President's Letter - June 2026

MCMG President Linda Barrett

By MG Linda Barrett

As the weather heats up, so do the volunteer opportunities throughout MCMG.

Just as a reminder, you can access all the latest information about MCMG events, dates, and times on our calendar on Gardeners-Connected.groups.io. Please email Karen Donato (find her email address in VMS) to add events to the calendar.

Our annual spring potluck picnic is on June 4 at the Derwood UMD Extension Office. Please be sure to bring a potluck item to share for lunch at noon. If you were recognized for your five, 10, 15, 20, 25, or 30 years of service, we will distribute Years of Service pins before the picnic from 11:30 am-noon.

Our new intern class will begin on June 9, with classes mostly in person. The Intern Job Fair will be on Monday, June 25 at Derwood. Committee chairs will create informational displays, and interns can sign up for activities they want to volunteer for.

The Bay-Wise committee is back to work, performing site visits to certify county landscapes as Bay-Wise and providing recommendations for more sustainable landscapes. If you would like to have your landscape certified, go to our MCMG Bay-Wise webpage. 

I truly appreciate everyone's commitment to MCMG's mission, and hope you’ll volunteer for upcoming activities. I look forward to seeing you soon!

Linda

Master Gardener Years of Service Recognition 2026

By MG Linda Barrett

Congratulations to the Master Gardeners celebrating 15, 20, 25, or 30 years of service. They've worked side by side to achieve the MCMG mission “to educate residents about safe, effective, and sustainable horticultural practices that build healthy gardens, landscapes, and communities.” We offer them our thanks for the many hours, days, months, and years of sharing their garden knowledge and expertise.   

15 Years of Service (class of 2011)

MG Marsha Barnes has been a valued volunteer with Therapeutic Horticulture (TH) for the past 15 years.	MG Dorothy "Darlene" Nicholson has co-led the Derwood Demo Garden, coordinated and photographed the Weed Book and Bug Book, in addition to leading the start-up Explorers adolescent group started by the police department.
MG Lily Bruch enjoys working with the vegetable team in the Derwood Demo Garden.	MG Kim Robinson has worked on many programs and continues with the Plant Clinic at Brookside Gardens.
MG Mary Hagedorn’s volunteer activities have included Close Encounters with Agriculture, Speakers Bureau, and Grow It Eat It.	MG Shelley Rae Rudick loves participating in the environmental track of Close Encounters With Agriculture, and the Urban Garden program.
MG Kathy Kircher has led the TH program at Kensington, and the annual holiday centerpiece-making workshop.	MG Terri Valenti specializes in large scale events: Grow It Eat It, Discovery Day, the semiannual plant swap, and volunteering at White Oak Garden.
MG Susan McCaffrey is a steady presence at the Brookside Plant Clinic on Sundays.	MG Cindy Walczak enjoys the great variety of MG activities, and volunteers with plant clinics, special events, and the Bay-Wise Program.
MG Katie McIe has served as a Board member, the Olney Farmers Market Coordinator, and is currently the keeper of our VMS Records.	MG Janet Young was MCMG President in 2014 and 2015, led a research project to identify the best broccoli, and is currently co-coordinator of the Olney Farmers Market Plant Clinic.
MG Yumiko Miura enjoys working at the Healing Garden at USO and finds joy in planning the monthly TH sessions for patients at Walter Reed.

20 Years of Service (class of 2006)

MG Joy Adler Back in the day there were fewer volunteer options — the “telephone room,” a burgeoning Speakers Bureau, and a few hands-on garden sites. Joy enjoys volunteering at the Davis Library, Kensington Farm Market, and especially, the weekly “mucking-about” at Nature Forward.	MG Ilse Konigshofer began her MG internship in the DDG shade garden and the Brookside Gardens Plant Clinic. She continues to volunteer at Brookside alongside other MGs exchanging ideas, sharing experiences, and offering guidance to the public.
MG Lynn Furrow has volunteered at plant clinics, TH, and Harvest Festival. She really enjoys interacting with the public and other MGs at plant clinics.	MG Marcia McComb loves fielding questions at the Gaithersburg Plant Clinic. She is a pro at teaching others to make Tussie Mussies at the Harvest Festival, and she volunteers every year at CEWA. If that wasn’t enough, she has been the Coordinator of the TH group at Asbury Assisted Living since 2010.

