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.**

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

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.

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

Helping the Humane Society

Posted on October 4, 2024October 11, 2024 by audrey

Several of the Chilton County Master Gardeners volunteered at the Chilton County Humane Society this past Monday (Sept. 30, 2024) improving the entrance landscape. The windows boxes were planted with pansies, cast iron plants were added to the flower beds, the sidewalk was refreshed and there was even some decorative touches added.
Photos and article by Lyn Webb
Editing and posting by Audrey Giles

Pictured left to right, Teresa Freeman, Lyn Webb, Sharon Hosch, Jerry Farmer, Wally Walters, Pat Farmer, Hugh Nichols, Clair Sluyterman van Loo, and Lee Walters. Not pictured, Harriett Jackson

**The day went very smoothly due to the prep work of Lee and Wally Walters and Sharon Housch.**

**Sharon and Wally adding the finishing touches**!

**Pansies were added to the window boxes. Cast Iron plants (next to the wall) were donated by Susan Cleckler.**

What’s a Chick Chain?

Posted on October 3, 2024October 4, 2024 by audrey

The Chick Chain is an Alabama Cooperative Extension System 4-H project. The participants receive baby chicks to raise and train for the annual show and auction. They work hard caring for their chickens and learn to keep valuable and up-to-date records.

The culmination of their efforts is the Show and Auction held each fall at the Chilton Research and Extension Center. This year the counties involved were Autauga, Bibb, Chilton and St. Clair.

Showing their birds in front of a judge and the audience helps to build confidence. Raising the birds and keeping good records promotes responsibility.

Volunteers from the Chilton County Master Gardeners Association put together 120 sack lunches for the 4-H’er’s that included a hot dog, potato chips, a home-made cookie (by some of the CCMGA volunteers), and a soft drink. Although we were favored with a few rain showers this year, it was still a fun day for the 4-H’er’s and all the volunteers as well

photos by Audrey Giles and Amy Baker

Microgreens?!

Posted on October 1, 2024October 1, 2024 by audrey

Our Vice President, Betsy Smith, introduced our speaker for our September meeting, Capital City Master Gardener Association’s Janell Diggs (ajdiggst23@yahoo.com), along with intern, Jane Ficquette. The presentation’s title was “Growing and Cooking with Microgreens”. Microgreens are versions of herbs and vegetables in their tiny sprout form. They are 5 times more nutrient dense than full-size plants. Mrs. Diggs provided a hands-on opportunity, supported by her experienced “how to” presentation, which consisted of three main points . . . Supplies, Process, and Cooking. She provided small covered containers filled with the correct soil for sprouting, provided radish seeds and demonstrated how to spread and dampen the seeds with a mister. We took them home, inverted the lid and weighted down the lid with a book. Then when they had sprouted, we took the lid off and in a few days we had microgreens! They can be used on salads, sandwiches, scrambled eggs, used as pizza topping, etc. They are used at high-end restaurants and used by nutritional researchers.

At the request of our members, Mrs. Diggs also discussed the role of Capital City MGA’s Education Committee. Besides the Vice President’s role of program development (monthly speakers), the Committee commits to approximately 3 annual outreach and educational projects per year. The committee selects topics based on interests surveys and assessments. They decide on short-range and long-range goals and then divide the planning and preparation based on various member’s skills. Janell discussed start- up efforts to increase our community presence and to provide horticultural-based learning opportunities. The program was very interesting, as well as immensely helpful to us on setting goals and deciding on yearly outreach programs.
Article based on minutes taken by Kerry Rush
Photos by Audrey Giles and Hugh Nichols

“All About Hostas!”

Posted on September 5, 2024September 5, 2024 by audrey

Our guest speaker for our August meeting was Bionca Lindsey from the Autauga County Master Gardeners Association. Bionca earned her Advanced Master Gardener Certification by learning and teaching “All About Hostas”. She was a very entertaining and informative speaker!

