HISTORY OF THE MARION COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS
The Master Gardener program for Marion County AR began in 1994, with a class of fifteen. Since then, we’ve had 152 people go through the Master Gardener program. We have served under County Extension agent Terry Davis from 1994-2009 when Terry retired. From 2009 to the present we’ve been serving under our current Extension agent Brian See. Both gentlemen were, and have been, very supportive of our group.
When we first began, we tried very hard to make ourselves known and recognized, but it didn’t go easy. We sat up at places like Harp’s and Wal Mart to try to get people to talk to us about gardening and introduce our purpose in the community. Our first job seemed to be making them understand that we were not trying to sell anything. Gradually, we gained some traction, and people realized that we were anxious to help beautify the area and help those who lived here and wanted to know more about gardening.
Terry Davis asked us in 1998 to take over the horticulture exhibits at our County Fair, and we happily continue that task even today, completely overseeing this part of the Fair. We take entries, schedule the judges, and our Master Gardeners help the judges in any way that they can, placing the ribbons and tallying up the information that goes to the Fair officials. We also judge horticulture classes at County Fairs in other surrounding AR. counties.
We spent several years advising and counseling those who entered our fair to help them understand what the judges were looking for so they stood a better chance of earning blue ribbons with their entries. We started with newspaper articles full of tips on how to pick the best vegetables, plants and flowers for their entries. We tried to be aware of tips we could give when they came to enter their items, and we eventually prepared booklets with specific hints and tips to help them show their best. It worked well as we began to see the quality of entries improve. We especially enjoyed seeing the changes in the junior entries, and the interest that the younger group shared in learning about showing their produce and other horticulture items.
We were an ambitious group, but at first had trouble finding a suitable project to start with, and we were short on monies. We had a small plant sale that gave us a start and we eventually started a project of planting whiskey barrels on the square in Yellville. The agreement with the businesses; they would keep the barrels watered and we would plant, and maintain the rest of the needs to care for them. We worked very hard on this for a couple of years, but sadly the owners of the barrels were unable to help us maintain them properly, and we didn’t have the man power to do all that was needed, so we ended that project.
Our plant sale became an annual fund event, and is our primary fund raiser. It has grown over the years; after our first sale we added baked items too, making it a “plant and bake” sale. In the beginning, we held it on the courthouse square in Yellville, which worked very well for quite some time because we had good contact with the people who had businesses or were working there, and also all the people who had shopping errands in the area. This gave us the opportunity to connect with the community and become known and people began to look forward to the sale. Several years ago a new City Park with a very nice pavilion was put in, so we moved the sale to the Park, allowing us to display our items better and to offer a greater variety of products. By the time we made the move to the Park, our reputation for the variety of plants and goodies was well known, and the community looks forward anxiously to our annual sale each year.
In 1998, we entered into an agreement to plant and maintain sidewalk beds at the corner of Wickersham and Hwy 62, Yellville. After checking with the city hall and receiving permission to undergo the planting and maintenance of the beds, we discovered the soil was a real challenge. In the first few years we did a major overhaul to try to improve the soil and growing conditions there. When the improvements were finished, we changed from planting mainly annuals and began to make them more permanent beds by adding perennials. Now, the beds are cleaned out in the fall and spring and a few annuals added for extra color, and they are maintained by our group with watering, feeding, deadheading and grooming. Water is furnished by the Harp’s Grocery which is located nearby. These beds, being on the main highway through town, were able to capture the people’s attention, and early on with this project we received a report that a tour bus passing through town stopped and the passengers got out to take a closer look. Some were taking pictures plus some of the ladies were collecting seed off the really large marigolds that we had planted there. This, of course, we took as a great compliment and it is still an ongoing project for us.
Between 1999 and 2000 we were asked to do a bed at the Marion County courthouse where they had just put in a new handicapped entrance. The area was a very steep grade and needed to be made more adaptable to planting. We had problems with funding the project as our plant sales were still small. We were able to get some help from a couple of local banks to finally go ahead with our work. We purchased concrete pavers to fix a retaining wall on the upper part of the bed, and with our Master Gardener group were able to gather plants, and soil to get the planting started. At this time the area was in the shade, so a shade garden was needed. It did very well for us for a few years until several trees on the courthouse lawn were removed, and we then had to totally redo the plantings for the sunny spot. Around that time, we were asked to take on the other side of the South entrance and maintain and plant that bed also. Eventually we added roses and other perennials and now the beds are cleaned out in the fall and again in the early spring with some annuals added for extra color. This is also an ongoing project for us.
