Welcome to Mississippi
Mississippi
has an abundance of visual beauty that is enhanced by mild climate and diverse
vegetation. It ranges from Gulf coast semi-tropical palms and citrus
plants to the cool-loving shrubs in the foothills of the Appalachians.
A great place to live and enjoy the pleasures of gardening. This site is
devoted to encouraging others to travel the many trails that meander through the
gardening map of Mississippi.

The Summer Edition of Botanical Blurbs is now on the website. To read the MSMG Newsletter, just click on the MSMG Log-in link and enter the ID and Password that was sent to all members of the MSMG Association members.
|
||||||||||||
|
Also, information on the
Mid-South
Native Plant Conference being held in
A
new section has been added to the MSMG Website
... A Master Gardener Speakers Bureau! A
request was made at the recent MSMG Conference that we provide a resource of
master gardeners who would be willing to make gardening/horticultural
related presentations to interested community groups. If you enjoy
giving presentations in particular areas of interest, please send along your
information for including on the Speakers Bureau list. We would like
to have a variety of subjects to give a selection to choose from for local
groups.
Click here to check out the this new area of service by Mississippi Master Gardeners to their nearby communities and consider being a presenter.
2010 Mississippi Master Gardeners Conference - Hosted by Northeast District
Here are a few pictures from the conference with others in the "Photos" area. If you have a few pictures that you took at the conference that might be of interest to others, please send them in and they will be posted in the Photos section.

.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)

