It's
down to the wire now! I'm pleased to report all these little fires we
have been putting out have been manageable. Please consider
volunteering if you haven't already. Don't know what to do? Come to
one of the two volunteer training meetings 9:30 AM, April 4, or 7:00 PM,
April 18, both at the Doral. We'll provide an overview of the
conference, a tour of the Doral and give you a chance to see where your
talents can be put to use. Of course, all you scheduled volunteers are
encouraged to attend. Please let Peggy or Donna know which date you're
planning to attend.
I'd like to thank our sponsors for the conference. Hope you can too.
They are Bunker Plastics, Argyle Acres, Calloway's Nursery, DeBerry
Funeral Home, Dennis' Farm Store, Four Seasons Nursery, Sonic, Lantana
Gardens, Lawn Land, Oak Grove United Methodist Church, and several of
your friends in the Denton County Master Gardeners Association: Mary J.
McKinley, Rob and Mary Morrow, Linda and Lyle Williams, and Doug and
Donna Wolfe.
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Gift Basket to be Raffled This beautiful gift
basket will be raffled at the 2005 State Advanced Training
Conference. The drawing will be held during lunch on Saturday.
Tickets are $5 each or 3/$10. DCMGs may purchase tickets at the
extension office or at the April monthly meeting. |
The basket contains:
1) $50 gift certification from Old House Gardens
2) 20 plant markers
3) one pair of mud gloves
4) long handle bulb planter
5) "Bulbs for Warm Climates", by Thad M. Howard
6) "Garden Bulbs for the South", by Scott Ogden |
Master Gardener
Successfully "Transplanted"
For those of us who know Phil Weatherby (98), past Program Chairman and
2003 Garden Tour Homeowner, some may already know that she and husband,
Yale, have moved to Mexico. They are getting settled in their new house,
enjoying the mild weather and, of course, volunteering in a number
of areas. They feel DCMGA was one of their closest associations and very
much appreciated all the help when it came time to move. They would love
to hear from all the DCMGs. Contact Donna Wolfe or Linda Williams for
information on their addresses and email contact.
Wild about
Wildflowers?
Find the best viewing spots by calling TX Dot's 24-hour "Wildflower
Hotline" (800) 452-9292 (open from early April through late June) or at
www.dot.state.tx.us.
Never enough
plants...!
Always room for something new in your garden? Then check out two up-coming
local plant sales:
Saturday, April 9 Spring Plant Sale at Ft. Worth Botanical Gardens
Saturday, June 4 Texas Discovery Gardens Plant Sale
Caladium Bulb Sale "Rained Out"
Unfortunately, there will be no sale of Caladium bulbs this year.
Due to the number and severity of hurricanes in Florida last year, the
crop has been mostly destroyed, resulting in a substantial increase in
price. Since this has been such a popular fundraiser, we will try again
next year.
Training Opportunities
"Suggestions for
Advanced Training Classes"
If you have any SPECIFIC ideas for advanced training classes, please
contact Jim and Carol Appleby, Advanced Training Class Chairpersons.
Free Master
Composter Class!
Free classes for Master Composter Certification are being offered by the
Town of Flower Mound. The classes will be held Thursday, April 14
(6pm-9pm), Friday, April 15 (6pm-9pm), and Saturday, April 16
(8:30am-4:30pm). All three classes must be attended and additional hours
must be completed in order to obtain the Master Composter Certification
through the State.
Free composting tools, shepherd style compost bins, books, T-shirts and
refreshments will be provided to all who attend. Pre-registration is
required. Contact Ernie Goucher/KFMB Coordinator, 972-874-6333,
ernie.goucher@flower-mound.com.
"Floral Design
Workshops"
The Benz School of Floral Design has set dates for Master Gardener
Workshops through December, 2005. Each workshop is held twice, once on
Saturday and repeated on Sunday. The classes are six hours, and include
lunch and two floral designs to take home.
The dates are:
April 9/10,
June11/12,
August 6/7,
October 8/9, and
December 3/4
For more information, contact
aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/benz
Kaufman County MG Spring
Garden Seminar
A Spring Garden Seminar will be presented by the Kaufman County Master
Gardeners on Saturday, April 9, from 8:30 AM -12:00 PM. Speakers will be
Dr. Michael Merchant, speaking on insect identification and pest control
methods, and Maggie McNeely, presenting the "The Evolution of Classical
Design." There will also be a plant sale, silent auction raffle and door
prizes. Admission will be a donation to the Kaufman County MGs. Call the
extension office at (972) 563-0233 to register and get directions.
North Denton Branch Library
Thursday, March 31, was the last workday for the North Denton Branch
Library xeriscape garden project until after the state conference. A sign
will be placed in the garden noting that this is a DCMGA project.
Carol Fitch, Project Manager
 The
Speakers Bureau
The Speakers Bureau had a busy, successful month in March! I would like to
thank all the DCMGs who took time to put together presentations and visit
local groups on behalf of the DCMGA.
