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, December 28, 2012

Desert Botanical Garden January Events


Itching to get your winter plant fix. Head down to the Desert Botanical Garden.  www.dbg.org   480-941-1225

Now - May 27, 2013

exhibit

WHISPERS OF A NEW WORLD: SCULPTURE BY CAROLINA ESCOBAR

Using vibrant colors and shapes inspired by nature, Escobar works with steel, copper screen and resined cloth to create organic sculptures. Included with paid Garden admission.

Now - April 28, 2013

art at the garden

PHILIP HAAS: THE FOUR SEASONS

This fall, the Desert Botanical Garden will debut American artist and filmmaker Philip Haas’ monumental work, The Four Seasons. Haas was inspired by the 16th century Italian artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo.

Now - December 30, 2012

las noches de las luminarias, presented by the arizona republic

LAS NOCHES DE LAS LUMINARIAS

Las Noches de las Luminarias offers guests a truly unique holiday celebration for 21 nights in December.

Cochise County Master Gardener Conference


Subject: High Desert Gardening & Landscaping Conference

The Cochise County Master Gardeners Association is planning their 20th annual High Desert Gardening & Landscaping Conference to be held February 14 & 15, 2013, at the Windemere Hotel & Conference Center in Sierra Vista. The website is up with conference program and registration information at http://ag.arizona.edu/cochise/mg/HighDesertConf/ConfHomePage.html. Due to the facility the conference is limited to 180 participants. We have a special speaker Friday morning in honor of this being the 20th anniversary - Jeff Gillman is a professor of horticulture at the University of Minnesota and author of The Truth about Garden Remedies and The Truth about Organic Gardening. Plus, as you will see we have a lot of other great speakers.

Please share the link above with any of your Master Gardeners that may be interested in attending.
Thanks,
Susan
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Susan Pater
University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, Cochise County
County Director, Extension Agent 4-H Youth Development
450 S. Haskell Ave., Willcox AZ 85643
office: 520.766.3601 | fax: 520.384.3681 | cell: 520.507.5939
email:  spater@ag.arizona.edu

Thursday, December 27, 2012

First Coconino Master Gardener Association talk of 2013 - Start your year off right!


Start the new year right by attending the upcoming Coconino Master Gardener Association talk followed by a business meeting.  Don’t forget, attending both will earn you one continuing education hour and one volunteer hour.

Gardening without Pesticides

Learn how you can use non-toxic alternatives to keep your landscape looking great. Paul Gazda will share what he has discovered in his personal experience and as leader of the Sustainable Landscape Maintenance project at Northern Arizona University. Stay after the talk for refreshments and for the Master Gardener Association meeting. Non-members welcome.

Coconino Master Gardener Association Meeting
Thursday, January 10
6:30pm – 8:30pm
Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church
1601 N. San Francisco St.
Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Winter Garden Open House


Todd Cisco is holding an open house of his garden on Dec. 13.  Anyone that heard him speak at the Arizona Highlands Garden Conference will surely want to attend.  And even if you didn’t have an opportunity, this is a garden visit not to miss.  He has many ideas for 4-season gardening.  Here’s some information about the open house.

I will be hosting a follow-up open house to the 4-season gardening seminar I did at your annual meeting on Thursday, December 13th from 9AM until dark. The address is 2645 E. Matterhorn Drive, in the Swiss Manor neighborhood.

I look forward to you attending and would also like to extend a warm welcome to anyone else who may be interested.

In summary, folks who stop by can see first-hand simple, inexpensive, usable techniques that can make 4-season gardening possible, and, view the progress of this winters crops right before the Solstice. As Peggy Pollack, senior lecturer at NAU's biology department stated after visiting the site of the tour, that actually seeing the techniques in person was the best confirmation of the information recently given during the presentation to her sustainability class on 4-season gardening.

Several FUSD and NAU classes will be attending in addition to community leaders, students, business owners, Master Gardeners and Flagstaff residents of the Winter Gardening Seminars given this past summer.

Please forward to anyone who you feel may find this tour interesting and I look forward to meeting anyone interested in learning how to grow- 4-season- more veggies in their backyard, or commercial techniques that can be garnered from the experience this type of growing has unveiled.

Hattie Braun
University of Arizona
Master Gardener Program Coordinator
Coconino County Cooperative Extension
2304 N. 3rd St.
Flagstaff, AZ  86004

Phone:  928-774-1868  x 170
FAX:  928-774-1860