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.

Native Plant Nursery Opens in Silver Spring

A view of the new native plant nursery in Silver Spring 
Photo: MG Debbie Boger

By MG Alison Edwards

A new Native Plant Nursery opened in late Fall 2025 in downtown Silver Spring, located behind Progress Place (8106 Georgia Ave.) on the site of the Urban Farm formerly operated by Shepherd’s Table. With start-up funding from the Community Food Forest Collective (CFFC), this nonprofit nursery is headed by MG Debbie Boger, who is leading an army of volunteers in providing free native plants to community partners. The plants are installed and distributed by nonprofit partners such as CFFC, Shepherd’s Table, CKC Farming, Long Branch Library, and CHEER, all of which serve communities that have historically not been able to pay for native plants in bulk.

Debbie, the former manager of the Urban Farm, took on this new role with gusto in November 2025. The nursery has been ramping up this spring, and there has been a lot to do in propagating hundreds of native plants and maintaining a safe and attractive nursery. The team has potted up scores of plants that overwintered (mostly amsonia, columbine, Joe-Pye weed, and threadleaf coreopsis), moved around lots of plants that had “volunteered” throughout the space, germinated seedlings in more than 250 milk jugs, and sterilized pots for potting up seedlings when they get larger. 

Seedlings in milk jugs
Photo: MG Debbie Boger

The goal is for native plant installations from the nursery to help clean our waterways, create habitat for wildlife, and beautify our urban spaces. Using native plants in our urban areas is critical for supporting pollinators and other wildlife that are so important to our ability to produce food and support the broader environment. The nursery itself also offers Shepherd’s Table staff and others a relaxing spot in which to enjoy a little break. 

Debbie plans for the Native Plant Nursery, which is located adjacent to the Metropolitan Branch Trail, to be open to the public as a demonstration site at certain hours once the trail is refurbished and reopened. The nursery engages volunteers, including students who want to earn Student Service Learning (SSL) hours, but it is not eligible for MCMG volunteer hours at this time. If you have any questions about the nursery, please contact Debbie using her contact information in VMS.

President’s Letter -- April 2026

MCMG President Linda Barrett

By MG Linda Barrett

Well, it’s officially spring with warmer weather and longer days beckoning us out into the garden. It’s also officially the beginning of our volunteer season and we have lots of activities to connect us with our community. I encourage you to consider volunteering at one of our 12 plant clinics, at community events throughout the county, or at one of our demonstration gardens. You might want to return to volunteer opportunities you’ve enjoyed in the past or explore a new volunteer opportunity … maybe you will discover a new favorite.

I look forward to seeing you sometime soon at our monthly MG meeting, a plant clinic, a demo garden, or talking with residents at a community event. 

 

Kind regards, 

Linda

Spring Sprouts Update

By MG David Colacicco

An MG prepares plants for sale in 2022.
Photo: Len Friedman

Spring Sprouts is just around the corner – a new event that will offer visitors to Derwood a Plant Sale, a Demo Garden Open House, and a Master Gardener Expo. As previously reported, the event will take place on Saturday, April 25 from 10 am-2 pm at the University of Maryland Extension Office Building in the Agricultural History Farm Park. The Plant Sale is intended to become an annual event to raise funds to support MCMG programs.

More than 600 plants encompassing 100 different varieties have been ordered. These include vegetables, tomatoes, herbs, many varieties of Maryland natives, as well as other perennials. A small selection of mixed annual flower baskets will also be available. The sale will open at 10 am for the general public. Master Gardeners will be able to purchase plants starting at noon. MGs are asked not to set aside any plants prior to that time. 

MGs are asked to park in the lower parking lot, or behind the Demo Garden. At least 35 MG volunteers are needed to facilitate the plant sale; use SignUp if you want to join in. Please contact MG Dave Colacicco if you have any questions. You can find his contact information in VMS.

