Spring Into Gardening Conference - Prescott

😞 Sorry this conference is full
Coconino Master Gardeners –

Here is the long-awaited information for the March 25^th  Spring into Gardening - Master Gardener Education Day.

This is for active Master Gardeners only. This means that you need to have entered some volunteer hours within the last year.

Unlike a Garden Conference with vendors, welcome bags, door prizes, etc. this is a no-frills day of continuing education.  In order to keep the fee reasonable ($12 fee covers lunch), we ask that you do the following.

• Wear your MG nametag
• Print the agenda and any info you want to have with you
• Bring your own morning coffee/hot drink – water, snacks, and lunch will be provided

The attached Registration file includes instructions, the agenda, and the registration form.  There is a limitation on the number of participants for the different talks/activities.  The positions will be filled on a “first come, first served” basis.  Notice that your registration includes your lunch selection and the talks/activities you wish to participate in.  In response to feedback from previous Garden Conferences, you will notice that some sessions are repeated.

Registrations are due by March 1^st.

The attached files include:

• Registration (Instructions, the day’s agenda, and registration form)
• Mar25thAbstracts (Descriptions of each talk/activity)
• Bios (Information on the presenters)

You will receive an e-mail confirmation after your registration is received (including check or credit card payment).  If you do not receive the confirmation with about 5 days of mailing, contact Mary Barnes, barnesm@email.arizona.edu

Registrants will receive a map, parking instructions, etc. closer to the event date.

Registration

Bios

Native Plant Society Meeting and Volunteering at Deaver Herbarium

"Flagstaff Area Milkweeds" by Zack Zdinak. 

 

Naturalist and illustrator Zackery Zdinak propagates Asclepias sp. in his native plant garden, and makes specimens available for research. Zack has devoted his life to the love of wildlife and nature, catching frogs and snakes in Connecticut as a child, and later as a peripatetic Wildlife Biologist, Fire Fighter and Interpreter with US Fish & Wildlife, National Forest and National Park Services in Utah and Arizona. In 1998, Zack founded Life Drawing & Education, providing products and services for environmental education, interpretation, and science inquiry programs. He has designed, illustrated and managed interpretive media projects for parks, campgrounds, arboreta, public schools, and non-profit clients in several states. 

Tuesday, March 21, 7 PM at the Museum of Northern Arizona, Pearson Building on the Museum of Northern Arizona’s Research Campus, across from the main campus off HWY 180. Easy to find!  Easy to park! 

Also, Do not forget, plant mounting at the Deaver Herbarium, the first and third Thursday of the month, 1:30 pm, 3rd floor of the Biology Building at NAU.  This month will be March 2nd and 16th.  If you have any questions, contact gkluwin2@gmail.com or vera.markgraf86@gmail.com. Come and enjoy the company of other plant enthusiasts!

Native Plant Worshop - Keep Sedona Beautiful

I just received notice from KSB about their annual Native Plant Workshop. I have attended several times and found the workshop inexpensive and useful. This year Bill McDorman from the Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance is one of the keynotes. If you haven't heard him he is a great speaker and this year will talk about invasive plants. Check it out if you are interested.

It is that time of year when it is time to register for the Native Plant Workshop!  You have attended the Workshop in the past, so we wanted to be sure that you would have first choice of the six workshops being offered (the walkabout has a limit of 15 so everyone can see and hear and the others are maxed out at 30 attendees per session).

Here is the link:  http://keepsedonabeautiful.org/our-programs/native-plant-workshop.html

And feel free to pass this information on to anyone else that you think would be interesting in this educational experience. 

All the best,

Nancy Spinelli

Native Plant Workshop Chair

Keep Sedona Beautiful

Keep Sedona Beautiful, Inc., acting through the stewardship of its members and volunteers,

is committed to protect and sustain the unique scenic beauty and natural environment of the Greater Sedona Area.

Picture Canyon Volunteering

Good afternoon!

My name is Erin O’Keefe, I am the Open Space Aide working with Betsy Emery in the City of Flagstaff Open Space Program. This year, I will be assisting with coordinating volunteer events throughout the summer at Picture Canyon. Since you all are very knowledgeable about invasive plants and very dedicated to conservation at Picture Canyon, I wanted to touch bases and get some input about best days and times for scheduling volunteer efforts throughout the summer. Would you prefer mornings to afternoons for weed-pulling events? Also, do weekdays work better (perhaps Fridays) or are weekends preferred? We will be advertising these volunteer events with the public and are hoping to organizer the monthly pulls between April and September, depending on the conditions on the ground.

