UF/IFAS Okeechobee County Extension Service

458 Highway 98 North

Okeechobee, FL 34972-2578

Phone: (863) 763-6469

E- mail: dfculbert@ifas.ufl.edu

November 19, 2003

Feature Article - for release the week of November 23, 2003

Dan Culbert - Extension Horticulture Agent

This week is a chance to express gratitude to our Creator, our family and friends, our community and country for all the blessings we receive. When I sit down to enjoy my Thanksgiving meal this year, I will add to my prayers my gratitude for the chance to work with four wonderful volunteers that have come to our Extension office - our newly graduated Master Gardener volunteers.

Four local residents have spent the last 12 Tuesdays with 60 other volunteers from across the Treasure Coast learning about plants, soils and the environment. They were recognized last week as Florida Master Gardeners by the University of Florida. Please join me in congratulating Dick Dutton, Terri Lane, Julie Alexander Turner, and Gina Ward for their achievement.

Our new Master Gardeners will be helping our office to extend horticultural knowledge by serving the community in a number of ways. To help our community get to know them better, I recently asked them to tell me a little more about themselves, their training, and their dreams for our community.

Julie feels alive and happy when working the yard, and enjoys planting and tending plants. She is especially fond of native plants, tropical fruit and ornamentals such as orchids, bromeliads and palms. She enjoys landscaping her home with low maintenance plants. For Julie, it is important that yard work be a voluntary activity and not a mandatory chore - so she tries to arrange the landscape with maintenance in mind.

Gina loves to look at God's natural awesome beauty. She feels that looking at a beautiful garden is "eye candy". She has always wanted to learn how to properly care and nurture plants, flowers and trees, and becoming a Master Gardener has provided her with the "how to" as well a way to let her share it with others.

Dick is returning to horticulture after many years of other responsibilities that kept him out of the yard. Being in a new in the community and to Florida, he is learning how to garden all over again. To quote Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, "This is not Kansas". And finally Terri, who once lived in Kansas, has always liked to play in the dirt!

Terri's grandparents encouraged her to be a gardener, and she's worked with plants all her life. Julie's mother, Ann Alexander, has a green thumb, and is always teaching her about new plants. "I really enjoy working in the yard with her and discussing different plants." She has two daughters who are also interested in plants, and she looks forward to including them in this special relationship with their grandmother.

What was the most interesting thing that occurred in the MG training class?

Dick said that he learned a lot about the impact of climate on horticultural plant selection and care. He wished we had more time to explore botany and entomology. The area that he developed the most interest in was landscape design, while the topic with the least interest for him was lawn and lawn care - "if I had my choice I would not have any lawn."

Gina found it exciting to hear from a plant pathologist. It was excellent for her to learn how to look at a plant, use a planned process to diagnose its ailment and then learn how to treat that problem. Her other favorite subjects were plant propagation and pruning: "Those are pieces of information that everyone can use on a regular basis."

Julie also loves learning new ways to propagate plants and how to identify plants she hasn't seen before. "I especially liked the day we spent at the University of Florida citrus variety block at the Fort Pierce Research Center."

Terri loved the water day program where the Master Gardeners learned about the history of water, heard about current issues of water quantity and quality, and irrigation methods. The best part of the day for her was listening to the two Okeechobee Agents (Pat & Pat) as they explained where phosphorus comes from. She also learned about our animal agriculture industry - "Now I know why the Kansas rodeo bulls all came from Florida." Terri also has learned to look at bugs more closely. She is more likely to identify what the pest is, what it does, and use that information to help choose an appropriate pesticide - "I'm not guessing."

Gina and Julie are interested in working with the young people of our community, and hope to start a 4-H Junior Master Gardener program, teaching the youth the basics of plant growth and maintenance. Dick would like to be more involved in assisting homeowners in problem solving. He would also like to help develop demonstrations to find out what works here and then show the results to Okeechobee residents. Terri would like the office to have a garden, maybe even an indoor water garden.

Finally, Julie Turner observed that we still need more Master Gardeners and suggested that interested persons should let the office know when they can participate in a future class.

I'm grateful for these four volunteers, and look forward to helping them share their knowledge, talents and enthusiasm with the Okeechobee community. If you need information on the Master Gardener program, visit us online at http://okeechobee.ifas.ufl.edu or stop by our office at 458 Hwy 98 North. Our phone number is 763-6469, and you can email us at okeechobee@ifas.ufl.edu. Happy Thanksgiving!

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The Florida Cooperative Extension Service - Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer authorized to provide research, educational information, and other services to individuals and institutions that function without regard to race, color, sex, age, handicap, or national origin. Florida Cooperative Extension Service / IFAS /University of Florida.