Another early project in 2001-2002 was planting a Butterfly garden at the Extension Office. Originally this project was including the help of some 4-Her’s in Marion County and they helped with the planting. They helped for a few years and it was fun working with the kids. This is still a project for us.
In 2007 we began our biggest project. A former park interpreter, Janice Denney, had planned on a butterfly garden to be included in the building of the James A. Gaston Visitor Center at the Bulls Shoals-White River State Park. Denney then discovered that the landscaping was not included in the plans. She then contacted Lucy Mothershead, a Marion County Master Gardener to see if she would ask the group if they would be interested in helping with the planning, planting and maintaining a butterfly garden there. Karla Axel, another Marion County Master Gardener, who was also with the Crooked Creek Conservation office, was asked to help coordinate the project. Karla’s knowledge, not only with plants, but also butterflies was a huge benefit to the whole project. A grant was applied for to help with the expense, and the grant was awarded. The project then went forward and was named “Wings over the Ozarks”. Our Master Gardeners were anxious to help, which was appreciated as much help was needed!
The spot for the garden was not in good shape and took a lot of labor to get it ready to plant, but eventually it was declared ready. Since this was to be an educational garden, local school students from around Marion County were to be included in the planting of this garden, so the buses would come with many young gardeners from kindergarten on up. First off, they would attend a class to learn about the butterflies’ life cycle including their food plants, and the gift the butterflies give to humans in return by pollinating many plants in our gardens. Next, they were able to help with the planting of some of the plants that butterflies enjoy and need. Since, when planting, one can get a bit dirty, they then would clean up and have a snack before returning to school. This was an adventure that they seemed to enjoy, and of course they were able to visit later with their families to see the fruits of their labor.
This project won the Project of the Year award in 2008, which was for counties in Arkansas who had less than 51 active members. The award was based on the benefit to the community, plus the educational factor and the involvement of the community. A very proud moment for the Marion County Master Gardeners! Many visitors have passed through this garden since its beginning and enjoyed the butterflies, flowers and the information available to them. We are still involved in this wonderful project.
We are also involved in planting a bed in the City Park in Yellville, which is located close to the pavilion where we hold our Plant Sale. It can be enjoyed by visitors to the Park when sitting in the pavilion and cooling off in the summer heat, or when driving by. It was already planted with some things when we took it over, and some things are still there, but much has been added to enhance eye appeal. There is a mixture of annuals and perennials, and is a nice display with something blooming throughout the season. It is maintained and new plants added when necessary. The bed is in the shape of half a circle, and in June of 2017 a young couple had their wedding ceremony there.
Since we first began, we have had numerous free events that we opened to the public. They were teaching events on planting, caring for plants, propagation, etc. We have held two Seminars now that have had well known speakers, and are planning another one this year. Our first seminar was in 2012, and our last was in 2016. The last one was entitled “Gardening through the Seasons”, and we had three speakers. Neal Mays, showed us “How to Build a Cold Frame” which included ways to use it to grow plants. Bernie Kurtz, gave a program on “Container Gardening” with lots of suggestions and examples on things to plant in containers. Then Gena Stout did a fun program on “Making and Planting Hypertufa Containers”. After these programs The Palette Art League of Yellville offered a class on making “Glass Garden Art” which included materials to build a piece of garden art for those participating in the class.
The upcoming seminar is scheduled for June 16, 2018, and will be entitled “Summer of Blooms”. We are looking forward to getting our plans for it completed and enjoying everyone who joins us for the event.
There are other things that we’ve done over the years. Trips to gardens and gardening places, Garden of the Month, and our Christmas potluck party. We started off some years back having a tomato tasting at our August meetings, but it now has graduated to a vegetable potluck where we bring some of our favorite vegetable dishes to share with one another. Always looking for another way to serve zucchini!
Marion County Master Gardeners has been a great bunch of people to work with over the years. Sadly, some have moved, some have had to drop out for health or family reasons, and some have passed, but there are many memories to be shared, and right now we have our largest group. Hopefully the future will hold many wonderful experiences to yet be had.
