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.