Awards: 2019 - 2014

Our Spring Seminar, Peggy Martin Presents Old Garden and Antique Roses, won second place in the Educational Program category. This category recognizes a program presented by Master Gardeners that provides an opportunity to learn about a horticultural topic.

This category recognizes a Master Gardener whose involvement and contributions during the award year are of primary importance, although prior year contributions or involvement may also be considered.  

Do you want to learn how flowers hear bees, the impact of garlic on Lyme disease, how aggressive native plants fight invasive plants, or learn about smut fungus?  Rebecca Morrow can answer all that and more.  These are just a few of the educational topics Rebecca researches and enters in our Kaufman County Master Gardener website. Her topics vary and can be seasonal such as spooky plants and witches brew in October to information on frankincense and myrrh as well as poinsettia care in December. Rebecca presents topics of interest to many community organizations to include information on lady bugs, gardening for butterflies and good bugs.

Rebecca continues to contribute her talents to the development of our annual calendar, Facebook posts, compiling our annual handbook, and creation of flyers for seminars and other events. She also serves as webmaster and designs and maintains our website. Her contributions to the Kaufman County Master Gardener Association are unlimited.

This category recognizes a Master Gardener whose involvement and contributions during the award year are of primary importance, although prior year contributions or involvement may also be considered. 

Beverly Curtis is a dedicated, hardworking member in our association. She received her Master Gardener Intern Training in 2016 with the first Kaufman County intern class.  She was a serious hands-on student from the beginning, obviously enjoying the intern experience making learning look fun. Even as an intern, Beverly saw a need and started working.  Our high tunnel/hoop house was being used for storage and Beverly agreed with other Master Gardeners that it was not being used to its potential. She was the hoop house lead in January 2017 through 2018. Beverly recently completed the Texas Superstar Advanced Training and is planning to present the program in our community.

This garden was planned to enable Master Gardeners and Interns to learn how to demonstrate successful gardening techniques and to determine if if a 32" x 30" plot could produce enough vegetables for a family of four. A plan was made for a traditional row garden in partial shade. Plants and planting timetable were determined.  Master Gardeners and interns tilled, composted, planted, fertilized, watered, harvested and recorded. The result was 512.7 pounds of produce from February through October. The results were mixed, with enough tomatoes, potatoes, and summer squash to satisfy recommendations. Carrot and leafy greens production fell short due to poor seed germination during a very dry March.

The purpose of the calendar was to promote the Kaufman County Master Gardener program to county residents, attract persons who might be interested in becoming Master Gardeners, provide information on vegetable varieties and planting dates for our area, provide a list of gardening tasks for each month of the year, and to provide other information on gardening and related topics, like drip irrigation, rainwater harvesting, low-water-use perennials, rose rosette disease, firewise landscaping, and hazardous waste disposal. The calendars were distributed to Master Gardeners and vendors in November and December. An announcement was made that the calendar was available for pick-up in December. The remaining calendars were distributed at spring events and programs. Master Gardeners devoted over 300 hours to creation and distribution of the calendar.  

Planning for this first progam in Kafuman County started in March 2016. Implementing the program was a six-month process. The steps involved in implementation included:  planning engaging curriculum utilizing field trips and hands on learning, publicity in newspapers and e-mails, securing a venue, acceptance of applications, conducting interviews of applicants, conducting background checks, securing speakers, mentor training, gathering AV equipment, and engaging additional Master Gardener volunteers.

The 2016 program attracted 18 participants from the community with 100% completing the class.  The 2017 program attracted 18 participants from the community with 100% completion of the class. The high retention was made possible by the in-county training and a strong innovative mentor program.  Interns from the 2016 class have taken leadership positions including association secretary and hoop house coordinator.

This category recognizes a Master Gardener whose involvement and contributions during the award year are of primary importance, although prior year contributions or involvement may also be considered.

Dianne Kaufman County 2012, moving to Texas from California, where she had also been a Master Gardener..  When she initially called me to say she was a Master Gardener in California, where she was highly regarded. Dianne has participaded in all aspects of our association: educational programs, speakers' bureau, mentoring interns, and working in the gardens.She planned the in-county Master Gardener Training implemented this year. 

Master Gardener Rebecca Morrow spoke about no-dig gardening techniques that were also physically easier to manage, including raised-bed gardening, vertical gardening, and container gardening. Master Gardener Duddly Hargrove discussed the principles and methods of the popular square-foot gardening system promoted by Mel Bartholomew. The program ended with a demonstration of ways to recycle common items for use in the garden by Master Gardener Rebecca Morrow.  

Our goal was to present the information that gardeners would need to begin experimenting with fall and winter gardening, including: soil preparation, what and when to plant, herbs for fall and winter, and  how to extend the growing season.  Special emphasis was on reinforcing the importance of basic gardening practices like soil preparation, appropriate plant selection and good cultural practices. Topics were also based on the expertise of Kaufman County Master Gardeners and availability of speakers. Committee members secured a venue, handled publicity, organized assistance from other Master Gardeners, coordinated attendance by the outside speaker and nursery, and secured door prizes. Held on Saturday, September 12, 2015, the seminar attracted 65 participants from Kaufman and surrounding counties. Of the participants who submitted evaluations, 5 were from farms or ranches, 19 from rural areas, 11 from towns under 250,000 population (5 under 10,000, 4 10,000-60,000, 2 60,000-250,000). 

This program was planned in response to numerour inquiries from Kaufman County residents who wanted to grow food in their backyards. Topics included basic information necessary for individuals to determine whether they wanted to raise backyard chickens. providing both knowledge and product resources for individuals to pursue raising backyard chickens,   Descripting the types and varieties of fruit and nut trees suitable for use in home landscapes and outline basic growing practices, and discussing types of edible plants that can be included in landscaping including vines, vegetables and herbs. Held on Saturday, February 22, 2014, the event attracted 137 participants from around Kaufman County and surrounding counties. Participants’ comments indicated that most felt they got the information they needed to follow up on topics of interest, but additional seminars were requested to go more in depth on all three topics. 

The Monarch Garden replaces the Butterfly Garden, installed in 2008. We were discussing redoing the garden, which had become overgrown and contained roses infected with rose rosette disease, when we became aware of a grant from the Native Plant Society of Texas and the Bring Back the Monarchs to Texas (BBMT) program. The Garden Leader proposed a plan to replace existing plantings with host and nectar plants specifically for Monarch butterflies. Weed cloth and most of the plants were removed, and the soil was tilled and amended. Several native milkweeds, butterfly bush, salvia, lantana, verbena and other plants were installed, along with drip irrigation and three inches of mulch. Monarchs were quickly seen in the garden, and larvae were found on the milkweed in the summer.