Fountains of Knowledge

Posted on April 11, 2025April 11, 2025 by trisha

Several Chilton County Master Gardeners recently attended the Alabama Master Gardener Association Annual Conference in Prattville, AL. The theme was “Fountains of Knowledge: Learn, Share, Grow.” The opening day featured self guided tours of the Autauga County Demo Garden; PrattVillage (Old Prattvillage is a collection of structures from the 1800’s, one features a beautiful garden maintained by the Autauga County Master Gardeners); Lanark (The Alabama Nature Center at Lanark offers 350 acres of forests, fields, streams, wetlands and ponds with five miles of boardwalks), and a visit to Petals from the Past Nursery. Garden related craft workshops were offered including Whimsical Garden Art, Floral Design, and more.
The speakers were outstanding and their presentations covered several gardening areas. The first afternoon featured Joe Lamp’l (aka Joe the Gardener), who gave a presentation on the “Ecological Gardening Blueprint: 10 Essential Steps”. “Bluebirds and their Habitat” was presented by Wesley Anderson, Ph.D, Assistant Professor in the College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment at Auburn University; Betsy Smith, Chilton County MGA member and the President of the Herb Society of America, presented “Opening the Gifts of Herbs with Kids.”; Jason Reeves, Research Horticulturist and Curator at West Tennessee Research And Education Center in Jackson, MS, gave a talk on ”Friends in the Shade: Keeping Your Hostas Company” and another on “The Making of a Garden.”

Kudos to Chilton County Master Gardener Harriett Jackson, who was elected to the AMGA Board as Member at Large. Our association also received an AMGA Project Funding Grant to ”Work Smarter Not Harder” which will provide tools for our Demonstration Garden. Hugh Nichols was there to receive the check.

We learned so much and enjoyed visiting with Master Gardeners from across Alabama and sharing ideas. Congratulations to Autauga County Master Gardeners for all their hard work that went into the planning and carrying out of a Great conference!
Photos by Trisha Williams and Amy Baker
Post by Trisha Williams and Audrey Giles

**L-R Amy Baker, Harriett Jackson, Diane Clapp, Judy Cobb, Hugh Nichols, Trisha Williams, Beverly Williamson, Sharon Hosch, and Betsy Smith at 2024 AMGA Conference**

**Betsy Smith, Chilton County MGA member and the President of the Herb Society of America, presents “Opening the Gifts of Herbs with Kids.”**

**Hugh Nichols, V.P. of Chilton County MGA, receiving the grant check for Project Funding Grant ”Work Smarter, Not Harder” for tools for our Demonstration Garden, Congratulations!**

**New Board Members being sworn in; our Harriett Jackson, on right side, was elected as Board Member at Large.**

**L-R Trisha Williams and Judy Cobb taking a rest at one of the old houses at PrattVillage**

**Sharon Hosch, not tired or asleep, but practicing some of Betsy Smith’s visualization relaxation exercises.**

April Gardening Activities

Posted on April 1, 2025April 1, 2025 by trisha

April is the time to take a drive and enjoy the azaleas that will be blooming throughout the month. With the wonderful spring weather we are all ready to get outside and work in our flower gardens and get the vegetable gardens started. Just be sure to wait until after the last average frost for your area to set out those summer annuals and tender vegetables.

Fruits and Nuts–Start spray program for all fruits. Plant raspberries and blackberries.
Shrubs–Fertilize azaleas and camellias. When new growth is half-completed, spray all shrubs with a fungicide.
Roses–Watch for insects and diseases. Remove old flower heads. Plant container-grown plants.
Bulbs–Plant gladiolus, fancy-leaved caladiums, milk and wine lilies and ginger and gloriosa lilies.
Miscellaneous–On camellias and hollies look for scale insects and spray if necessary. Carefully water newly planted of shrubs and trees.
Summer annuals may be set out late this month in central and southern parts of Alabama.
Vegetable seed–Plant tender vegetables such as beans, corn, squash, melons and cucumbers.
Vegetable plants–Plant tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, sweet potatoes and parsley.

Source: Alabama Cooperative Extension System
Alabama Gardening Calendar

March Tour-Wright’s Nursery

Posted on March 14, 2025March 14, 2025 by audrey

Several of the CCMGA members made a trip on February 7th to tour Wright’s Nursery in Plantersville, AL. They are a family-owned and family-operated wholesale business that grows annual spring and fall bedding plants, herbs, perennials and vegetable plants. They sell to independent retail garden centers in and around central and north Alabama. Their plants can be identified by the ‘Alabama Grown’ logo (that they have trademarked)on most of their tags.
The process of growing and getting bedding plants ready for the market is much more complicated than we know, but technology has made it much more efficient and profitable.
We saw all the trays and all the machinery involved in growing plants from seeds and cuttings from their own plants. Wright’s uses non-GMO seeds and many are organic certified. Their plants are grown using mostly OMRI, organic certified, listed materials while a few are non-organic.
We saw rows and rows of very uniform plants in the many greenhouses we toured. It was one of the most fascinating tours we’ve been on! Many thanks to our “Honorary Members” David and Martha Wright! After the tour we all went to Valley Grande in Maplesville for a great lunch!
Photos by Audrey Giles and Hugh Nichols