25 Years of service (class of 2001)

MG Susan Bell brings her passion for garden design and landscaping to her MG volunteer work. She has been presenting to garden clubs through the Speakers Bureau. Susan has written for the The Seed, and actively volunteers at several MG events.

MG Janine Trudeau is passionate about connecting people to nature. She has worked with CEWA, getting kids outside and helping them make connections to where their food comes from. She enjoys teaching her local community and neighbors about native plants, plant and animal best habitats, and enticing them to come out and enjoy the wonders of the natural world.

30 Years of Service (class of 1996)

MG Eric Wenger has enriched the MCMG program with his knowledge and expertise in gardening. He is an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) specialist for turfgrass and ornamental plants. He shares his knowledge generously with other MGs and through the Speakers Bureau, giving presentations to garden clubs, schools, and professional industry seminars on general gardening, IPM, lawn care, and garden pests.

Master Gardeners Celebrate Earth Day 2026

By MGs Pela Soto and Sreemoti Mukerjee Roy

One of our busiest times as Master Gardeners comes around each April, on or near Earth Day. Earthday.org claims that Earth Day is now recognized as the planet’s largest civic event each year. Here are a few of the events that Montgomery County MGs supported with their volunteer efforts around Earth Day 2026, which was officially on April 22.

Rockville Villages

MG Holly Ketchel at the Go Green Festival.

MG Holly Ketchel staffed the Ask a Master Gardener table at Rockville Villages' first annual Go Green Festival on April 18. As a Class of 2025 Master Gardener, it was only her second plant clinic. She spoke to 52 people in three hours! 

Walter Reed

MGs Monica Medrek and Edith Boehler at Walter Reed. 

MG Edith Boehler reported participating in a very successful Earth Day event with an MCMG table at the entrance to the service member food court on the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) on April 23. She thanks MGs Monica Medrek, Johleen Cannon, and Patti Connell for joining her in staffing the table. Also at the event were the US National Park Service, Montgomery County Recycling, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and a couple of WRNMMC service groups.

Edith said that they distributed over 100 houseplants and baby parsley plants to service members and staff. As in past years, service members and staff were excited to see them.  Several people talked about their successes with the plants they got last year, and were looking for a different plant to try. Our MGs had many conversations about how to care for house plants and how to propagate house plants when they do well.

National Institutes of Health

L-R: MGs Nena Thayer, Anne Brooks Rudzki, and Susan Terrillion.

MG Anne Brooks Rudzki described participating in a large Earth Day/Bring Your Child to Work Day event at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on April 23 along with MGs Nena Thayer, Susan Terrillion, and Edith Boehler. The MCMG table was one of many set up in a tent on an NIH lawn. Anne said the event had a real festival feel. They counted 250 visitors to the table, including many kids. They gave out over 50 plants, mainly herbs and a few houseplants propagated by MCMG volunteers. They also displayed a photo of the National Library of Medicine Herb Garden at the NIH along with maps to get there, and explained the MCMG’s role in maintaining it. People generally didn't know the garden was there, but were interested in walking by or having lunch there. The MGs also had many conversations about growing herbs and vegetables, and answered questions about why various plants died over the winter. 

President's Letter - May 2026

MCMG President Linda Barrett

By MG Linda Barrett

Spring is here and I’m enjoying the warmer temperatures and flowers blooming. I’ve begun cleaning up my vegetable garden and can’t wait to get the tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers in the ground. My native plant gardens will have to wait another month or so for clean-up, while the insects continue to emerge from the leaf litter and soil.  

