Outstanding Volunteers

Do you know an outstanding MG Volunteer? Why not nominate that person for The NC Master Gardener Volunteer Association’s Outstanding Volunteer Award? The Guidelines and a Nomination Form are available at the NC website to print out.

Poinsettia and Luminarias event

On Tuesday, December 19, the Extension will hold a Poinsettia and Luminarias event. Our main purpose is to try to encourage the Hispanic population to come to the Extension and discover what we have to offer. Poinsettias were brought into SC from Mexico by Joel Poinset. Luminarias are a Latino Christmas tradition. The event will be from 4 to 6 pm so visitors can walk through the gardens as they follow the luminaries path. If you can help - meeting and greeting visitors, lighting candles or manning the MG booth - let Charlie know.

Congratulations!

CONGRATULATIONS TO AL HIGHT who is now officially Extension Director- and to GINA BRITTON who is “our” secretary. We’re lucky to have them both. Al has some great ideas for Extension and the gardens. And Gina is always a great help with everything!

From Charlie:

The following Master Gardeners participated in the recently completed “Life on the Farm” series held at Funston Farms:
Joe Loughlin
Boyd Stanley
Ann Marie Bellamy
Barbara Stone
Lynn Schwartzkopf
Richard Boland
Judy Hilniski
Fred Mina
Becky Dus
Barbara McCoy
Judy Koehly
Nancy Einbinder
Hilton Holcomb
Dominique Loewenstein
Vicki Kay
And Billy Privette, who helped every day,
even though he has retired.

This has to be one of the best, if not the best, Master Gardener organizations in the entire state. You all deserve to be known as the best. Thanks for everything you do for Extension and our Association.

Refreshments

Remember, if you provide refreshments for a MG meeting, save your receipts and turn them in for up to $50 in reimbursement for your costs.

Election Results

If you were at the November meeting, you already know this: we elected the following “Honorable Leaders” to serve next year:
• Richard Boland, President
• Shirley Waggoner-Eisenman, Vice President
• Al Smith, Treasurer

Member News

Al Powell would appreciate your cards, or better yet, a visit from MG friends. He is at Summit Place, 491 Highway 17, Little River, SC 29566.

John Kellett fell and broke his arm – we hope he’s doing well, and again he’d like to hear from you – send him a card and wish him a speedy recovery.

And Mae Moore is recovering from surgery. She was in a large class – if you were a classmate, let her hear from you.

Shirley Waggoner-Eisenman says “Thank You” to everyone who worked to make the Reunion Social a big success. And many of the MGs who attended expressed their appreciation and talked about what a great event it was. The Botanical Garden was a perfect setting, the weather was great and it was fun getting together just to socialize.

Our two entries in the Regional Fair in Wilmington netted us a First Place and Second Place award. Not only did we receive a total of $350 in prize money, but the first place entry received a “Best in Show” ribbon, too. Thanks to the following MGs for their efforts in putting together the entries:
Barbara McCoy Shirley Waggoner-Eisenman
Vicki Kay Dominique Loewenstein
Maggie Hoon Pat Hagerty
Ann Marie Bellamy Richard Boland
David Barkley

Shirley Waggoner-Eisenman has been elected President of the North Carolina Master Gardener Volunteer Association. Congratulations, Shirley.

Joe Loughlin will be taking over as newsletter editor starting with the January 2007 issue. Joe has a lot of newsletter experience and is a computer whiz, so you should see some exciting changes in future issues. I have really enjoyed doing this, but it’s time for a change and it couldn’t be going to a better person! If you have items for the newsletter, send them to him at jloughlin@ec.rr.com. Thanks to everyone who has contributed ideas and articles these past two years. Becky

Classes

Next year’s classes will include:

• Possibly two Master Gardener classes, one beginning on Tuesday, Feb. 6 and the other – if needed - beginning the following Wednesday.
• Three dates will be set up for the Turf class – watch the newsletter for the notices when the schedule is set up.
• Plant ID class will begin the end of March.
• There will be others – watch for notices.

Timesheets

Please get your timesheets up to date before the end of the year. Charlie will be out for several weeks after the first of the year for hip surgery and he needs to get timesheets taken care of before then.

Not Getting Mail?

If you are not receiving e-mails from Charlie re: upcoming events and volunteer opportunities, it’s because either he doesn’t have your correct e-mail address (verify your address with the office) or your carrier is 2khiway.net, which blocks his e-mails (you will have to take care of this – Charlie can’t).

Meeting Speakers

Ozzie Coor… was a very entertaining speaker at the November General Meeting – we learned a lot about plants native to our area – his presentation and the photos were excellent – who knew there were so many varieties of hibiscus or that NC has the second largest number of native orchids (only Hawaii has more)?

We have a great line-up of Speakers for 2007. Once again, David Barkley and Shirley Waggoner-Eisenman have worked hard to develop a great group of speakers and topics.

On January 25, Bill Cline will talk to us about grapes and blueberries. Bill works at the North Carolina Horticultural Crops Research Station in Castle Hayne as the Small Fruits Plant Pathologist for the University. He works mainly with blueberry, grape and strawberry crop diseases.

Some of our other speakers for next year include Dan Keir (in February), the owner and operator of Japanese Maples of Wilmington; many of you have purchased Japanese Maples from him by way of the MG plant sales. He will talk to us about grafting; this will be a hands-on demonstration. In March we will hear from Gloria Kidd on Butterfly Gardening; April will bring us Debbie Roos to talk about Organic Gardening. Other speakers will be announced in future newsletters.

