CMGA General Info

The San Francisco Peaks as seen from Timberline 5 miles northeast of Flagstaff.
Photo by Cindy Murray.

Welcome to the Coconino County Master Gardeners Association blog. The mission of the Master Gardener Program is to create a corps of well-informed volunteers, and to deliver quality horticultural education programs adapted to our regional high elevation environment. The purpose of the association is to provide support for those volunteers and Master Gardener graduates, continuing education, and opportunities to participate in community programs that increase the visibility and participation in the Master Gardener Program.
The Coconino Master Gardener Association (2009) began in 2009. This blog contains information on:
-How to become a member
-Volunteer and Education hours reporting
-Calendar of Events
-General gardening information articles
-Master Gardener Association Documents and forms
-References and Resources
-Interesting Websites and Blogs
-Old Gardening Etcetera columns
-Recipes
-Book Reviews
-How to contact Board or Committee Members
Meetings are held monthly on the 2nd Thursday from 600pm - 8;30pm. We meet at the Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church at 1601 N. San Francisco. This includes continuing education and a business meeting.

Reporting Master Gardener Hours

All master gardener trainees and certified master gardeners need to report their hours.
Beginning in 2010 certified master gardeners need to have 6 Education hours and 12 Volunteer hours in order to maintain certification.The on line reporting system allows you to report Education or Volunteer hours. You can sign in to record hours in the right hand column under Recording Volunteer and Education Hours. Just click on the U. of A.
If you have any questions or concerns about the new reporting system, please contact Brenda Smith (A - M) or Sue Madden (N - Z). Their contacts are listed at the bottom of the blog under
Contacts.



Ideas for hours------
--Attend monthly meetings
--Work on an association committee
--Work at an informational booth for the Master Gardeners
--Be a speaker about gardening topics at a variety of venues

--Host a garden tour
--Work at a fundraising event (Plant Sale - Garden Tour).
--Work at a MG site (Olivia White Hospice, the Arboretum, Riordan Mansion, or school gardens (many others)). Check out the Assoc. Doc. & Forms under Volunteer Sites.
--Work in the Extension office
--Write an article for the newspaper column -Gardening Etcetera
-Volunteer with the Seed Library
Be creative! There are many ways to fulfill your hours. Just remember for volunteering it needs to be a non-profit endeavor or an approved for profit site.

Change in Contact Information

Have you moved or changed your e-mail address, but would still like to be contacted about high elevation gardening information from the Extension? The Coconino County Extension Master Gardener Program has a site that will let you change your information on-line.

Click here to change your contact information!

Event Calendar

Friday, June 22, 2012

Interesting Volunteer Trips for the Summer


This information is from Kirstin Olmon, a botany graduate student at NAU. 
Kristin is doing some very interesting work in the Upper Basin of the Kaibab Forest.  In addition,  the Grand Canyon Trust, Desert Botanical Gardens and Brigham Young University are working in the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument.  Maybe you'd like to help.

Flora of Upper Basin, Kaibab National Forest, Tusayan District:
Kirstin Olmon will be leading trips to the Upper Basin in the Tusayan District of the Kaibab National Forest. The Upper Basin is located south of Grand Canyon National Park near Grandview Lookout Tower and the Arizona Trial. The Upper Basin has historically been overgrazed and is now recovering. This is the second season of collecting in the Upper Basin and trips will focus on the drainages along the Coconino Rim and Lee Canyon.

Saturday, July 28th
Day trip. Leave Flagstaff at 8:30 am and return to Flagstaff by 6:30pm.
Moderate. Hiking in shaded pinyon/juniper woodlands in an area of known archeological interest. Slight elevation gain, no trail.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

2nd Annual CMGA Project Grants 2012

Our annual grants for master garden projects were given out at our June meeting. Three grants for $250 each were given to:

Emeritus Assisted Living
Master gardeners have been creating their garden space for 10 years. The funds will be used for plants and materials to be used for their resident program. Master gardeners on the project are Jacki Hainsworth, Mary Lou Parliman, Carol Daily, and Marie Pickle.. Tim Hainsworth has assisted with many of the hardscape projects.

Riordan Mansion
Master gardeners are active in restoring the gardens at the mansion. Charlotte Dodgon and Dave Brimhall are heading up this project and funds will be used for plants and materials for their Vegetable and Butterfly gardens.

Cromer School
This is a joint project with Cromer School and the Summit Fire Department for materials for a solar project for the school garden.

In addition $50 gift certificates were given to the Arboretum at Flagstaff's children's garden and the Michael Moore Native Medicinal Garden at Olivia White Hospice Home.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Growing Community Summer Workshop Series


The City has partnered with a local non-profit organization, Flagstaff Foodlink, to manage and maintain community agricultures sites located on City owned property. The project serves to educate the community on how to sustainably grow food in Flagstaff’s unique high elevation environment, arid climate and short growing season. 

Growing Community Summer Workshop Series
The City of Flagstaff in partnership with Flagstaff Foodlink is excited to announce the Growing 
Community Summer Workshop Series.Date                            Time               Topic                         Presenter           Location
13-Jun Wednesday     5:30 PM          Soil testing                     Beth Dykstra         Izabel
20-Jun Wednesday     5:00 PM          Composting                    McKenzie Jones    Bonito*27-Jun Wednesday     5:00 PM          Rainwater Harvesting       David McKee         Izabel *
11-Jul  Wednesday     5:00 PM          Container Gardening        Loni Shapiro          Izabel
14-Jul  Saturday         11:00 AM        Composting                    McKenzie Jones     Izabel
18-Jul  Wednesday     5:30 PM          Plant Cycle                     Tony Jauregui        Bonito
                                                       Demystified

18-Jul  Wednesday     5:30 PM          Invasive Weeds                Dorothy Lamm      Izabel

28-Jul  Saturday         11:00 AM        Composting                   McKenzie Jones      Bushmaster
1-Aug  Wednesday     5:00 PM          Composting                    McKenzie Jones     TBD 
4-Aug  Saturday         9:00 AM          Greens for the Fall          Hattie Braun            Izabel
8-Aug  Wednesday     5:30 PM          Medicinal Plants             Tony Jauregui         Bonito
11-Aug Saturday        11:00 AM        Seed Saving                    Laura Cagney         Izabel
15-Aug Wednesday    5:00 PM          How Plants Do It:           Liz Taylor                Bonito
                                                       Sex in the Garden


Each workshop is free and open to the public. Check out the city site for more info.


