge daylilies too. Not only that, but David also hybridizes daylilies. A tip when you visit the gardens of someone who hybridizes his flowersyou walk with your hands behind your back and do not touch the plants. No dead heading! As tempting as it is, it s a no no. Those who hybridize want them to go to seed. David shared the process of how he collects the pollen and makes the cross; it s all done by hand. Some crosses will produce blooms, but many fail. Last year he potted up his seedlings instead of planting them directly in the ground and most of them froze. David s daylilies are planted directly into his garden soil as it is. He does mulch heavily with rice hulls. The year he brought in soil to raise and amend the soil, he got weed seeds too - that he s battled ever since. He told us he doesn t water them (so many!), but I think we did some watering from the sweat of our brows. There was a bit of a breeze and standing there looking over the fields the fragrance came up to you. We spoke of many things pertaining to daylilies and gardening; he is so very knowledgeable and willing to share a true delight. His daylily fields seem to go on and on into the distance. Beauty abounds. Linda (Continued Minutes, Page 3) following the decision to pay four registrations this year in order that more people can get training on the operation of the Master Gardener s organization and policies, especially those new and/or in new positions. This recommendation was approved at a previous meeting, at which time, several members in attendance stated their interest in attending PNG pending any conflicting events. Since then we ve learned of the Rainbow Garden s award, Connie will be presenting the Project of the Year for Joy the Rainbow Garden, that s one position. Holly wants to accompany her and assist in the presentation. Suggestions and discussion followed. It was moved by Jean that the MG pay one person s (modified from Connie s name) registration to present the Project of the Year at PNG, seconded by Linda. Motion carried. Our 30 th Anniversary will be held Oct. 13 at Moss Mountain. Several of us want to attend. Chartering a bus would run $1585 and holds 56 people. The individual expense for the bus would be about $30 per person, registration is anticipated to be $30 per person. That s still a savings considering that a one-day ticket to Moss Mountain is $ Craighead Co. MG has not discussed this yet. Is this something we d like to do? And invite the Craighead people to share? Plant it Forward a basket of inpatients was brought by Kathy and won by Frieda. FYI from Debbie roses can get bag worms too. Who knew? (Continued Page 6)

6 Greene Garden News Page 6 of 6 (L-R) Jean Crossno, Tacie Huffman, Trial Plants, Caboose 7/1 (Continued Committees, Pg. 4) that are full of blooms and green plants. Greene County is prettier because of GCMG. Plant Markers: Martha Chiles, Lead: Need plant lists. Scholarship: Hannah Williams, Lead: Still waiting to hear back from Jaxon on which meeting he can attend, he is a busy bee! We still need his proof of registration before we can submit the check to ASU. I plan to invite Bob Branch to the meeting Jaxon attends since he was so gracious with our scholarship. Scrapbook: Vicki Griggs, Lead: No report. (Continued Committees, Pg. 4) that are full of blooms and green plants. Greene County is prettier because of GCMG. Plant Markers: Martha Chiles, Lead: Need plant lists. Scholarship: Hannah Williams, Lead: Still waiting to hear back from Jaxon on which meeting he can attend, he is a busy bee! We still need his proof of registration before we can submit the check to ASU. I plan to invite Bob Branch to the meeting Jaxon attends since he was so gracious with our scholarship. Scrapbook: Vicki Griggs, Lead: No report. (Continued Projects, Page 4) GC Courthouse: Hannah Williams & Susan Youngblood Chairs: Despite the heat, most plants are thriving. The First Responder flower bed was planted with Blue Daze, red Salvia, and white vinca on our June 15 th work day. Be on the lookout for a work day soon. We need to remove the weeds and never ending butts!... (Cigarette not human ;) Operation Wildflower: Linda Glickert, Chair: No word from Kayti Ewing or the highway director; but assuming we're good as the director told me fall. There was no luck with the butterfly weed seeds. Sept. 10, 17, 24: Beekeeping Course, Jon Zawislak. 6-9 pm; Community Center. CES is conducting with GCMGs "hosting". (Continued Minutes, Page 5) Also the reason new hybrid roses don t have fragrance is that the fragrance gene is tied to the disease. And, now we know. Members in attendance were: Ann Bowers, Martha Chiles, Jean Crossno, Cora Flanery, Holly Fletcher, Joy Gatlin, Linda Glickert, Kathy Graber, Vicki Griggs, Tacie Huffman, Donna and David Jones, Freida Kelly, Tabitha McFadden, Patti Roberts, Pauletta Tobey, Debbie Walters, Connie Whitman, Hannah Williams, and Richard Yeazel; agent Dave Freeze and twenty guests. Respectfully Submitted, Linda Glickert, Secretary, GCMG Greene Garden News Greene County Master Gardeners Newsletter Greene Garden News Contributors Linda Glickert Pauletta Tobey Jean Crossno Dave Freeze Greene Garden News Editor Connie Whitman Submit articles by the15 th each month: cwhitman@grnco.net The Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service offers its programs to all eligible persons regardless of race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.