My gardening friends Jan, Marilyn & I had always talked about how fun it would be to take the Master Gardener Course someday. We talked about it for years! In the fall of 2002 Marilyn took ACTION! She called asking if Jan & I were still interested in taking the Master Gardener Course. I said, "yes". She said, "Good, it's tonight. I signed us up."

That was the end of procrastinating & the beginning of a fun learning adventure. The course itself was pre-requisite to belonging to Marion County Master Gardener's Club, coordinated by Erin Hiemstra through the county extension office.

We've had so much fun and made lots of new gardening friends. We hold meetings in members' gardens & at the extension office. Last winter we did a seed exchange at one meeting. We've have pot lucks & cookouts, informative speakers both from ISU experts & club members themselves. This September Marilyn organized a Plant Swap Meet: buy, sell, & trade plants. It was really fun!

We promote the Master Gardener Program at community events. We all do a wide assortment of volunteer work to establish & keep our Master Gardener Certificate in active status. It's easy to fulfill the hours, as going to fun gardening events counts. Erin is even giving me credit hours for this website.

If you would like a personal endorsement for taking the Master Gardener Course personally email me at penguin@thewebunwired.com.

• Master Gardener & Extension Sites (by state and Canada)
• Master Gardener Program at Iowa State University
• Iowa State University Extension Gardening Publications

Our group planting & mulching donated roses, daylilies, & butterfly bushes.

I removed old plants & prepared the soil for spring planting of 2 abandoned garden boxes. Our Master Gardener Group hopes to adopt a plot for the 2006 garden season.

Complete Listing of my Master Gardener activities (pdf document)
Nov. 2004 - Oct. 2005

My Master Gardener Group did a simple fun fall activity at several congregate meal sites in our county. I was able to take part twice. I had fun.

We brought small, pressed leaves to make a bookmark or an autumn candle.

We melted wax pellets in a cup warmer, stuck the leaves to a candle then painted the liquid over them. They turned out very nicely. Candle safety sheets were distributed to those that made candles.

Autumn poetry verses were printed on one side of construction paper strips. We put pressed leaves on the opposite side then laminated them, punched a hole in one end, and tied a fall colored ribbon through it. They really made pretty bookmarks.

December meeting / Marion County Master Gardeners / annual holiday party, pot luck & gift exchange. We always have a good time enjoying the best food & gardener friends.

Members were recognized that submitted hours for 2004 - 2005.

Our business meeting consisted of planning events & activities for the up-coming new year. We're planning quarterly meetings in 2006.

The new 2006 Gardener Calendar put out by ISU Extension Services was my grab-bag gift. I all ready have it up on the wall.

Our next meeting will be January 2, 2006. We will be painting yard stick snowmen in preparation for our next senior center activity. Member, David Pealer is also planning to speak about his recent trip to hurricane struck Mississippi.

Marion County Master Gardener group met January 2, 2006. It was the first time I ever missed a meeting. I was just exhausted from the holidays. Plus I had to work January 2 when all the rest of the world got to be off for New Years Day.

I felt badly about not showing up for the meeting; so wanted to be sure to help with our group's January senior activity. One date fit into my work schedule.

January 17th I showed up at the Pella Congregate Meal site to help with the Snowman Measuring Stick project. Other members had done the basic black & white painting of the sticks at the January 2nd meeting. We assisted the folks with drawing faces, sticking on noses & neck scarves, then marking the inch increments on the snowman sticks.

They turned out cute. It was a fun! fast! simple! project. I enjoyed it!

And I'm gettin' those volunteer hours in.

Jan/Feb Newsletter - 'At the Garden Gate' (pdf file)
Suzette Streigel - Horticulturist
Mahaska County ISU Extension Service
Oskaloosa, IA

March Newsletter - 'At the Garden Gate' (pdf file)
Suzette Streigel - Horticulturist
Mahaska County ISU Extension Service
Oskaloosa, IA

April Newsletter - 'At the Garden Gate' (pdf file)
Suzette Streigel - Horticulturist
Mahaska County ISU Extension Service
Oskaloosa, IA

Tonight was my official speaking debut.

What a hoot!

My garden friend, Jan & I cooked up a plan to involve our entire Master Gardener group in round table discussion: "The Best & The Worst".

Theme #1 - to discuss those beautiful plants you bought that turned into invasive monsters in the garden and you end-up wishing you had never seen the ____ things.

Theme #2 - to discuss the best & the worst garden tools you've ever owned.

We got our fearsome-threesome partner, Marilyn to join in with us. After all, she's the one that got us into Master Gardener status. Marilyn did "Show & Tell" with all the garden gadgets she had bought to use, that just plain, don't work. She was fun & funny!

Jan brought her favorite seed-starter books, her favorite weeding tool (which looked like an ancient Indian relic), her least favorite weeding tool, (Why does she keep it?) and she discussed several of the most invasive plants she's ever met. And she pronounced all the botanical names correctly. She's good at that.

I did a short educational presentation "Wanted Dead - Not Alive" discussing 2 invasive monster plants that had invaded & taken over my gardens in the past:

#1 Perilla frutescens (Bad! Bad! Bad!) Beautiful But Bad! It reseeds itself freely to the extent it actually forms a mat carpet that if left unchecked would squeeze out every other plant in the vicinity.

#2 Artemesia 'Oriental Limelight' (Bad! Bad! Bad!) Do not be fooled by the lovely name. It not only reseeds itself freely but spreads by underground rhizomes.

Watch out for these 2 phrases, "self-seeds freely" & "spreads by rhizomes". Unless you're searching for ground-cover plants in wide open spaces those 2 phrases should always be WARNINGS of extreme invasiveness in the normal garden. In other words, grow only in containers & absolutely do not let them set seed. Pinch the blooms off without hesitation or you'll be sorry! And I will say, "I told you so."

#3 Perilla 'Fantasy' & Perilla 'Magilla Vanilla' must be cousins of the monster Perilla frutescens. They are beautiful & when I bought them I thought they were coleus and still would if Trudy hadn't told me different. I grew them in pots in partial shade / part sun last summer. They were awesome performers & so vibrantly colored, they just plain glowed in their pots. I took cuttings in the fall. They have been very enjoyable indoors this winter too. They got scraggly after a few months. I took them outdoors cut the pretty tops off, stuck them back in pots, & away, they went; never "missed a lick"! Jan says not to turn them loose in the garden though or you'll be sorry, and she will say, "I told you so".

www.magnoliagardensnursery.com/productdescrip/Perilla_Magilla.html
davesgarden.com/pf/go/55780/index.html

"The well stocked garden tool bucket" was the other leg of my little talk. I brought my blue scrub bucket (cost less than $2.00). I use it to tote my tools everywhere I go in the gardens. I'm always looking for my blue bucket. That could be a song, "Oh Where, Oh Where, Can My Bucket Be" - "It keeps hiding, itself from me.- I'll get to heaven and I still won't know, where that bucket could go." Now that tune will running through my head all day.

"Show & Tell" is still fun! - "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" (another song for the day)

After the round table discussions ended it was time for work. We got out drills & hammers & mallets (boy toys) & got busy preparing our next Senior Center project - Wind-Chimes made with old silver-ware. It was noise & challenging & I guess, fun. We visit Senior Centers throughout the county twice a year & do a hands-on project with them. It really is fun.

Our next Master Gardener meeting will be July 10, 2006 hopefully held at the Bessie Spaur Butterfly Garden gazebo.