Spring Plant Swap

By MG Anne Ruth

2025 Plant Swap attendees peruse the offerings.
Photo: Len Friedman

On Thursday, May 7, the Montgomery County Master Gardeners will be holding our annual Spring Plant Swap immediately following the monthly meeting at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds. This year, we will be holding two types of plant swaps: the General Swap and the Pre-Arranged Swap.

The General Swap is the traditional plant swap offered in previous years. To prepare for this swap, please follow last year’s instructions. 

The Pre-Arranged Swap is a new feature this year. This swap is designed for MGs who are seeking specific items; who have ambitious gardening plans; and/or who have large items to donate but don’t want to bring them unless someone wants them. Instructions are as follows:

• In the Gardeners Connected group on Groups.io, post or email what you have to swap and what you want to swap for. You may list specific items (e.g., “purple coneflower,” “Sun Gold tomato”) or general ones (e.g., “plants for dry shade”). If an MG has something another MG wants, and wants something the same MG has, they can arrange a swap via personal email.

• On the day of the swap, please proceed to the Old Timers’ Building and park in the parking lot on the left side of the building. (See the location of the Old Timers’ Building on the Fairgrounds map.) You should plan to pick up and drop off your pre-arranged plant swaps at 9:00 am. The individual swaps will occur directly at the parked cars. Please keep a detailed list of your pre-arranged swaps and label the boxes/bags for each of your swaps. Please also make a small sign for your car with your name and a list of your swap partners so that you can easily find each other. 

• If someone does not show up for one of your pre-arranged swaps, you should either bring the unclaimed plants to the General Swap at 9:30 am or take the plants home with you. 

If you have any questions, please contact MGs Terri Valenti, Anne Ruth, or Blair Zucker. Their contact information is available on VMS. You can also post your questions to the Gardeners Connected group. We look forward to seeing you at the swap.

April 2026 MG Recognitions

By MG Linda Barrett

This month we pay special tribute to our MCMG Task Forces, and include a special note of appreciation for a long-time MG who is going on hiatus from the MCMG program.

Task Forces

The Tech Team includes MGs Chuck Dulaney, Sue DeGraba, Dick Evans, Tina Burke, and Gina Becker (pictured left to right below). We thank them for supporting our monthly MG meetings. On Zoom, they assist with displaying presentations, recording the meeting, admitting members, and posing questions from the chat to our guest speaker. And for live meetings at the Fairgrounds, the tech team must also tackle the recording of audio for announcements and guest presentations.

Social media guru MG Bev Carragher is busy posting MG events and gardening tips on several social media platforms. Bev would love to have you send her images from your garden, photos of MGs at work, and information about your MG event. Please send pictures and information to Bev and MG Len Friedman! You can find their contact information in VMS.

The Volunteer Management System (VMS) is managed by MG Katie McIe. There are about 500 people on VMS in four categories--active MGs, interns, on hiatus, and emeritus. Katie processes thousands of submissions for volunteer and continuing education hours and also provides data for state MG reports and years of service recognition. In addition, Katie helps with resetting passwords and troubleshooting the VMS.

Spring Sprouts is co-chaired by MGs Dave Colacicco and Joel Patton. The event will take place on Saturday April 25 at the Agricultural History Farm Park in Derwood and will include a plant sale, Demo Garden tours, and MCMG educational tables.

The Website and Multi-media team consists of MGs Renu Murik and MG Interns Cheri Borsky and Larry Zarker. Cheri edits the MG monthly meeting recordings and posts them on the MCMG website. Renu and Larry are constantly updating the MCMG website.

The Intern survey and Intern Q&A mentoring were led by MG Intern Tracy Katoski and MG Dave Ottalini. They surveyed the 2025 interns about the MG intern class and volunteer experiences and then held a wonderful Q&A session for interns. 

Special appreciation

MG Carol Galati
Photo: MG Linda Barrett

Finally, we recognize MG Carol Galati, who is going on hiatus after 25 years of volunteer service with the Brookside Gardens Plant Clinic and the Urban Gardening table at the Silver Spring Freshfarm Market. We thank her for the passion and knowledge she has shared with the Montgomery County community for many years.