Fabulous February❗️

Posted on March 9, 2025March 9, 2025 by audrey

The February monthly meeting is always our Awards Ceremony. But the first order of business was our very own Lanell Baker(also Secretary) presenting a program on “Starting Plants From Seed”. It was very informative with lots of questions from the audience.
We have really enjoyed having Mr. and Mrs. Wright of Wright’s Nursery in Plantersville joining us in our meetings these last few months. They both have degrees in horticulture, so no Master Gardener course for them❗️We want them to go on meeting with us each month, so we awarded each one of them with our Honorary Member Certificate. So now they are part of us🥰❗️
Dianne Clapp was this month’s Premier Peach recipient, for her steadfastness and willingness to help. She was awarded a Certificate and a Peach Pin.
Our President, Skip Coulter, has added a very interesting part to our meetings. At the end he has a Question and Answer Quiz, (sometimes multiple choice)with half of us being the Annuals and half of us being the Perennials. You NEVER know what the questions will be. I think so far we are neck and neck for winning. And Skip always has a bag of candy or cookies for the winners.
Our program photos and Awards winners are below, with names and awards listed.
Photos by Audrey Giles

Lanell Baker presents ”Starting Plants From Seeds”

PREVIEW OF 2025

Posted on February 4, 2025February 4, 2025 by audrey

Our January meeting started off with a slide show of memories of Jerry Farmer, one of our long time members who passed away Dec. 28, 2025. He was the husband of our member Pat Farmer. They have been members since 2010. Jerry was a very dedicated CCMGA member who was loved by all and will definitely be missed!

Our speakers, introduced by our V.P. Hugh Nichols, were Sherry Carter, Jacob Turner, and Lucy Ellington. Sherry is with SNAP-ED program (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). She goes into all third grade school classes(except Clanton) of the Chilton County schools taking bags full of vegetables. fruits, and other goodies to help them learn better food choices.

Jacob Turner is an ACES Home Horticulture agent who covers home grounds, gardens, and pests. He told us about the areas he covers and some of his other assignments. He told about an event coming up at Penton Farms in February and in March there is to be a seed starting workshop, details to be online soon.

Lastly, Lucy Ellington, our ACES extension Coordinator, talked about all the programs and projects available through the Extension Office. There’s the annual state Bee Keeper’s symposium on February 1st, the Water Fest on March 21, the 4-H programs which includes Cloverbuds, Horse Club, Chick Chain, Forestry program, Home School Club, and the Day and Summer Camp at the beautiful Alabama 4-H Center on Lay Lake in Shelby County. Master Gardeners often volunteer for many of these activities.

Our V. President, Hugh Nichols, was nominated and awarded this month with our first ever Premier Peach Award. These people are chosen by the members for always going the extra mile in whatever they undertake to do for the club or for other members. They receive a certificate and Peach Pin. Thank you, Hugh, for all you do! And all members, please remember to recommend someone for this award at our February meeting.

Ballots were passed out for members to vote on Master Gardener of the Year and Service Project of the Year. Awards will be presented at the February meeting. Old and new business was discussed. The meeting was adjourned at 12 noon.

December Dinner and Dirty Santa

Posted on January 8, 2025January 8, 2025 by audrey

We had a very good turn out for our Christmas Dinner on December 10. We did have four interns that earned and were presented with their Master Gardener certificate and badge. These were L-R Barbara Patrick, Beverly Williamson, Teresa Freeman, and Clair van Loo Sluyterman. Our President Skip Coulter introduced our special guest for our Christmas dinner, City of Clanton Mayor Jeff Mims and his right hand “man” Debbie Street Mundy🥰❗️After our delicious pot luck dinner, several members stayed to play Dirty Santa and I think everyone had a really fun time. We all look forward to this every year to just laugh, have fun, and really get to know each other!
Photos by Audrey Giles and Debbie Street

African Violets and Soil Blocking

Posted on November 14, 2024November 14, 2024 by trisha

Our CCMGA November meeting featured programs given by two of our very own Master Gardeners, Beverly Williamson and Amy Baker.

Beverly Williamson’s program was All About African Violets. Beverly has been growing award-winning violets for many years. There is great variety in African violets: sizes, leaf shapes, leaf edges, bloom color and some are even trailing. Blooms can be smooth edged or ruffled and can be double. Violets should be kept moist but not soggy wet; they can be set on a tray of rocks with water to increase humidity. They need indirect light and morning light is best. The pot should be 1/3 the size of the width of the plant from leaf tip to leaf tip. To propagate: select a healthy leaf, cut the stem at an angle, place in a mixture of 1/3 each soiless potting mix, vermiculite and perlite, place under florescent or grow lights and keep damp. For more information go to Ball State University or the African Violet Society of America.

