Montgomery County

Montgomery County MG Program
Annual Report 2005

1. Basic Information
# of active MGs   251
# of interns   40
# of volunteer hours   12667

2. Plant Clinics
# of active plant clinic sites   6
# of plant clinics
# of residents served at plant clinics   1149

3. Bay-Wise
N/A

4. Composting
# of composting demonstration sites
# of residents who received a compost bin

5. Classes taught
# of classes/workshops taught by MGs   120
# of residents educated

6. Awards/recognition
Anchor Moon Award for landscape design at Bethesda Naval Medical Center

7. Grants:

8. Partners:

9. Highlights from 2005:
•   The Landscape Design group continued to grow. Among its many public projects, the largest was at the Fisher Houses at the Bethesda Naval Medical Center where the group provided designs for two front yards, a pond and patio area, and a contemplation garden, winning them an Anchor (Moon) Award.
•   The Therapeutic Horticulture group provided programs at 14 county locations, helping special-needs youth and seniors. Forty-four Master Gardeners devoted 1,342 hours in this area.
•   The Speakers group made 120 presentations to 80 different organizations, representing about 900 hours of preparation and presenting time. Their annual mini-conference of workshops was attended by more than 100 participants.
•   Plant Clinics at community libraries assisted more than 1,149 people, a 10% rise over last year. The seven clinics are mainly busy during the growing season from May through September, but the teams at Brookside Gardens provided year-round service.
•   The Telephone Hotline was manned by 68 volunteers who provided approximately 1,600 hours of advice.
•   The Demonstration Gardens, at the Montgomery County Cooperative Extension office and at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds, continued to showcase plants and turf that can be grown successfully in Montgomery County requiring less use of fertilizers and chemicals.
•   Other annual events, such as the Montgomery County Cooperative Extension’s three-week-long Close Encounters with Agriculture program for fourth-graders, as well as festivals and events sponsored by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, enabled Master Gardeners to interact with more than 3,000 county children and adults.

At the foundation of these programs is the month-long Master Gardener training course coordinated by horticultural consultant Stephen Dubik, held annually and taught primarily by University of Maryland faculty. This year’s class graduated 36 interns into the Master Gardener membership, which now numbers approximately 250 people.

For more information, contact Robin Hessey

Last updated: 02/22/2007