Master Gardeners receive certification

Staff Reports
The Palestine Herald

PALESTINE November 30, 2008 12:25 am

— Five new Anderson County Master Gardeners received their certification on Nov. 20, bringing the total number of active Master Gardener members in Anderson County to 27.
Those earning their certification are Joyce Anderson, Gai Burnett, Glenda Easley, Sandy Gabbert and April Smith.
Each one has successfully completed over 70 hours of classroom instruction on plant growth and development, lawn care, ornamental trees, shrubs and flowers, insects, disease and weed management, soils and plant nutrition, vegetable gardening, home fruit production, composting, propagation, pruning, diagnosing plant problems and landscape maintenance.
In addition to the classroom studies, the group made field trips to Powell Greenhouse now called Colorspot Growers, in New Summerfield. It is one of the largest growers of bedding plants in the United States. They also toured Rennerwood Tree Farm in Tennessee Colony and made a trip to Wildseed Farms in Fredericksburg.
After passing an examination on the study material, they then earned the title of intern. Each intern was required to complete a minimum of 50 hours of volunteer service; 20 of those hours were spent in the AgriLife Extension Office answering gardening questions from the community. They also helped with the spring conference which was on East Texas trees, invasive plants and on wildflowers.
They have now completed all of the requirements to be knows as a certified Texas Master Gardener.
The Master Gardener program is a volunteer educational activity offered by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service of Texas A&M University System, designed to expand the capacity of Texas AgriLife Extension to distribute horticultural information to individuals and groups in the community.