Amy’s topic was Soil Blocking for Seed Starting. What is soil blocking?

To do soil blocking you will need soil blocking tools and Amy uses the 3/4 inch 12 cell size to start seeds and then moves the seedlings up to the 2 inch 4 cell size. Amy sets the soil blocks in shallow trays, adds water as needed to the tray to keep the soil moist and places them under grow lights until the seedlings have their first true leaves and are ready to move to the large soil block.

Soil Mixtures: A general mixture has 1/3 part each of coconut coir or peat moss, perlite, and vermiculite. For acid loving plants the mixture is 1 1/4 parts peat moss, 1 part perlite and 1/4 part vermiculite.
Amy has had great success with this method and all of her seeds germinated this year.

Both programs were very well presented and so very interesting!

CCMGA elected officers for 2025. Thanks to each for agreeing to serve our group. We will have photos next month.

President: Skip Coulter
Vice President: Hugh Nichols
Secretary: Lanell Baker
Treasurer: Judy Cobb

Photos by Audrey Giles
Article by Trisha Williams

Recreative Natives Tour

Posted on October 16, 2024October 16, 2024 by trisha

On a beautiful October day, several Chilton County Master Gardeners toured Recreative Natives, a native plant nursery in Cropwell, Alabama. Jessica Thompson, the owner of this one woman nursery, has a background in landscape design and used many natives in her designs. When she moved to Alabama 15 years ago she discovered there were no nurseries in Alabama that grew only native plants. She began to propagate natives for her own landscape and this led to a full time nursery and a passion. In 2024, she grew over 15,000 native plants mostly from seeds. She focuses on native plants of Alabama and the Southeast.

For more information go to the nursery website https://recreativenatives.com/

article by Trisha Williams; photos by Audrey Giles

Jessica Thompson tells about how she got started with her nursery, Recreative Natives in Cropwell, AL

Lanell Baker, Harriett Jackson, Harriett Jackso , Hugh Nichols, Skip Coulter, and Betsy Smith

L-R Harriett Jackson, Hugh Nichols, Trisha Williams, Lanell Baker, Audrey Giles, hostess, Jessica Thompson, V.P. Betsy Smith and Pres. Skip Coulted

Our Pres. Skip Coulter, loves to present each hostess with a small gift, this time, a $2.00 Bill?!!

L-Right Betsy Smith, Harriett Jackson, Trisha Williams, Lanell Bakes, Hugh Nichols, and Skip Counter. Not pictured, Audtey Giles Eating lunch at the old Rexall Drug store, which is now a Mexican Resturant.

Enjoying lunch at El Cazador restaurant in downtown Pell City

Fungus Among Us

Posted on October 16, 2024October 16, 2024 by trisha

The speaker for the October Chilton County Master Gardener meeting, Alisha Millican, spoke on Fungus Among Us-About Mushrooms. Alisha is an Advanced Master Gardener and her area of expertise is mushrooms. She is active in the Alabama Mushroom Society. Her program was an introduction to types of mushrooms, not an ID COURSE! Alisha recommends training with knowledgable experts, such as members of the Alabama Mushroom Society if you want to forage for wild mushrooms. Identification apps on your phone are not reliable sources. Never eat wild mushrooms unless you are positive of the identification! Alisha said all edible mushrooms should be cooked as some people cannot tolerate them raw.

Many photos of various mushrooms were shared including puffballs, lobster, chanterelles, oyster, cauliflower, lion’s mane, chicken of the woods, shoehorn, bird’s nest and more. We learned that mushrooms can be spicy, sweet, bitter, earthy, or licorice flavored, among other flavors.

Some helpful websites are: http://Alabamamushroomsociety.org, http://Namyco.org, http://Mushroomobserver.org

The announcements for one upcoming tour and 2 volunteer opportunities are:
Oct 14 Tour to Recreative Natives Nursery
Oct 26 MG table at Humane Society Family Day at Ollie Park 2-6pm
Oct 30 MG table with Shelby County MGs at Alabama Power Stewardship Event Beeswax Park, 245 Beeswax Park Road Columbiana, AL 35051 – 2-5pm

V. Pres. Betsy Smith presents speaker Alisha Millican with handmade pen made by one of our MG’s!

Where ARE The Native Plants?

Posted on October 12, 2024October 12, 2024 by audrey

A few of the Chilton County Master Gardeners made the trip to the Blount County Fall Conference on Oct 3. The Conference was held at the Locust Fork Baptist Church in Locust Fork, AL. The program was “Where the Natives Have Gone”. It was a very fun, educational day!

L-R Lyn Webb, Hugh Nichols, Kerry Rush, and Trisha Williams

Photo credit and article: Lynn Webb