Written by Pat Rodgers, Master Gardener class of 1994
The Master Gardener program for Marion County AR began in 1994, with a class of fifteen. Since then, we’ve had 152 people go through the Master Gardener program. We have served under County Extension agent Terry Davis from 1994-2009 when Terry retired. From 2009 to the present we’ve been serving under our current Extension agent Brian See. Both gentlemen were, and have been, very supportive of our group.
When we first began, we tried very hard to make ourselves known and recognized, but it didn’t go easy. We sat up at places like Harp’s and Wal Mart to try to get people to talk to us about gardening and introduce our purpose in the community. Our first job seemed to be making them understand that we were not trying to sell anything. Gradually, we gained some traction, and people realized that we were anxious to help beautify the area and help those who lived here and wanted to know more about gardening.
Terry Davis asked us in 1998 to take over the horticulture exhibits at our County Fair, and we happily continue that task even today, completely overseeing this part of the Fair. We take entries, schedule the judges, and our Master Gardeners help the judges in any way that they can, placing the ribbons and tallying up the information that goes to the Fair officials. We also judge horticulture classes at County Fairs in other surrounding AR. counties.
We spent several years advising and counseling those who entered our fair to help them understand what the judges were looking for so they stood a better chance of earning blue ribbons with their entries. We started with newspaper articles full of tips on how to pick the best vegetables, plants and flowers for their entries. We tried to be aware of tips we could give when they came to enter their items, and we eventually prepared booklets with specific hints and tips to help them show their best. It worked well as we began to see the quality of entries improve. We especially enjoyed seeing the changes in the junior entries, and the interest that the younger group shared in learning about showing their produce and other horticulture items.
We were an ambitious group, but at first had trouble finding a suitable project to start with, and we were short on monies. We had a small plant sale that gave us a start and we eventually started a project of planting whiskey barrels on the square in Yellville. The agreement with the businesses; they would keep the barrels watered and we would plant, and maintain the rest of the needs to care for them. We worked very hard on this for a couple of years, but sadly the owners of the barrels were unable to help us maintain them properly, and we didn’t have the man power to do all that was needed, so we ended that project.
Our plant sale became an annual fund event, and is our primary fund raiser. It has grown over the years; after our first sale we added baked items too, making it a “plant and bake” sale. In the beginning, we held it on the courthouse square in Yellville, which worked very well for quite some time because we had good contact with the people who had businesses or were working there, and also all the people who had shopping errands in the area. This gave us the opportunity to connect with the community and become known and people began to look forward to the sale. Several years ago a new City Park with a very nice pavilion was put in, so we moved the sale to the Park, allowing us to display our items better and to offer a greater variety of products. By the time we made the move to the Park, our reputation for the variety of plants and goodies was well known, and the community looks forward anxiously to our annual sale each year.
In 1998, we entered into an agreement to plant and maintain sidewalk beds at the corner of Wickersham and Hwy 62, Yellville. After checking with the city hall and receiving permission to undergo the planting and maintenance of the beds, we discovered the soil was a real challenge. In the first few years we did a major overhaul to try to improve the soil and growing conditions there. When the improvements were finished, we changed from planting mainly annuals and began to make them more permanent beds by adding perennials. Now, the beds are cleaned out in the fall and spring and a few annuals added for extra color, and they are maintained by our group with watering, feeding, deadheading and grooming. Water is furnished by the Harp’s Grocery which is located nearby. These beds, being on the main highway through town, were able to capture the people’s attention, and early on with this project we received a report that a tour bus passing through town stopped and the passengers got out to take a closer look. Some were taking pictures plus some of the ladies were collecting seed off the really large marigolds that we had planted there. This, of course, we took as a great compliment and it is still an ongoing project for us.
Between 1999 and 2000 we were asked to do a bed at the Marion County courthouse where they had just put in a new handicapped entrance. The area was a very steep grade and needed to be made more adaptable to planting. We had problems with funding the project as our plant sales were still small. We were able to get some help from a couple of local banks to finally go ahead with our work. We purchased concrete pavers to fix a retaining wall on the upper part of the bed, and with our Master Gardener group were able to gather plants, and soil to get the planting started. At this time the area was in the shade, so a shade garden was needed. It did very well for us for a few years until several trees on the courthouse lawn were removed, and we then had to totally redo the plantings for the sunny spot. Around that time, we were asked to take on the other side of the South entrance and maintain and plant that bed also. Eventually we added roses and other perennials and now the beds are cleaned out in the fall and again in the early spring with some annuals added for extra color. This is also an ongoing project for us.
