Growth Industry
There are many good gardeners in Orange County, but until recently, it has been very hard to become a master at gardening, in the official sense.
In the last five months, though, local gardening enthusiasts have had the opportunity to join the thousands of people across the nation who hold the title of master gardener.
The master gardener program, offered jointly by the University of California Extension and the Fullerton Arboretum, is designed to educate amateur gardeners in plant science, horticulture and gardening. Once they graduate as master gardener trainees, they are expected to spread their knowledge into the community, teaching children and offering advice to home gardeners.
The program is of special importance in Orange County because the county hasn’t had a cooperative extension office for years, and there is no staff horticulturist to help home gardeners.
Rico Montenegro, assistant director of the Fullerton Arboretum, started the program in September after years of fielding gardening calls by himself. “I’ve been at the arboretum for eight years and get 100 phone calls every year from people with plant questions,” he said. “I just don’t have the time to answer all those calls.”
With help from Mike Henry, a horticulturist from the Riverside Cooperative Extension office, Montenegro was able to launch the program after a year and a half of planning. The two share teaching responsibilities for the program.
When the first class was announced in September, it attracted more than 50 students. When the second class was announced in November, more than 400 people sent in applications.
“I had to narrow it down to 35. The response to the program has been overwhelming. It tells me there has been a need for a program like this in Orange County for a long time,” Montenegro said.
The master gardener program was conceived by David Gibby of Washington State University in the early 1970s. Gibby was the cooperative agent for the university and was inundated with letters from gardeners asking for advice.
Unable to answer even a fraction of the letters, Gibby reasoned there were gardeners in the community who could be doing outreach work. More than 20 years later, master gardener programs are offered in 40 states.
To earn the title, trainees complete a 10-week course in plant science and horticulture and pass a written exam. In addition, they volunteer 50 hours of work.
Montenegro says the volunteer hours can be fulfilled in a variety of ways, and it doesn’t have to be just answering the public’s gardening questions.
Young students at Santiago Elementary School in Santa Ana are benefiting from the program. Jill Dale, a member of the second class, heard that the school was looking for a master gardener to teach students about plants.
Dale, a cardiac rehabilitation nurse, answered the call and since November has been lecturing to first- and second-graders on everything from plant root systems to photosynthesis.
Using her drawing abilities, Dale has created cartoon characters to represent plant science. A sunflower lying in a chaise longue and soaking up the sun while sipping water from its roots through a straw is an easy way to get the concept of photosynthesis across to 6-year-olds, Dale said.
Marjorie Puckett, a student from the second class due to graduate this month, found a way to volunteer despite hand and wrist injuries that keep her from gardening.
Puckett volunteered to edit a newsletter that announces the group’s events and offers educational articles on soil, horticulture and related topics, as well as book reviews.
A longtime gardener, Puckett says she joined the program because she wanted to spread the word on gardening. “When I’ve been busy in the past, I would wonder, ‘If I were completely free, what would I be doing?’ And it would be digging in the dirt.”
Working on the newsletter gives Puckett the feeling that she is still gardening.
“I get to read everyone’s stories and keep up on all the techniques and books. It just shows you how easy it is to get in your volunteer hours,” she added.
A more traditional way of volunteering gardening skills is to staff a booth at the county fair. Montenegro said the group is also working on creating a hotline that the public could use to talk with a master gardener to get answers to plant questions.
Virginia Carlson of Fullerton is from the first graduating class and is the local rosarian for the American Rose Society. She taught the rose section of the course for the second master gardener class. Carlson also volunteers as a gardening teacher at the Braille Institute and is president of the Orange County Master Gardeners organization.
“I want us to be a clearinghouse of information for the gardeners of Orange County,” she said. “Cooperative Extension has a lot of information that needs to be distributed to the public.”
For more information, send your name, address and phone number to Master Gardener, Rico Montenegro, Cal State Fullerton, Fullerton, CA 92634-9480.