Over the winter, our Speakers Bureau was reorganizing, adding new schedulers and speakers. They seem to be very busy with presentations at garden clubs and libraries. Therapeutic Horticulture continues to work every month of the year, providing themed workshops of garden education and crafts for assisted living residents. 

The six demo gardens have also begun their spring clean-ups and planting. It’s amazing how many weeds move in over the winter, but our gardeners are determined to have the garden beds ready for planting very soon.

Many MGs and interns have signed up for Plant Clinics and Community Events Tables. These events provide a wonderful opportunity to talk with residents and answer their gardening questions. 

I truly appreciate everyone's commitment to the MCMG mission and hope that you will volunteer for some of the upcoming activities. I look forward to seeing you soon!

Linda

May 2026 MG Recognitions

By MGs Linda Barrett and Sreemoti Mukerjee Roy

We would like to recognize the volunteers in our Communications and Garden Educators Programs for sharing Montgomery County Master Gardener news through The Seed, publicizing our MCMG activities with county residents, keeping MGs personally connected through social events, and educating schoolchildren and others about gardening. 

MG Imane Zouhar is the Communications Program director. She has several projects under way, including preparation of the MCMG Annual Report and upcoming social events. Imane also spends time brainstorming ways to streamline communications within the organization and with our wider audience.

Newsletter

MG Alison Edwards is the general editor of The Seed. She plans newsletter issues, coordinates the collection, revision, approval, and presentation of news articles. Alison ensures that contents adhere to MCMG policy, and last year she led the modernization of our newsletter from a desktop-published product to an email-and-blog format. 

MG Intern Pela Soto began ably assisting with writing/coordinating, fact-checking, and editing newsletter stories in 2025. This has taken a load off of Alison's plate in the early segment of the production cycle, for which she is most grateful!

MGs Amy Henchey and Betsy Wooster take turns providing copy editing services for newsletter stories, often greatly improving the clarity, accuracy, and flow of submissions. Last year Betsy played a leading role in compiling the simplified MCMG Communications Style Guide.

MGs Len Friedman and Dean Evangelista locate or take photos to accompany newsletter stories, which enhances the storytelling. They have also been building an archive of photos ready for use in future projects. 

MGs Jon Davis and MG Intern Jenna Boig compile the online listing of upcoming Continuing Education opportunities each month in lockstep with the newsletter production schedule. They stepped into this role on short notice when the previous person had to bow out at the end of 2025, and they have ramped up quickly.

Public Relations

MGs LeeAnne Gelletly and Hilary Longo are Public Relations co-chairs. They create the MCMG brochures, calendars, flyers, business cards, and garden signs that we all find so helpful to pass out at events. Hilary also creates the MCMG Annual Report and explores new ways to help connect MCMGs with county residents. 

Social Events and Intern Hospitality

MGs Linda Barrett and Carol Kosary have been organizing social events such as the June MG picnic at Derwood, the Holiday Party, MG recognitions, and the Intern Job fair, which all involve a lot of  “volunteer wrangling.” Linda and Carol do so much to keep the MG community connected, but they give credit to all of the wonderful MG volunteers who really help to put all of these events together. MG Sue DeGraba took over Linda's role starting with the 2025 Holiday Party, which was a huge success.

Garden Educators

The Garden Educators program, led by two co-chairs, MGs Pam Hosimer and Carol Kosary (pictured in the previous section), aims to teach healthy eating lessons to schoolchildren. Pam is the University of Maryland Extension SNAP-Ed Educator. She has conducted school tours of the Derwood Demo Garden and visited classrooms to teach children about how food is grown. Pam has also expanded the Garden Educator program into other areas. Carol handles the logistics of recruiting and coordinating over 40 volunteers needed to host more than 500 first graders across six Demo Garden tours.