Another early project in 2001-2002 was planting a Butterfly garden at the Extension Office. Originally this project was including the help of some 4-Her’s in Marion County and they helped with the planting. They helped for a few years and it was fun working with the kids. This is still a project for us.
In 2007 we began our biggest project. A former park interpreter, Janice Denney, had planned on a butterfly garden to be included in the building of the James A. Gaston Visitor Center at the Bulls Shoals-White River State Park. Denney then discovered that the landscaping was not included in the plans. She then contacted Lucy Mothershead, a Marion County Master Gardener to see if she would ask the group if they would be interested in helping with the planning, planting and maintaining a butterfly garden there. Karla Axel, another Marion County Master Gardener, who was also with the Crooked Creek Conservation office, was asked to help coordinate the project. Karla’s knowledge, not only with plants, but also butterflies was a huge benefit to the whole project. A grant was applied for to help with the expense, and the grant was awarded. The project then went forward and was named “Wings over the Ozarks”. Our Master Gardeners were anxious to help, which was appreciated as much help was needed!
The spot for the garden was not in good shape and took a lot of labor to get it ready to plant, but eventually it was declared ready. Since this was to be an educational garden, local school students from around Marion County were to be included in the planting of this garden, so the buses would come with many young gardeners from kindergarten on up. First off, they would attend a class to learn about the butterflies’ life cycle including their food plants, and the gift the butterflies give to humans in return by pollinating many plants in our gardens. Next, they were able to help with the planting of some of the plants that butterflies enjoy and need. Since, when planting, one can get a bit dirty, they then would clean up and have a snack before returning to school. This was an adventure that they seemed to enjoy, and of course they were able to visit later with their families to see the fruits of their labor.
This project won the Project of the Year award in 2008, which was for counties in Arkansas who had less than 51 active members. The award was based on the benefit to the community, plus the educational factor and the involvement of the community. A very proud moment for the Marion County Master Gardeners! Many visitors have passed through this garden since its beginning and enjoyed the butterflies, flowers and the information available to them. We are still involved in this wonderful project.
We are also involved in planting a bed in the City Park in Yellville, which is located close to the pavilion where we hold our Plant Sale. It can be enjoyed by visitors to the Park when sitting in the pavilion and cooling off in the summer heat, or when driving by. It was already planted with some things when we took it over, and some things are still there, but much has been added to enhance eye appeal. There is a mixture of annuals and perennials, and is a nice display with something blooming throughout the season. It is maintained and new plants added when necessary. The bed is in the shape of half a circle, and in June of 2017 a young couple had their wedding ceremony there.
Since we first began, we have had numerous free events that we opened to the public. They were teaching events on planting, caring for plants, propagation, etc. We have held two Seminars now that have had well known speakers, and are planning another one this year. Our first seminar was in 2012, and our last was in 2016. The last one was entitled “Gardening through the Seasons”, and we had three speakers. Neal Mays, showed us “How to Build a Cold Frame” which included ways to use it to grow plants. Bernie Kurtz, gave a program on “Container Gardening” with lots of suggestions and examples on things to plant in containers. Then Gena Stout did a fun program on “Making and Planting Hypertufa Containers”. After these programs The Palette Art League of Yellville offered a class on making “Glass Garden Art” which included materials to build a piece of garden art for those participating in the class.
The upcoming seminar is scheduled for June 16, 2018, and will be entitled “Summer of Blooms”. We are looking forward to getting our plans for it completed and enjoying everyone who joins us for the event.
There are other things that we’ve done over the years. Trips to gardens and gardening places, Garden of the Month, and our Christmas potluck party. We started off some years back having a tomato tasting at our August meetings, but it now has graduated to a vegetable potluck where we bring some of our favorite vegetable dishes to share with one another. Always looking for another way to serve zucchini!
Marion County Master Gardeners has been a great bunch of people to work with over the years. Sadly, some have moved, some have had to drop out for health or family reasons, and some have passed, but there are many memories to be shared, and right now we have our largest group. Hopefully the future will hold many wonderful experiences to yet be had.
Written by Pat Rodgers, Master Gardener class of 1994