Master gardeners help keep Colorado growing

By Dan MacArthur
North Forty News

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Bugs bothering your begonias? Petunias looking peaked? Leafy spurge on the surge? Radishes ravaged? Lawn looking listless?

Who you gonna call? Master Gardeners to the rescue.

Sponsored by Colorado State University Larimer County Extension, the program for more than 30 years has recruited and trained a committed core of volunteers dedicated to assisting their fellow green thumbs with the special challenges of gardening in this unforgiving country.

It's one of the largest programs on the Front Range, horticultural agent Alison Stoven O'Connor said. There currently are 120 active masters gardeners who last year volunteered more than 6,500 hours of their time.

"It's like a second job in some cases," she said.

The master gardeners are the cream of the crop. New recruits must complete 60 hours of intense training that covers a broad range of topics from insects to soil characteristics to landscape strategies.

"It's equal to a four-year horticultural degree in 60 hours," O'Connor said in jest. "Lots of information is thrown at them. It's very intense."

As first-year apprentices, they also are required to perform at least 50 hours of volunteer service. Veteran gardeners must complete 12 hours of continuing education each year to remain in good standing and volunteer for at least 24 hours.

Interviews for the limited number of slots in the annual training class are scheduled in fall with the class starting in January. It continues 13 weeks for a full day each week. Applicants are subject to background checks and are expected to have at least two years of gardening experience in this region.

Tom Noon is among the few and the proud. He volunteered for the master gardener program after moving to the LaPorte area from greater Washington, D.C., where he retired as a project manager for the defense department.

"It was a change environmentally," said Noon, who back East focused more on native plants through his volunteer work with the National Wildlife Federation.

It took him time to adjust to the lack of trees and moisture in what can be a challenging Colorado climate. "The extremes are much more extreme here," he said.

But Noon has embraced gardening here as well as his work as a master gardener.

"It's a good way to serve the community," Noon said, in addition to educating himself on ways to landscape his home in a manner beneficial to wildlife.

"It is really fun," said O'Connor. "It's as much social as it is educational."

On a recent day on duty at the office, Noon fielded a range of inquiries about bedbugs that instead turned out to be ticks, mountain pine beetles, clover mites and juniper rust.

Master gardeners usually are available by phone at 498-6000 or in person at the extension office at 1525 Blue Spruce Drive from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays. The Master Gardener program also staffs question-and-answer booths at community events such as the seasonal farmers markets on Saturdays in the parking lot of the county courthouse office building in downtown Fort Collins.

Informational bulletins also are available online, and residents can e-mail the master gardener on duty at larimermg@gmail.com.

The extension office also offers information and assistance with food safety and preservation, small acreages, financial management, agriculture and 4-H.