Melissa McLean joined the Robeson County Extension staff on April 1. Her responsibilities include urban and consumer horticulture, Master Gardeners, and pesticide education.

Miss McLean is a native of Robeson County. She grew up on a tobacco and grain farm in the Singletary Church Area, attended Lumberton Senior High School where she was very active in FFA, and recently completed her bachelor's degree in horticulture at North Carolina State University.

I encourage you to give Miss McLean a call and welcome her back home after completing college. In addition, you might want to make contact with her very early in her career, since she will be the one you will need to call on to help you with your lawn and ornamental problems. If you are a farmer, chemical dealer, or commercial pesticide applicator, she is the one who will be helping you with the training you need to keep your pesticide license updated.

Miss McLean has already had an opportunity to meet some of the Robeson County Master Gardeners. She accompanied them on a trip to the New Hanover Arboretum in Wilmington to take advantage of the New Hanover County Master Gardeners Plant Sale. She is now assisting our Master Gardeners as they plan their own Plant Sale.

If you would like some pretty, unusual, and relatively inexpensive plants for your landscape, I encourage you to make plans now to get up early on Saturday morning, April 24, and venture over to Hewitt's Interiors parking lot, across the street from Blockbuster and the old Wal-Mart building on Fayetteville Road in Lumberton. I understand they will start selling plants at 8 a.m. Carry your purse or billfold with you and drive a vehicle that you don't mind piling bunches of plants into.

This is the major fundraiser for the Robeson County Master Gardeners each year. They use the money they raise for many projects around the county, such as school beautification projects, plant clinics, educational classes for school groups, demonstration gardens, and providing specialized supplies for the Extension Horticulture agent and for their own Master Gardener group.

There are over 75 Master Gardeners in Robeson County, and virtually all of them are avid plant people. They have accumulated a vast assortment of beautiful plants in their own landscapes, and as they thin them out each spring, they offer their surplus for sale. Many of the Master Gardeners have been preparing for this event since last year by potting special plants and gathering some of the prize plants from their own landscapes. Some of the plants they will have available are somewhat unusual for this area. All of the plants they will have available are grown by the Master Gardeners themselves. This is your chance to get some really great plants for your own landscape.

The Master Gardeners Program is a national program started by the Cooperative Extension Service in response to the need to provide in-depth training about ornamentals and vegetables for people who have a love for plants and a desire to know more about urban gardening in their area. This program is now offered by Cooperative Extension Centers in each of the 50 states.

The current Master Gardeners in the county have successfully completed Master Gardener training in the past. Miss McLean will be offering another Master Gardener course either this fall or early next spring depending upon the demand. There is a small registration fee for this course to cover the cost of the notebooks, field trips, and other materials used for the training. If you would like to participate in the next Master Gardener training, please let Miss McLean know when you call. Those wishing to become Master Gardeners participate in about 36 hours of training. Classes are usually three hours long, one class each week, for about 12 weeks.

The classes involve training about the major topics related to plants and soils. Typical topics include soil sampling, diseases, insects, weeds, site selection, plant identification and characteristics, irrigation, and much more. Classwork usually involves hands-on activities, projects, and demonstrations. Outside field trips are usually incorporated into the instruction for topics such as pruning, landscaping, and familiarization with gardening resources in the area. Most classes visit the arboretum at North Carolina State University; the North Carolina Department of Agriculture Agronomic Services where soil, nematode, and tissue samples are processed; and the Plant Disease and Insect Clinic on the campus of North Carolina State University.

In exchange for the training, class participants are expected to contribute about 30 volunteer hours to their communities. Most of those participating in Master Gardeners are avid volunteers anyway, so this is not much of a problem. Special efforts are made to work with Master Gardeners to help them fulfill their volunteer obligation doing things they love to do, and so it is convenient for them.

Graduates of this program are also eligible to join the Robeson County Master Gardeners Association. This is a very active association. In addition to doing a lot of great things for the county, they have a lot of fun doing them. Monthly meetings, field trips, youth projects, and community beautification projects are just a few of the fun things they do.

Please welcome Miss McLean to the Extension Service, buy some plants from the Master Gardeners on April 24, and get involved with the Robeson County Master Gardeners.

E-mail address: Everett_Davis@ncsu.edu

Mailing Address:
P. O. Box 2280
Lumberton, NC 28359-2280

Phone: 910-671-3276
Fax: 910-671-6278

Date Created 4/20/04