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GET THE NEWSLETTER
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Lights, Camera, Action!
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Do you have photos of Master Gardeners in action? Submit digital images for the Master Gardener photo contest by October 1st to win prizes. Download and send the entry form and three to five digital images to be entered into the Master Gardeners in Action Photography Contest. Please note that the images should include at least one Master Gardener involved in a project or program.
Let us see and share with everyone some of the great work that you do as Master Gardener volunteers!
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Hours Reporting Upgrades
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The Master Gardener Hours Reporting System now has a new look and is more user friendly. Don't be alarmed if things look different when you log in to report your volunteer or continuing education hours. Familiarize yourself with the new system by watching the video tutorials on how best to use the new system found here. All the past data for Master Gardeners currently enrolled in the old system has been automatically transferred to the new platform.
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International Master Gardener Conference
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The biennial
International Master Gardener Conference is being held at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs on Sept. 22-25, 2015. Co-hosted by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach and University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension, workshops will provide opportunities to meet presenters that were part of the Growing Season webinar series this summer.
Iowa Master Gardeners Susan Appleget Hurst and Gary Whittenbaugh will be leading breakout sessions on growing herbs and conifers, respectively. Don't miss the chance to catch their presentations and many more at the conference.
Join more than 700 other Master Gardeners and friends from all over the world at this exciting event. It will never be closer than in our own backyard!
On-line registration is closed, but walk-in registrations are welcome and single-day registrations are available for the conference. All fee options include lunch. For more information or to edit an existing registration, click here:
http://mastergardener.unl.edu/imgc2015.
Susan Appelget Hurst will be speaking at the International Master Gardener Conference in Council Bluffs
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Welcome New Master Gardener Trainees!
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The Fall 2015 Master Gardener training will be offered at 23 locations with trainees from 29 counties across Iowa starting this month. Please join us in welcoming the 300 plus newest Master Gardener trainees to the program!
Also, if you still need to complete your class on campus experience, those dates for this fall are Saturday October 10 and Saturday October 24. Please contact your local coordinator about getting signed up for one of those dates if you need to make up that hands-on experience.
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Award Winning Master Gardener Project
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Did you visit the award-winning Discovery Garden at the Iowa State Fair? Congratulations to Polk County Master Gardeners who won a 2015 Search for Excellence Award for their work to raise awareness about plant names in the Discovery Garden. Master Gardeners created plant identification signs to engage thousands of visitors at the Iowa State Fair.
If you have a demonstration garden project that you would like to submit as an award application for next year, click here to learn more. Applications are due March 15, 2016.
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New Garden Calendar Available
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You may not be ready for winter just yet, but you can start shopping for holiday gifts now. The ISU Extension Online Store is offering the 2016 Iowa Garden Calendar: Guests of the Garden. It's loaded with beautiful pictures of wildlife in the garden and full of helpful garden tips and ideas. Click here to start shopping.
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Super Sleuths
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The August Mystery Plant has a handful of common names: standing cypress, scarlet gilia, red gilia, Texas plume, flame flower, Indian plume, and Spanish larkspur. The botanical name is
Ipomopsis rubra, but it is sometime listed as
Gilia rubra, a formerly accepted name. A closely related species,
Ipomopsis aggregata, has more clustered flowers. The Super Sleuths who recognized the plant pictured below were:
David Gates, Benton County; Mary Baughman, Cherokee County; Joy Smith, Cass County; Paula Winslow, Polk County; Mary Hawley, Wright County; and Michelle Boswell, Story County
. Congratulations to them!
Standing cypress is sometimes listed as a perennial for Zones 5-9, but more often performs as a self-seeding biennial, similar to hollyhocks and foxglove. If you avoid deadheading the plant, seedlings readily sprout from the scattered seeds, but seldom become aggressive in the landscape. Scarlet gilia grows best in full sun on dry sites, reaching 2 to 6 feet tall. (With names like Texas plume and Spanish larkspur, you might guess that it grows well in hot, dry sites.) This Iowa native's tubular red flowers are attractive to hummingbirds. It is also deer and drought resistant.
Denny Schrock
State Master Gardener Coordinator
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Featured Plant
from August
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Standing cypress,
Ipomopsis rubra
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September Mystery Plant
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What am I?
The September Mystery Plant is a member of the mint family (
Lamiaceae), but don't worry, it's not a spreader like so many others in that family. Most other members of the genus to which this plant belongs are woody shrubs, but this species and cultivar is a herbaceous perennial from Himalaya. It blooms in August and September up until frost. Even when not in bloom the plant is attractive in the landscape with its white-edged foliage. Some sources indicate its hardiness as Zones 6-9 and others as Zones 4-9. It has proven perfectly hardy in my Zone 5 garden.
Send your response including
its common name and botanical name in your reply to
Denny. In the next newsletter, we'll recognize up to the first 10 respondents that provide the correct identity of the mystery plant.
September Mystery Plant
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Upcoming Events
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What:
Garden Study School
When: September 22, 5:30-7:30PM
Where: Muscatine
When: September 22-25
Where: Council Bluffs
What:
Speaking for the Trees
When: September 26, 9:00-11:00AM
Where: Iowa Arboretum, Madrid
Price: $15 members; $20 non-members
What:
Season Extension Workshop
When: October 1, 6:00-8:00PM
Where: Dubuque
What: Growing Strawberries for Home Gardeners Using IPM
When: October 1, 11:30AM
Where:
Online webinar
When: October 3, 10:30-11:30AM
Where: Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden
When: October 10-11
Where: Reiman Gardens, Ames
When: October 14, 6:00-8:00PM
Where: Reiman Gardens, Ames
What:
Orchid Show and Sale
When: October 17-18
Where: Cedar Rapids
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