March 1, Susan Musgrave, assisted by Andrea Hawk, "How to
Manage Garden Soils/Soil Enhancements, Canyon Oaks HOA, Argyle
March 4, Debbie Hipp, "Attracting Wild Birds to Your Landscape", Dallas
Home and Garden Show
March 4, Carolyn Tinner, Janie Farler, Judy Cobb, Sue Chellew, Amy
Marcotte "Topiary Workshop", Dallas Home and Garden Show
March 6, Rica Potenz, "Native Texas Gardening", Dallas Home and Garden
Show
March 14, Rodney Sowalskie, "The Three Keys to Successful Gardening", The
Colony Early Childhood PTA, The Colony
March 22, Karen Archambault, "Xeriscaping", Flower Mound Public Library,
Flower Mound
The Speakers Bureau is pleased to add Susan Musgrave and
Rodney Sowalskie to our group. We are always looking for new members! If
you have an interest in joining us, but are not sure if you are ready yet,
why not accompany one of us to a presentation?
Our next presentation will by Wednesday, April 6 at the
Denton County Senior Citizen Center. Maurine LeBeau will be discussing
"Texas Hardy Perennials."
Annell Burns, Project Manager
Argyle
Acres
It's April and that means it's time for the irises
to bloom in grand profusion. For the last two years, DCMGA members
have served as docents for the Open House at Argyle Acres Iris Farm,
held for two weeks in mid-April. Volunteers have guided countless
visitors through the paths of multiple colors and hues of glorious
irises. This year will be no exception. John has given us the OK to
work on this project since the outreach potential is tremendous.
Last year we greeted people from all over the state of Texas, as
well as surrounding states, while discussing the different iris
varieties and commiserating with lots of folks about gardening in
general.
Joe and Donna Spears will be conducting a training
class on April 5 at 4:00 PM on location, identifying various types
of irises, blooming times, planting techniques, and general
information on the species. The Open House will be held from
Saturday, April 9 through Sunday, April 24, from noon to 5:00 PM
each day. Volunteers for shifts are especially needed on the
weekends and on Tuesdays (our interns are in class), but we could
use some veterans on just about any day. If you are interested in
volunteering to receive training hours (for the training session on
April 5) or service hours please contact me (you may have to leave a
message and I will get back to you).
Kaye Gross, Project Manager
LISDOLA
A simple thank you is not enough to all of you, especially
our 2005 interns, who have tirelessly toiled at LISDOLA over the past two
months. We trimmed all of the roses in the rose garden, created two
potting/growing beds for anticipated plant donations, weeded, shoveled,
raked, tilled, and cleaned up the beds and thinned some of the plants. The
enthusiasm of the 2005 interns caused me to fill up with tears! They
insisted on two additional work days that had not been officially
scheduled. We still have two more official workdays on the calendar;
Monday, April 25 and Monday, May 23. There is still lots of weeding and
mulching that needs to be done and we will be needing help with the care
and watering of the donated plants that will be housed there over the
summer months. Rica Potenz and I both want to give a special thanks to our
2005 interns.
Karen Archambault, CO-project Manager
Habitat for Humanity
Denton County Habitat for Humanity is at work on four
homes this spring, and DCMGA volunteers will have an opportunity to work
on landscaping them for service hours. We don't have definite work dates
yet, but we will be landscaping two in Sanger in mid to late April and two
in Denton approximately two weeks later. If you would like to work on
these projects, watch for an email when we have exact dates. If you have
plants to donate, contact me.
Nancy Franke, Project Manager
Highland Village Elementary
School
The Highland Village Elementary Outdoor Classroom is
looking awesome! Thanks to a team of DCMG interns, we were able to mulch
the whole area in two days. We have trimmed and cleaned up the area and
added stepping stones throughout the beds to invite the students into the
planting areas for a closer look. We also added large tree trunks as
additional sitting areas and for aesthetics. The raised vegetable beds are
clean and ready for the kindergarten classes to plant strawberries and
vegetable seeds. The fifth graders plan to plant bookmarks which have
seeds imbedded into the bookmark paper. Join us on Friday, April 1 and
Friday, April 15 (both days at 8:30 AM) for work days, when we will add
more stepping stones around the veggie beds, plant ground cover, label all
plants and start both a sensory garden and butterfly garden. Future plans
include a weather station, new entrance arbor, bird houses, and more
plantings.
Jill Peak, Project Manager
Upper Trinity Regional
Water District
A special workday for the 2005 intern class was held last
month. We toured the gardens; then met and decided on bed color for four
sites in the gardens. The Lewisville Smartscape Event, featuring the
gardens, will be held on April 9 and DCMGs will be docents. The gardens
will also be part of the tours offered at the 2005 Advanced Training
Conference and work has been completed on a brochure about the gardens, to
be used at both upcoming events.
Linda Williams, Project Manager
Children's Community Garden
The Children's Community Garden began its 2005 season on
Thursday, March 23, with four preschoolers, several parents and even two
grandparents! The garden is looking colorful and cheerful with a bright
yellow sign (created by Andrea Hawk), a decorated trellis tunnel, a bunny
garden and twirling pinwheels. Susan Musgrave and Maurine LeBeau
graciously donated many mature strawberry plants, so we look forward to a
good crop of strawberries, vegetables, and flowers. Come by and visit us
Thursday and Saturday mornings at 9:00 AM at Bowling Green Park. We'll be
the ones having fun!
Marie Harris, Project Manager
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Publication of Denton County Master Gardener Association.