Spring HERB & PLANT Festival

Saturday, April 14, 2007
8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

Horticultural Speakers, Live Demonstrations, Garden Art, Live Herbs & Perennials, Published Authors, State Herb and Rose Associations, Garden Craftsmen, Extension Agents, Gardening Experts and much more! Educational events, demonstrations, entry and parking are all free! Open air market, with shelter, ample gravel parking and indoor restroom facilities. Handicapped parking is also available. Rain or Shine! One of the largest Herb & Plant Festivals in North Carolina!

Sponsored by:
Cabarrus Master Gardener Volunteer Association & NC Cooperative Extension-Cabarrus County Center

Contact:
Diana DeVore at 704 784-1925, unmerok@ctc.net or David Goforth, Extension Agent, at 704 920-3310, david_goforth@ncsu.edu

Event Location:
Piedmont Farmers' Market
518 Winecoff School Road
Concord/Kannapolis, NC
For Event Specifics: http://cabarrus.ces.ncsu.edu/index.php?page=events&event_id=6577

Time sheets and expenses

From Charlie: If you attended the State Conference at the Outer Banks, include your total expenses, travel time, mileage totals both ways – also enter 8 hours for Tuesday and 4 hours for Wednesday seminars on your time sheets in the office. That information needs to be entered by the end of November if possible.

Your Dues are Coming Due

Your $5 annual dues are due by January 2. Remember, you can pay more than one year if you want.

Master Gardener Requirements:

A message detailing the requirements for membership in the Master Gardener Association was sent out by email late last month and is quoted here in full for those members who don’t receive email: “To belong to the Master Gardener Association (MGA), you must first be an active Master Gardener. To be active, you must have donated at least 40 hours – 20 hours minimum Hot Line plus at least 20 hours on other activities – in the last year. For other than new Master Gardeners, those who graduated in June 2006, you must have completed your hours by the end of December 2006. The class of 2006 has until the end of June to complete their minimum of 40 hours Hot Line time or equivalent. Let me repeat, if you have not completed the hours listed above, you are not a Master Gardener! You can not call yourself one and you can not join or continue to belong to the Extension Master Gardener Association.

If you wish to continue with the Master Gardeners but are short on donated time, there are still two months to go before the end of the year. We have plenty of activities and could really use your help.

The only other requirement is to pay $5 a year dues. These are payable no later than January 2. Recommend that you pay a few years in advance so you don’t have to worry about it. If your dues are not paid by March 1, you will be removed from the MGA and no longer be entitled to any of the MGA activities.

For unusual circumstances, such as sickness, out of town for an extended time period, etc., please call Charlie or David Barkley.”

Gardening on the Edge

If you were not able to attend the 2006 North Carolina Master Gardening Conference in October, some of the attendees provided their impressions of the conference:

Shirley Waggoner Eisenman: “If you missed the 2006 North Carolina State Master Gardener Conference (Gardening on the Edge) you missed an excellent conference. There were between 250 and 300 attendees. It was held on the Outer Banks and hosted by 6 counties. There were tours to the Outer Banks Arboretum and the Elizabethan Gardens in Manteo.

Authors Pamela Harper and Peer Loewer, both presentations were enjoyed by all; they were also available to sign their books and talk with Master Gardeners. Bryce Lane from WUNC “In The Garden" series as always gave an outstanding presentation. Workshops ranged from Propagating Exotics and Heirlooms favorites, Mystery Critters in Your Garden, and The DaVinci Garden Code, to Going Native. There was an entire afternoon devoted to a hands-on workshop on Bonsai. Many vendors were available in the Garden Marketplace.

We sold our "Gardening by the Month"; one person was taking it to Mississippi to use in the rebuild of that area. Our Display Board was set up showing what we do here in Brunswick County as Master Gardener Volunteers. Thanks to Barbara McCoy and Vickie Kay for all the work they put into the Display Board.

Look forward to seeing you at 2007 Conference.”

Vicki Kay: “We had a great trip to the Outer Banks and the Gardening on the Edge Conference.

Lecture subjects and speaker presentations were timely and done well.

I enjoyed the Outer Banks Arboretum and Teaching Garden, which led to a delightful reception.

We tried everything and did everything. All this I especially enjoyed doing with my friends from the Brunswick Co. Master Gardeners.”

Maggie Hoon: ”The North Carolina Master Gardener Conference ‘Gardening on the Edge’ held in early October was great and extremely well run. As this was my first conference, I was well pleased with the programs. It was lovely to have so many from our group attending. The speakers were outstanding including Bryce Lane and Pamela Harper. I also attended sessions on herbs (medicinal), night gardening and propagation by Ozzie Coor. You will be in for a real treat when he comes in November.”

MG apron

If you would like to a buy the green MG apron worn by some of MG volunteers at the plant sale in October, see Shirley Waggoner Eisenman. She can order them for you for $15 each.

Light Up the Night

Don’t let the long nights of fall and winter get you down! Put all of that darkness to good use by adding low-voltage lighting o your landscape. Learn how to design the system and install your new lights at the “Light up the Night” seminar on Thursday, November 16 beginning at 4:00 p.m. at the Cooperative Extension Center in Bolivia. Part of the session will include actually installing some new lighting in the Brunswick Botanical Garden, so please dress appropriately.

Even though there is no charge to join us for this seminar, please register by calling 253-2610 by 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 14 so you won’t miss out on the handouts and written information.

Botanical Garden Work Schedule Has Changed

Word from Maggie: Because participation in the third Monday work group was pretty light, we are dropping that day. From now on, we will be working on the first Monday and third Tuesday of every month. This way, we will have workers at the garden roughly every other week. Please join these work groups – the more the merrier, and there is always a lot to be accomplished. Let Maggie know if you can join one or both of the groups.

November General Meeting

Native Plants will be the topic for our speaker at the November General Meeting. Ozzie Coor is an internationally known plant propagator. He is President of Coor Farm Supply and co-owner of Rainwater Farms. He frequently presents hands-on workshops to Master Gardeners.