Award winners at the 2010 MSMG Conference
OUTSTANDING MASTER GARDENER ASSOCIATION
ADAMS COUNTY MG-with total membership of 56, publicize the MG program in the local newspaper the Natchez Democrat. All activities relating to educational opportunities, new member classes, and gardening activities are promoted by this means. The group is active in the Junior Master Gardener program, in the Crape Myrtle Pruning program at the Natchez City Cemetery, the maintaining of the nature trail at the Historic Jefferson College, the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians nature trail, the Natchez National Historical Park, and the Watkins Street Historic Cemetery. They helped plan the Southwest District Meeting in Natchez in the spring of 2010, and are currently in preliminary planning stages for the Southern Regional MG Conference to be held in Natchez in 2012.
COORDINATOR OF THE YEAR
Dr. David Carter, Adams County MG Coordinator, came to Adams County in February of 2007 from LSU. He has wonderful people skills, and interacts with all age and status groups. He provides educational opportunities for the MG's to learn, be involved and share in gardening knowledge and skills. He helped establish the first Jr MG Program, encourages the writing of articles, and teaches classes on pruning techniques, Topsy Turvey gardening, composting, and Lasagna Gardening, attract visibility for the Adams County Master Gardener Association.
MASTER GARDENER OF THE YEAR
DONNA TUCKER-LEE COUNTY MASTER GARDENER is a charter member of the Lee County MG's since 1995. She has been tireless in promoting all aspects of the MG program. For five hears she has taught monthly over 100 children in the Junior MG Program, presented “Plant Propagation” in the Learning Series program. She is instrumental in developing the greenhouse from a former storage building, and
her leadership has led to spring plant sales exceeding $3,000 for several years in a row. Of those earnings, $1,000 is applied to a Student Scholarship at MSU for a student in the horticulture field. Donna has giving excess of 200 volunteer hours, and has earned over 30 hours of continuing education. For fifteen years, Donna has been one of the strongest motivating forces in our local association, she is the personification of an ideal Master Gardener.
OUTSTANDING MG PROJECT
WARREN COUNTY FARMER'S MARKET PROJECT-The 2008 Warren county Interns, envisioned a new project of education for the public, in coordination with the newly organized Farmers' Market in Vicksburg. Each Market day, the volunteers secured free booth space, purchased items needed, and developed a series of focus topics for each week, and organized a schedule so that all WCMG members could participate. In 2008, 22 MG's participated, with 750 visitors to the booth.
In 2009, 20 MG's participated in the educational talks, with 1,310 visitors attending. The gardening topics included nineteen different subjects, with questions answered by the Master Gardeners.
PUBLICATION AWARD
LEE COUNTY-Continuing the objective of Public Education, this group through six of their MG's contribute approx. 100 hours annually to produce articles for the N M Daily Journal with annual distribution of over 1 million copies.
GRAPHIC PRESENTATION
LINCOLN COUNTY-Continuing the objective of Public Education, Homer Richardson created the Lincoln County MG Website to display and promote gardening activities, not only of the county MG's but of other organizational
activities in the area by The Forestry Service, State MG Projects, LCFA , the Brookhaven Camellia Society and the Lincoln County Chamber of commerce.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM
LEE COUNTY MG Association has been a leader in the field of public education.
Beginning in the year of 2009, monthly sessions were available for public education at the Extension office. The particular program presented in early spring, “So You Want To Grow Your Own Vegetables?” , a three hour program, was presented twice due to the overwhelming attendance of 137 from the first session. Attendance at the second session was 50. The program was promoted in the local news paper, and on the local television news at noon.
NEWLETTER AWARD
LEE COUNTY Volunteer Program Coordinator, along with the Extension Secretary, compile a very attractive monthly Northeast Mississippi Master Gardener Newsletter, containing all of the local events in education, MG projects, and dates of continuing education programs, along with gardening tips each month. This publication is in Color, with graphic designs and format, and is sent to the local chapter members via electronic transmission. Copies are distributed to members who do not have email.
MS FRIEND OF MASTER GARDENERS
SAINT FRANCIS CATHOLIC CHURCH OF BROOKHAVEN has faithfully provided an ideal site for the Lincoln County MG to meet from the inception of the program in Lincoln County, for over a ten year period without any request or suggestion of payment. They also provide kitchen supplies, heating, cooling, and rest room supplies that are needed. The partnership includes the development of a vegetable plot called Peas for the People, an outshoot of the St. Francis food pantry. The MG's provide expertise and help with planting the garden. Yields are used as part of the Food Pantry ministry.
SPECIAL RECOGNITION-PAT WHEELER-OF STATE TREASURER
Service Pin Awards Application (Service Pin Awards Application.doc)
Mississippi Master Gardener Association
Service
Recognition Program
These pins are to recognize years of active service in the Mississippi State University Extension Service Master Gardener program. Eligibility for these pins is determined by the Extension professional managing the county program; therefore, the signature of the Extension professional managing the county program is required.
Member:
County:
District: Northwest_______ Northeast _______ Southwest ________ Southeast
Address:
City: MS, Zip
Phone: Extension Agent’s Name:
Extension Agent’s e-mail:
Applying for 5 year membership pin ___________ 10 year membership pin
Signature of County Extension Master Gardener Coordinator (Extension Agent)
Application must be postmarked after January 1st, but at least 60 days prior to the current year’s MMGA State Conference. Complete application and send to:
Kelly Parks
2112 Hawkins Rd.
Pattison, MS 39144
Upcoming Master Gardener Conferences -
-
2011 - May 11-13, 2011 in Jones County at the Jones County Jr. College Advanced Technology Center in Ellisville.
-
2012 - May 2-5, 2012 in Natchez - The Southern Regional Master Gardener Conference. Yes, Mississippi is hosting the SRMG conference.
Note: We now have a Southern Region Master Gardener Conference Website on msucares.com. http://msucares.com/lawn/master_gardener/2012conference/index.html
As information about this conference develops it will be posted. Please mark your calendars for May 2-5, 2012 in Natchez.
More
ways to get Master Gardener Information -- We are now blogging... check it
out.
Counties and Master
Gardener county e-mail contacts,
You may not be aware that eXtension has launched a new blog specifically for
Master Gardeners.
These volunteers now have a new communication tool to encourage interaction and sharing at the national, state and local level. Check it out http://blogs.extension.org/mastergardener/
Statewide Master Gardener Project: The creation of a password-protected site on msucares for Master Gardener generated Consumer Horticulture educational materials.
Objective: To provide a resource for Master Gardeners and Extension professionals to avoid “recreating the wheel” when looking for material to use in Extension programs and activities. Compiling materials that were created by Master Gardeners and are already in use at a central, accessible location will save time and help us reach our audiences more effectively.
These materials would be available only for use by Master Gardeners or Extension professionals. Materials would include powerpoints, word documents, such as fact sheets, FAQ’s or other appropriate materials generated by a Master Gardener or MG group and already being used for Extension programming in the county.
Master Gardeners are requested to submit their materials directly by e-mail attachment to Kelly Parks, kellyparks99@yahoo.com, or mail a CD to Kelly Parks, 2112 Hawkins Road, Pattison, MS, 39144.
All materials will be subject to peer review by a committee of selected Master Gardeners. Materials will be edited, formatted and then submitted to the state coordinator for further review and revision if necessary before putting on the password protected website.
Certain criteria should be met before submitting the material for review.
Criteria:
1. Must be approved by your County Master Gardener Coordinator
2. Should be original work or include citations indicating the source of the material, if possible
3. Powerpoints should include speaker notes with the slides for clarity. Please indicate if the photos in the powerpoints are original (your own), if source is unknown, or the source of photo (book, web-site etc.), if possible
4. Should have application statewide, if possible
5. Must be in electronic format
6. Must include names of Master Gardeners responsible and county name on all documents
If you have any questions about this project or whether your material is appropriate please contact Dr. Lelia Kelly, leliak@ext.msstate.edu, or Kelly Parks. Thanks in advance for your submissions.
Are you ready for 2010?? -- Lot of activities ahead for all MSMG. Information on state, district and local events will be included on the website so you can stay current with what is going on. If you have events or items from your county that you would like to have included, please send the details to homerrichardson@hughes.net so they can be included.
A few pictures from the Crystal Springs 2009 Fall Garden Extravaganza - submitted by Wanda Holmes
A number of people at the May MSU MSMG Conference asked about being able access the presentations by several of our speakers. Here are the links to the presentations submitted:
-
Lynette McDougald - Instructor, Floral Management -- Presentation on Floral Design
http://theuniversityflorist.com/news/slideshow/project/index.html
-
Tim Schauwecker's Presentation - Successful Landscape (Takes several minutes to download - Complete Powerpoint presentation)
http://www.lalc.msstate.edu/faculty/schauwecker/schauwecker.php
-
Jermiah Dumas Presentation - From Community to Landscape (PDF)
A few more pictures from the
2009 MSMG Conference