So far, we have set one volunteer event for Picture Canyon in celebration of Arbor Day. We recently met with another Picture Canyon steward with the Northern Arizona Audubon Society and decided on hosting an event on Saturday, April 29^th from 9am-12pm at Picture Canyon. We are envisioning a two in one effort where we are able to have some volunteers pull fencing from the riparian area near the pond while other volunteers remove invasive weeds in the same area (and hopefully are able to remove the Scotch thistles that survived last year). Please let us know if you are available on this day and are interested, or know of others who may be interested in participating. Feel free to share this information with anyone else that might be interested in volunteering.

We are excited to begin our volunteer planning for the summer! Thank you for all the continued support. I look forward to meeting each of you in person in the near future. Have a great rest of your week.

Thanks,

Erin O’Keefe | Open Space Aide VISTA

City of Flagstaff Sustainability Program

eokeefe@flagstaffaz.gov | 928.213.2155

www.facebook.com/FlagstaffOpenSpace | www.flagstaff.az.gov/PictureCanyon

www.instagram.com/FLGSustain  | www.twitter.com/SustainFLG

Weed Management

News from the Native Plant Society

Dear colleagues, I know that this may not be accurate but I often find that native plant enthusiasts are also concerned about exotic weed invasions.  I have been working with some colleagues to develop a survey of weed priorities for natural areas but I need to improve circulation and participation. Feel free to complete the survey yourself but can you help me circulate this survey among land managers and weed control folks in Arizona? This survey has been developed for Arizona specifically with the goal of getting broader input into the prioritization of weeds and which should be targets of biological control.

Please circulate the following link to stakeholders in Arizona who are responsible for weed management or have knowledge/experience of weed impacts first-hand (e.g. county-level weed managers, land management agencies, individual landholders, weed ecologists). All surveys should be completed by 22-Feb-2017. The survey is designed to short as well as enable each person to forward the link on to others as well. Here is the link:

http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/ 3328954/Prioritizing-Weeds- for-Biological-Control-Arizona

Thanks, Paul.

Dr. Paul Pratt, Ph.D.

Research Leader

Exotic and Invasive Weeds Research Unit

USDA/ARS/WRRC

800 Buchanan Street, Office 3008, Lab 2136

Albany, CA  94710

Office: (510) 559-6127

Cell: (510) 332-7679

International Master Gardener Conference

The International Master Gardener Conference (IMGC) is happening this year in Portland, Oregon July 10-14. To be at a conference with over 1,000 Master Gardeners is an experience not to be missed. I’m forwarding an e-mail with lots of information but if you don’t want to read all that click on this link 2017 International Master Gardener Conference. The conference will feature 5 days of talks, tours, movies and more. So if you summer travels include a visit to the northwest, think about signing up. Early registration ends Jan. 13. I’ll be there!

Hattie

The deadline for the early registration discount ($50) for the 2017 IMGC is nearing.  The last day for early registration is January 13th.

More than 45 classes will be given in concurrent sessions, according to Amy Jo Detweiler, a horticulturist for Extension and coordinator of the speakers. Classes embrace a broad range of topics, including garden design, edibles, bee health, disease and pest management, pruning, soils and history.
Three keynote speakers are on the agenda – Dan Hinkley, plant explorer and former owner of Heronswood Nursery; Renee Shepherd, founder and owner of Renee’s Garden; and John Marzluff, professor of environmental and forest sciences at the University of Washington.
Other well-known presenters are Lee Reich, horticulturist and author; Sean Hogan, owner of Cistus Nursery in Sauvie Island; Lucy Hardiman, Portland garden designer and author; Ramesh Sagili, assistant professor and bee expert at OSU; and Thomas Rainer, landscape architect, teacher and author.
A garden-themed movie festival, trade show and 16 full- or half-day tours are also planned.

Coconino Master Gardener Meeting Agenda

Thursday, February 09, 2017 – 6:30pm

Viola’s Flower Garden

7085 S. State Route 89A

6:30pm – 6:45pm     Welcome – Sherline Alexander, president
6:45pm – 6:50pm     Introduction of Speaker – Hattie Braun
6:50pm – 7:45pm     Education:  Fruit Trees:  Pruning, Care and Selection - Mick Henry & Hattie Braun
7:45pm – 8:00pm     Refreshments and Raffle Prize Drawing
8:00pm – 8:25pm     Business Meeting – Sherline Alexander
     MG Coordinator Happenings - Hattie Braun
     Financial report – Molly Larsen
     Committee Reports:
     ●     Volunteer Support – Crys Wells
     ●     Fundraising – Cindy Krznarich
     ●     Continuing Education – Gilli Thomas
     ●     MG Projects – Jackee Alston
     ●     Historian – Tammy Valdovino
     ●     Community Markets – Andrea Guerrette
8:25pm – 8:30pm     Gardening Questions?      

Next meeting:           March 9:  Tom Weinert on soil building and organic gardening

Educational and Volunteer Opportunities from the blog (coconinomgassociation.blogspot.com)