Graduation Day!

It's official . . . I am now a Master Gardener!  Last week we met for our last session and turned in our final exam (one of the toughest exams I've ever taken, and believe me, I've taken some hard ones).  After a potluck lunch to celebrate our hard work for the past 11 weeks, we had a mini-ceremony, complete with mortarboards . . . with insects glued on them (I chose a dragonfly).  We marched in procession into the meeting room to the tune of "Pomp and Circumstance" played by a kazoo orchestra made up of our instructors and active Master Gardeners.  A great way to top off weeks of hard work!

My head is so crammed full of gardening information that I'm not sure how much of it I could retrieve quickly. At the end of each session I felt as though I needed another memory chip in my brain. However, the excellent manual we used along with a spiral notebook full of class notes should help me find most answers I need in the future.

Here are just a few tidbits of information I learned that have stayed with me:

Bee on cosmos, August 2009

1.  "If you fill one side of a balance scale with all kinds of insect pests, and place a single bee on the other scale, the benefits of that one bee will outweigh the negative impact of all the others."  Our session on insects turned out to be one of my favorites, probably because of our enthusiastic instructor.  Although we spent almost the entire time on harmful insect, he was passionate about the benefits of pollinators.  Needless to say, the emphasis on pest control was to use natural controls.

2. Most forms of "nuisance wildlife" are protected by law in the state of Illinois (and no doubt many other states).  A permit is required to trap and remove these animals from your own property. Songbirds and migratory birds, including Canadian geese, are further protected by federal law.  So, had I tried to trap these two geese that were frequent visitors to our yard recently or found an egg and destroyed it, technically, I could have been prosecuted.  No such liability exists for pets, however, which is a good thing because I haven't seen these two since Sophie chased them across the field one day.  (No, she didn't hurt them, but I think they might have had heart palpitations after the experience.)

3. Voles, fortunately, are not protected by law, so a homeowner can take measures to eradicate them without fear of prosecution.  I will remember this because in my first stint as a volunteer answering the helpline in the Extension Office one day, the only phone call I received was about voles.  After researching the manual for an answer, my mentor gave me the best advice to share with the caller:  Set mousetraps baited with peanut butter mixed with oatmeal.  Or, place chewed up bubblegum near their holes, which will wreak havoc with their digestive systems.  Both much easier methods than the technical suggestions I found in books.

4. The class on soils was surprisingly interesting, too.  Besides learning about the geological forces that created soils and soil composition, we learned that this area has some of the richest soil in the world.  Okay, actually I already knew that part, but I just have to brag a little about Central Illinois:)

5. From our tree expert came this advice about selecting trees:  "Plant whatever your neighbors don't have!"  His point was actually about diversity--with the loss of trees caused by Dutch Elm disease in the 50's and 60's and now the Emerald Ash borer, which is coming closer and closer to our area, it's wise to plant a variety of trees so that future threats don't wipe out an entire tree population.

I doubt that any of my neighbors have a pussywillow tree like mine:)

6.  Speaking of trees, the section on plant pathology, or plant diseases, was pretty scary.  I find I can't walk past a stand of pine trees now without wondering if that dead branch means the tree has pine wilt, which will eventually cause the tree to die.   Of particular interest to me was the discussion on cedar-apple rust and apple scab, Venturia inaequalis. Last year my flowering crabs didn't bloom as fully as in the past, the leaves wilted and dropped over the summer, and a few blooms strangely appeared in August.    I talked to the instructor about the symptoms, and she said apple scab was a possibility.  Her best advice was to plant newer disease-resistant cultivars nearby so that they could eventually replace the older, diseased ones.

Crabapple blooms made a brief appearance last week before the winds blew away their delicate blossoms.

Dark pink and light pink blooms covered the trees, which looked pretty healthy this year.

All the flowering crabs were planted 20 -30 years ago, so I don't know any of the cultivars.  This white crabapple, though, has never shown any signs of disease, and its profuse blooms last longer than those of the pink varieties.

I would hate to lose any one of these trees, so I'm hoping the instructor's diagnosis is wrong.  Just the same,  I am going to be vigilant about watching these trees all summer.

The last weekend in March the local Master Gardeners chapter sponsored a two-day program on campus, "Spring into Gardening."  Although it wasn't part of our instruction and was an optional activity, I did attend and am glad I did.  The two featured speakers on Saturday were Joe Lamp'l, better known as Joe Gardener on PBS' "Garden Smart" and Rosalind Creasy, author of Edible Landscaping: Now You Can Have Your Gorgeous Garden and Eat it, Too.  Smaller breakout sessions also featured well-known speakers and gave me many ideas for choosing new shrubs and ideas for garden design and problem-solving.  Friday's session was a very entertaining presentation on landscape design by a well-known local professor.  To get us all to think about seeing our gardens in three dimensions, he had each of us design a small garden using Play-doh.

Here's my new daylily bed!  I thought it looked pretty amateurish, but this photo of my design was featured on our local MG Facebook page.

Now that the classroom part is over, there is still more work to be done. The mission of the Master Gardener program is to help others learn about gardening, and  we are required to complete 60 hours of volunteer work within our first year.  Until then, I am actually an MG intern.  Thirty hours must be spent in the Extension Office manning the help hotline, which is where I learned so much about voles.  Ten hours must be spent in Community Service, and I'll get a start on that today.  Another classmate and I are giving a presentation to an adult daycare facility to help them celebrate Earth Day. My friend is focusing on vegetables, and I'll be concentrating on flowers, with a slide show of blooms, butterflies, and bees from my garden.  Thanks to Sherry for kindly sending me some great photos of spring birds to add to the show.  Afterwards, we're going outside to do some planting.  I hope the group enjoys the presentation.

Active MG's gave us a tour of the Idea Garden one day before class.

The remaining 20 hours of volunteer time will be spent in the Idea Garden, and I'm really excited about this after admiring this garden the past few years.  The "newbies" are in charge of the annual color garden, but we are also encouraged to help in other parts of the Garden as well.  I chose the Sensory Garden, so you'll probably be hearing a lot about this section in coming months.  I've already spent a few hours helping out with clean-up there, and I've discovered another benefit to working in the Garden--leftover or divided plants at dirt cheap prices! Yesterday I came home with some lambs' ears and valerian. 

In all this, I haven't even mentioned another benefit of the program--meeting so many wonderful people who share a love of gardening.  Not only have I made lots of new friends, I'm going to be working side by side with some very experienced gardeners.  The learning is just beginning . . .

Wishing everyone a Happy Earth Day, and a special greeting to my mother who turns 80 years young today.  Happy Birthday, Mom!