Pictures above submitted by Wanda Holmes -- from Starkville 2009 MSMG Conference

Submitted by Kelly Parks - Adams County MG at MSU Conference
Other pictures will be posted as we get them
Note: Mississippi Master Gardeners should renew their 2010 membership through their County Extension Service Master Gardener Coordinator at the end of the year. They will be collected and sent in from the counties as a group to help getting all members into the system.
Note: Three new awards are being introduced for 2010. This includes awards for Education Program, Graphic Presentation, and Publication. Check the "MS MG Awards" link to review the applications for these new awards.
Take a look at the list of horticultural publications that are being revised by the Education & Training Committee on the Education & Training Link
Benefits of being a MS Master Gardener member
These membership fees are used to support:
-
Mississippi Master Gardener Website www.msmastergardener.org
-
Scholarship, Educational Training
-
Annual MG State Awards
-
State Membership Cards
-
The State MG Newsletter
-
Support for the State Conference
-
Voting Rights at the State Conference
-
Educational Materials, i.e. Rose Short Course
The "News & Events" link will be updated with things happening in the four Master Gardener Districts in Mississippi. This will include Newsletters, seminars or special events that may be of interest to others. Please send any items you would like to include to the webmaster so we can keep information current.
Fall Garden Fest was held at Crystal Springs on October 17 -18... here are a few pictures from the event.
If you have items to submit for the MSMG Newsletter ( Botanical Blurbs) from you Master Gardener Association, please send to: Barry & Sherri McCalla at email: catldog@bellsouth.net
Two
of the most frequently asked questions asked when a group of master
gardeners get together are:
1) What kind of interesting projects are you working on?
2) How does your group make money to fund different projects?
If your MG Association has been working on some interesting projects or managed to find some unique ways of getting them funded, pass them along and we will build a section on the MSMG website where others can visit and maybe even stimulate more ideas.
Again, if you have a gardening or plant question, Go to "Garden Question" link, then ASK JAY!
Our Purpose
To promote responsible horticultural practices in accordance with the research and recommendations of the Mississippi State University (MSU) Extension Service

