Twenty years of great memories with the master gardeners

Spring 2001, I visited the Big Country Master Gardener Association booth at the Abilene Home and Garden show. I picked up info about the organization.

I later submitted my application for the Spring 2002 Big Country Master Gardener class, was accepted, and started classes March 7, 2002. My skills prior to the class were sufficient to grow a few flowers here and there – mostly by experiment. I looked forward to most of the classes.

At the first class, Gary Bomar and Joyce Dalzell provided an introduction and overview and covered soil testing. While faces and topics may have changed over the years, soil testing is still on the agenda.

Many of you probably knew Fred Perkins, the face of the BCMGA for years. Fred could talk about anything, but that year in class he talked about growing vegetables.

Others likely knew Jack Stuard, who shared his love of gardening with iris and daylilies, including a tour of his yard. After hearing Jack speak, I became an avid fan of daylilies, and have multiple varieties in my flower beds. I also had a new appreciation for irises! Today irises seem to be making a comeback to an entirely new generation.

I knew a few of the faces in the class, either through reputation or business dealings, but no close friends to sit by. The amazing thing that happened was by the next week, a bond had formed for several of us and we stayed friends throughout the class and some time beyond graduation in May.

As with all classes, life changes and some didn’t finish the class, others just drifted away after the end of the classes. There were four from the class of spring 2002 that completed the required certification hours, and were active for many years. Today, 20 years later, there are still two of us active in the BCMGA: Jo Rake and myself.

So why are we still involved? I think Jo will agree, the real learning takes place alongside fellow gardeners sharing knowledge, seeds, plants, tools, our personal yards and good friendships. There is always someone able to provide answers to your questions, willing to share a plant, even babysit your plants while you’re out of town.

While we visit during our monthly meetings, our best times are working on a project or getting ready for a plant sale. These are the times we work together to achieve a common goal, typically to share with the community.

We spend a lot of hours working at the Demo Gardens at the Extension office, the beautiful grounds at Swenson House, the raised pollinator bed at First Central Presbyterian Church, our Maple Street Gardens project in planning, our spring and fall plants sales, and other miscellaneous opportunities that come up.

A few months ago, we offered to plant the planters at the Taylor County Expo grounds. Some of you may be familiar with the brown planters that provide seating scattered around the grounds. We needed to get these done so they would be somewhat ready for Western Heritage week.

Do you remember the weekend the wind had gusts up to 60 mph recorded at the airport, then turned cold and wet on Sunday? Four of us shoveled top soil into the planters during the wind storm on Friday, and then planted them in the cold and wet weather on Sunday afternoon.

I never dreamed there would be so many master gardeners show up on Sunday to help plant, but we had five brave souls and we planted 13 planters that day. Why? Because it was fun and that’s what master gardeners do.

Some friends have retired and moved off to faraway places, such as Colorado, and some are no longer able to attend meetings or help with the projects. It is likely that we still see these friends, talk gardening in their new location or possibly how to garden with physical limitations. And we are still connected through this common interest.

There are definitely a lot of different personalities, skills and abilities, but we all have the same interest – "How do I get this to grow in Abilene, Texas?"

We hope that we help you answer those questions along the way, and that we can count you as our friend! Please visit our Facebook page and say “hi!”

Kathy Turner is a member of the Big Country Master Gardeners.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Twenty years of great memories with the master gardeners