Photo of Betsy Smith and Bionca Lindsey — V.P. Betsy Smith and special guest speaker Bionca Lindsey

Hostas are the number one selling perennial in the United States. They are native to China and grow in the US zones 3 to 9. There are over 11,000 cultivars of Hosta. They thrive in shade or part shade and require a dormancy period of 4-6 weeks prior to their spring arrival. Bionca shared the many shapes, colors and sizes of Hosta. They are very hardy and can actually be divided any time, but spring and fall are ideal. Fertilize in the spring, using an organic, slow-release fertilizer (10-10-10 or 20-20-20). A few of their enemies are heat, slugs, deer, voles and even a few viruses. Thank you, Bionca for a wonderful program!

Miscellaneous items from our meeting included approval of the August minutes presented by Kerry Rush; announcing the option of contributing to Chilton County Coordinator Lucy Edwards’ wedding gift; the financial report by treasurer Judy Cobb; various volunteer opportunities for the members by Trisha Williams, Harriett Jackson, and REA Jacob Turner; information on registration for 2 fall conferences; our contribution to the 2025 AMGA Conference’s Silent Auction; update on CCMGA’s published article once a month in the Clanton Advertiser by Sharon Hosch; update on the Conservation Group by Betsy Smith and Hugh Nichols; update on the Demo Garden Shade House activities; and updates about the forming of the Nominating committee. And as always we want to thank our Hospitality Committee and food providers for our wonderful refreshments 🥗🍪🥮☕️❗️We had 32 present with 25 members, 3 interns, and 4 guests!

June Meeting: Celebrate and Remember

Posted on July 4, 2024July 4, 2024 by trisha

The June Chilton County Master Gardener meeting was a time to celebrate and remember. We celebrated Betsy Smith for earning her Advanced Master Gardener degree. Betsy’s specialty area is Herb Gardening. Regional Extension Agent Jacob Turner presented her with her certificate and pin.

Our President Skip Coulter, lead the association in a time of remembrance for three of our recently passed members, Joan Barber, Rick Miller and Alan Reed. Members shared stories and special recollections during a slide show of photos.

Special guests were Kerry Smith, Master Gardener State Coordinator; Devonne Ellis, AMGA President; and Debbie Boutelier, AMGA Vice President. They are visiting MG Associations around the state. It was a treat for members who have never met them.

This month’s program was presented by three of our association’s Conservation Group members, Hugh Nichols, Betsy Smith and Trisha Williams. Our Conservation Group was officially formed in May 2023 and one of the CG’s mission statements is, “To promote education and awareness of native plant species growing in, or around, Chilton County”. To fulfill that mission, the CG has created a presentation template for use in community educational and awareness settings. The presentation identifies the coordinating partners (Alabama Plant Conservation Alliance, U.S. Forest Service, Auburn University Davis Arboretum, to name a few) and begins with the relevance of biodiversity in Alabama. Complete with corresponding photos, topics include native, non-native, and invasive plants. Endangered or at-risk plants are discussed, and the three focus plants of our CG (Mohr’s Barbara Button, Alabama Canebrake Pitcher Plant, and Owls Eye Ginger) are detailed along with accompanying photos of the group on field trip locations. An extensive list of resources that support the group’s goals is provided within the presentation.

Byline:
Trisha Williams and Kerry Rush
Photos by Audrey Giles

A Moon Garden

Posted on April 22, 2024April 22, 2024 by audrey

Our April program was brought to us by Lee County Master Gardener Dianna Fortner. Dianna is in her final phase of earning her Advanced Master Gardener certificate. Moon gardening is what she is specializing in. A Moon garden is just what it sounds like, a garden that is meant to be enjoyed by the light of the moon. You would use plants with pale or silver foliage and white flowers that bloom in the evenings. Adding a water feature would make sitting in your moon garden just that much more enjoyable! Everyone should try growing one. Thank you, Dianna Fortner for a very interesting program!

We are so saddened to have lost 2 of our members since the meeting on April 9. On April 13, Mrs. Joan Barber lost her life in a car accident on the way home from our Plant Sale. Mrs. Barber was a very kind, quiet, free hearted lady that was known for her baking, crocheting, and making the planter chairs for our Plant Sale. Joan, you will surely be missed!
On April 14, one of our charter members, Alan Reed gave up his long fight against cancer. Mr. Reed was always there to lend a hand; he always kept our irrigation system going in the Demo Garden, helped install the system at the Extension office, always helped with the Plant Sales, just too many things to list them all here. Also he was known for his dry sense of humor. We will miss you❗️R.I.P., dear Alan.