|
January 2025 UME Master Gardener
State Office Announcements
| |
|
Happy New Year Master Gardeners! Our gardens may be dormant, but we know many of you are gearing up for exciting spring programs.
Our newsletter this month includes a VMS update, Year of Herbs!, new continuing education, and registration for our winter Grow It Eat It meeting
| |
|
|
There is a new activity code for volunteer hours in VMS: General Horticulture. Approved activities could include:
- Teaching or creating educational materials about houseplants
- Teaching or creating educational materials about pruning
- Teaching or creating educational materials about gardening tools
- Approved community greening and beautification projects
- IPM-Integrated Pest Management (if not directly related to any of the other activity categories)
- Soil testing (if not directly related to any of the other activity categories)
- Educating about plant care requirements and plant and insect identification (if not directly related to any of the other activity categories)
You can find a guidelines for all the codes by clicking the button below
| |
2025 is the “Year of Herbs” for UME’s Grow It Eat It program! People have been growing and utilizing herbs all over the world for thousands of years, and we have lots of resources to help out beginners and seasoned gardeners.
Social media graphics, handouts, and resources can all be found on the "Year of the...""webpage. A PowerPoint template will be coming soon.
Our giveaway seeds this year will be 'Prospera' basil and clustered mountain mint which we've also made graphics in handouts for and can also be found on the Year of... page.
| |
The Nature of Oaks: the Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees by Doug Tallamy
From Lisa Kuder, Native Plants & Landscapes Extension Specialist:
Winter’s leafless landscapes, while beautiful in their own right, can look barren compared to the cacophony of color and activity of late spring/early summer. Once an oak’s leaves have senesced and its acorns have fallen, you’d think that not much is happening way up there in the canopy. But surprisingly there is! Tallamy’s The Nature of Oaks, takes the reader on a month by month journey of how these mighty trees support an abundance of life year round.
| |
|
Statewide Meetings and Continuing Education | |
|
Dr. Stacy Small-Lorenz, Residential Landscape Ecology Specialist
Tuesday, January 21st from 6:30-7:30 PM, Virtual
How the science of habits can help inform our work of fostering environmental behavior change in our communities.
| |
Wednesday Feb 19, 2025, 10am – 12pm, Brookside Gardens | |
Josh Demers, Environmental Horticulturalist, will lead a hands-on pruning workshop at Brookside Gardens. There will be a lecture portion inside the main Visitor Center followed by a demonstration out in the gardens. Please dress accordingly for the weather. | |
Implementing Climate Resilient Living Shorelines in Maryland | |
|
Wednesday, March 12, 2025, 12:00 – 1:30pm, Zoom
This webinar will cover the history of shoreline erosion control practices and how traditional techniques have evolved in recent years. What is a 'living shoreline'? How can we enhance habitat, water quality, access, and prepare for climate impacts at the same time? We will cover the Shoreline Conservation Service and discuss which technical and financial assistance opportunities are currently available through the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
| |
Winter Grow It Eat It Meeting | |
|
Thursday, March 13, 2025, from 10:00 AM- 2:00 PM
Join us for updates on this year's growing season, Year of Herbs, and programming around the counties. This meeting will have hybrid options, so you can attend virtually or in-person at the Central Maryland Research and Education Center.
| |
Catch Up on Continuing Education | |
|
Did you miss any of our continuing education webinars last year?
Check out the recordings below! You can always see both upcoming continuing education opportunities and recorded webinars on the State MG Continuing Education webpage.
| |
Seed Starting and Planning Your Garden for Climate change
Join Jon Traunfeld, Vegetable and Community Gardening Specialist, for this presentation!
| |
|
|
Join us for a fascinating day of presentations offering practical strategies to create sustainable and resilient landscapes. You’ll benefit from decision matrixes that help make informed plant selections and develop successful designs based on a range of environments, ecological benefits, and sustainability goals. Experts will help you create resilient landscapes by presenting a range of native plant combinations and design layouts that manage water runoff, survive droughts, and support pollinators and wildlife. You’ll be surprised how climate change is dictating conservation efforts, its impact on native plant ecoregions and even its implications for expanding our plant palette.
*This will be offered as a series of live online lectures using Zoom with audience Q&A incorporated into the program. Each session will be recorded and a link to watch the symposium will be emailed to all participants. This event qualifies as continuing education hours.
| |
Maryland Native Plant Society Programs | |
Introduction to Winter Tree Identification by Bradley Simpson
January 28, 2025 from 7:00-9:00 PM, Virtual
Even in the leafless landscapes of winter, there is still plenty of features to explore on our native plants, especially trees! During this presentation, we will discuss how to identify woody plants using buds, stems, lenticels, leaf scars, bark, and more! We will focus on terminology related to these features and then apply them to a few of our common native tree species.
| |
Home and Garden Information Center | |
Web Content
Check out these revised webpages:
| |  |
Video Content
Check out these videos:
| |
|
10 Ways to Repurpose Your Christmas Tree
By Annette Cormany, Principal Agent Associate and Master Gardener Coordinator, Washington County, University of Maryland Extension
| |
Use De-icing Salts with a Grain of Salt
By Anahí Espíndola, Associate Professor, Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park
| |
|
Stephanie Pully
UME Master Gardner State Coordinator
| | |
|
Kaitlyn Baligush
Program Management Specialist
| |
The University of Maryland Extension programs are open to any person and will not discriminate against anyone because of race, age, sex, color, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, religion, ancestry, national origin, marital status, genetic information, political affiliation, and gender identity or expression. | | | | |