Sunday, June 10, 2012

Monthly CMGA Meeting 6/14/12


Master Gardener Meeting Agenda 5/10/12
Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church
1601 N. San Francisco

6:30pm-6:35pm                Welcome – Agenda Debi Stalvey
Brief review of agenda for the evening

6:35pm-6:45pm                CMGA Grant Awards for 2012 – Bea Cooley
Introduction of speaker

6:45pm-7:30pm                Continuing Education
SEINET – Dr. Tina Ayres, NAU Botany Dept.
Review of Seinet (Southwest Environmental Information Network)
Web based program that is an interesting resource for native plants of the southwest (includes AZ and the plateau).
Time permitting Dr. Ayres will also talk about the Herbarium at NAU.

7:30pm-7:45pm                Refreshments – Faith Brittain
                                               
7:45pm - 8:30pm              Business Meeting – Debi Stalvey
7:45pm – 8:05pm             Overview of recent Executive Meeting –
                                          Debi Stalvey
Financial report – Ed Skiba
    Update on financials, taxes, memberships
2013 Calendar – Bea Cooley
2012 Grants – Loni Shapiro
    Making personal contributions to MG Projects
MG Program Happenings (Classes, Conference) – Hattie Braun
                                                                               
8:05pm – 8:20pm          Committee Reports


Continuing Education (see below for details) – Loni Shapiro
Community Programs
     Community Market – Molly Larsen
Coordination of MG Projects  - Updated project list on blog
Volunteer Support/Social – Hattie Braun
     Volunteer/Education Hours – Crys Wells
                                                             
8:20pm – 8:30pm          Gardening Questions?
                                               
Next meeting:  July 12 – What to do With the Harvest – Michele Lytle (MG and caterer)
                                Update on County Fair Entries

Future meetings:
*Aug. 9 – Season Extenders/Plant Propagation – Ann Eagan/Linda Guarino
*Oct. 11 – Growing and Forcing Bulbs – Loni Shapiro
Nov. 8 – Pending – Tam Nguyen – topic TBA
Those starred are confirmed

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Native Plant Society Monthly Meeting and Walk




Greetings, All, 
On Tuesday, June 19 at 7:00pm in Room 328 of the Biology Building, Northern Arizona University, there will be a talk by Rachel Ostlund called Seeds of Success: Increasing Native Seed Availability of the Colorado Plateau. 
Seeds of Success Intern Rachel Ostland will discuss the national BLM program dedicated to creating a sustainable supply of native plant materials for use on lands within the U.S.  The talk will include a brief history of the program, as well as how the Flagstaff-based SOS team goes about creating priority lists and doing seed collections that are then available for restoration and research on the Colorado Plateau. 
Hope to see you all there!!
By the way, entries in the 2012 Garden Showcase and Public Tour close on Friday, June 22
Dorothy Lamm

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Flagstaff Garden Tours



We have had a slow start this season, but beginning June 16 we have a great list of invitations to visit private gardens! 

We begin on June 16.  Gurdarshan and Haring Khalsa have invited us to return to their garden.  Their garden was one of our last  we visited in the fall.  It is a lovely place and for those of us who saw it then should find it particularly interesting to see during spring-into-summer.

We also have confirmed invitations for July 7 and August 25 and several others that are tentative.  However,  please remember that  the success of our informal group depends on members securing invitations. 

I hope to see you all at the Khalsa garden on June 16 – 10 a.m. J Jean Hockman

When: Saturday, June 16, 10 a.m.
What:  Visit the garden of Gurdarshan and Haring Khalsa
Where: 2976 Pebble Beach Drive
Details: Gurdarshan writes: This garden has been an ongoing "project" for 26 years.  It is never finished as all gardeners will understand. We have incorporated rock work in the landscape plan.  My style is country rustic with a leaning toward the English garden.  I grew up in Seattle and it has been difficult to leave the water loving plants behind.  The focus is on flowers as our yard has become more shady over the years.

Driving Directions:
 I-40 to Country Club Road                        
1.  Exit I-40 at Exit 201 onto Country Club Dr - head S
2.  Continue S through the traffic light at Cortland Blvd - turn right onto Oakmont (no traffic light)
3.  Follow Oakmont as it winds around to Olympic - turn right (intersection is Y-shaped)
4.  Olympic ends at a 'T' - turn left onto Meadow Brook
5.  Turn right onto Pebble Beach Dr
6.  Turn right into the very first cul-de-sac
 East Butler
1.  Follow Butler E past the traffic light at Fox Glenn
2.  Turn left onto Continental Dr (no traffic light)
3.  Turn left onto Timberline Rd
4.  Turn right onto Augusta Dr
5.  Turn left onto Oakmont
6.  Turn right onto Meadow Brook
7.  Turn left onto Pebble Beach Dr
8.  Turn right into the very first cul-de-sac
Gurdarshan and Haring's phone number is 526 5831