September 20, 2013
The 2013 Purdue Master Gardener State Conference was held September 5-7, 2013 in Bristol, IN! Hats off to the Michiana Master Gardener Association and Purdue Extension- Elkhart County for hosting this year’s conference!
On Friday, September 6, during the 2013 Purdue Master Gardener State Conference, Rosie Lerner, Purdue Consumer Horticulture Extension Specialist and former Purdue State Master Gardener Coordinator was honored for her nearly 29 years of service to the Purdue Master Gardener Program. Dr. Bob Joly, Department Head, Purdue Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, attended the conference to share his deep appreciation for Rosie’s many contributions to the Purdue MG Program. Rosie Lerner began her career with Purdue in 1984 and actually trained the first Master Gardeners for the Tippecanoe County Master Gardener Program in 1988. Rosie has led many study abroad training opportunities, contributed significantly with Mary Welch-Keesey to the writing and publishing of the new Purdue MG Manual, and has helped train hundreds of Master Gardeners through intern trainings and continuing education opportunities throughout the state of Indiana during her years of service. She has continued to serve as full time Consumer Horticulture Extension Specialist for Purdue. Thank you Rosie!!!
Congratulations to the following Purdue Master Gardener Search for Excellence Award Winners who received recognition on Saturday, September 7th, 2013!
Demonstration Garden:
1st Place – Marion County Master Gardeners for the Medicinal Plant Garden at the Indiana Medical History Museum
The goal of the Medicinal Plant Garden (MPG) is to teach students and the public that plants are more than just beautiful: that they have been, in fact, the source of almost all medicines around the world, even some of the modern miracle drugs we depend on today. The garden (and its guidebook and associated lectures) does not encourage the use of herbal remedies, but rather it demonstrates over 100 species and tells the fascinating stories of their uses. Both the toxic and beneficial effects of plants are explored. The MPG is located at the Indiana Medical History Museum in Indianapolis, a not-for-profit institution that was founded in 1969 and is located within easy reach of five local universities and several other training institutes. A particular target audience for the garden is the many health care students from these nearby schools of medicine, nursing, forensics, and allied health care areas. The close proximity of the institutions attended by the special target audience makes it practical and easy for them to visit the museum and garden.
2nd Place – Sunnyside Master Gardener Association of Southern Indiana/Floyd County for their Butterfly Garden
The Butterfly Garden was developed to attract and nurture the second largest group of pollinators in North America, butterflies, and to provide a sample of plants from which the home gardener might choose to incorporate into plantings of their own. The garden was originally developed in 2004 in conjunction with the Georgetown, Indiana Optimist Club, who allowed use of their land for the garden. The garden was available to children and adults who used the Optimist Club for social events and youth sports leagues and was incorporated into the Youth Master Gardener Program conducted at the Club each summer under the auspices of the Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service and Master Gardeners.
The Butterfly Garden was designed by a Sunnyside Master Gardener member in the shape of a butterfly approximately 60′ wide and 75′ high, with plantings grouped to highlight the body, wings, and antennae of a butterfly. The garden was situated on a south facing slope behind the Optimist Club. Host and nectar plants were chosen that research indicated were attractive to butterflies common to Southern Indiana. A team of Sunnyside Master Gardeners prepared the soil, laid out the beds, and completed the planting in 2004. Planting areas and pathways were mulched to control weeds and conserve moisture. From 2005 to 2009, project members maintained the garden as designed with workdays as needed during the growing season. Tasks included removing overgrown plants, weeding, mulching, and pruning as needed.
Educational Services:
1st Place – Madison County Master Gardener Association for the Indiana Garden School I
The school was designed to “Help Others Grow”. It was open to the general public state-wide as well as other master gardeners. The goal was to offer a school at a reasonable cost for participants where they could learn from leading teachers and get all of their questions answered. We wanted to have the school at a location where it was easily accessible, a nice learning environment and plenty of room for the breakout sessions and for the vendors. We wanted a facility that had all of the necessary audio and visual offerings. We wanted to have lunch provided, so that they would not have to leave the facility during the school. We held it at the Madison Park Church of God in Anderson.
2nd Place – Master Gardeners of LaGrange County for their work with the Corn School 2012
Corn School is a festival that takes place in downtown LaGrange, Indiana in the first full week of October every year. Begun in 1906, it was originally started as a one-day festival for boys in the local corn growing classes to show off their products. They were to receive prizes for their corn, and a day was to be designated in their honor.
Since 1909, Corn School has opened on Tuesday and continued for a full week. Its premium list was increased to include livestock, poultry, farm products, needlework, fruit, and pastry. The festival has gone from a simple harvest awards day to a week-long celebration with carnival rides, games, parades, and the vegetable awards. There are 26 categories, group displays and garden displays that are judged in both an Adult category (18 and older) and a junior category (under 18):
- Flower show: 10 classes with sub-classes
- Farm and Garden Exhibits: 16 classes wth one sub-class
- Group exhibits
- Garden Display Exhibit
Special Needs Audience:
1st Place – Noble County Master Gardeners for their Greenhouse Project at the Chain O’ Lakes Correctional Facility
The Noble County Master Gardeners, in conjunction with the Chain O’Lakes Correctional Facility erected a 10′ by 24′ greenhouse at the correctional facility. The project started out as a tool to help the offenders become more employable upon their release from this minimum security prison. It has turned into so much more. Our goals were to educate the offenders in the greenhouse industry and related fields to make them more employable upon their release. If we didn’t accomplish that we at least wanted to get them interested in gardening for a couple of reasons. One as a way to help feed themselves and their families and the self-pride and satisfaction that brings. Another reason is that most of these guys are drug or alcohol abusers. The easiest way to break an addiction is to substitute it with another, less destructive addiction. And we all know how addicting gardening can be.
We already have a classroom gardening and landscape teaching program at the facility and figured the next logical step would be a hands on education. One of our Master Gardeners had access to a 10′ x 24′ hoop style cold frame and sold it to the facility at a very reasonable price. The state also purchased the plastic covering for it. The rest was donated by Master Gardeners: doors, windows for vents, heaters, fans. The inmates erected the greenhouse, covered it with plastic, ran the wiring, installed the vents and doors, did the excavating, and eventually even landscaped around it. We got the seeds donated to us by Sieger’s Seed Company and by many of our Master Gardeners. The correctional facility agreed to purchase the planting containers, planting media, and fertilizer.