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“The speakers always bring new information to us as well as perhaps a
different or interesting slant on a problem or opportunity within
gardening."
Sue Sturgeon,
Northern KY Master Gardener
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By Laura Skillman
PADUCAH, Ky. (Sept. 24, 2003) – For the second year,
Kentucky’s Master Gardeners decided to get together to share information and
ideas, and what better way to kick-off the event than with a look at gardens.
Participants of the recent three-day event had a chance to check out a couple of
private gardens in McCracken County, as well as the award-winning Purchase Area
Master Gardeners Demonstration and Trial Garden.
Master Gardeners from the Purchase area guided their Kentucky counterparts
through the many small gardens within the demonstration garden, answering
questions and sharing stories.
Sue Sturgeon, a Northern Kentucky Master Gardener, was excited to see the
gardens and get to participate in the conference. When playing host to the
International Master Gardeners conference earlier this year, she said, she did
not get to listen to many of the speakers.
“The speakers always bring new information to us as well as perhaps a different
or interesting slant on a problem or opportunity within gardening,” she said.
“That’s what I’m looking for.”
Purchase area Master Gardener Nova Nuckolls said she and her fellow gardeners
spend a lot of time in the garden preparing it for visitors, not just during the
convention but also throughout the year. Visitors stop by often, she said.
Helping to answer questions at the garden and throughout the conference was
Kathy Keeney, McCracken County horticulture agent for the University of Kentucky
College of Agriculture.
The first statewide Master Gardener meeting was in Elizabethtown in 2002 and
next year it will move to Bowling Green. Keeney, a member of the planning
committee, said the goal is to have the meeting at a central location one year
and at an outlying area the next.
“We maintain centrality for the most part, but give people the adventure of
coming out to see some of the farther sites,” she said.
While Paducah played host to the event, Master Gardener groups from other areas
pitched in to help.
“We try to break up the different things that have to be done among different
groups,” she said. “That way it becomes more of a state effort.”
The annual meetings are a great way to share ideas, enthusiasm and support,
Keeney said.
“We’re building friendship and camaraderie across the state,” she said.
For more information on becoming a Master Gardener contact a county office of
the UK Cooperative Extension Service.
Writer: Laura Skillman
270-365-7541 ext. 278
Source: Kathy Keeney
270-554-9520
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