THE MASTER GARDENER IN GEORGIA: A BRIEF HISTORY In the early 1970 s interest in home gardening mushroomed, and county extension offices were overwhelmed with requests for horticulture information. Washington State University Extension agents found a solution train knowledgeable gardeners who could help them respond to the public and in 1973 the Master Gardener program was planted in Tacoma, Washington. Here in Georgia gardening interest was also growing. A group of Metro Atlanta Extension Agents, led by Newton Hogg of DeKalb, decided to see if the "Master Gardener" idea might take root in our state. They organized the first Georgia training with 140 students in Atlanta during the fall of 1979 with students from Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas and Fulton. The next year Savannah, Macon, and Columbus began offering Master Gardener classes and Extension Specialist Dr. Butch Ferree was assigned by UGA to help standardize instruction and develop a handbook for statewide use. Between 1982 and 1986, The Georgia Master Gardener Update was published quarterly by Dr. Gary Wade of UGA Extension and distributed to Master Gardeners throughout the state. In 1984, he became the first statewide Master Gardener Coordinator, and in 1987, the first National Master Gardener Conference was held in Washington, D.C. In 1988, March 17 th was the first Master Gardener Day in Georgia; proclaimed by then Governor Joe Frank Harris. Since that day, Master Gardener Day has been held on the third Saturday in March. In July of that same year, the first statewide Master Gardener Conference was held at the University of Georgia with 45 gardeners from Clayton, Cobb, Columbia, Coweta, DeKalb, Fulton, Glynn, Gwinnett, Paulding, Richmond and Wilkes Counties. In the winter of 1988, the first newsletter and directory were compiled. On January 14, 1989, the first winter conference for Georgia Master Gardeners was held at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Mrs. Elizabeth Harris, Georgia s First Lady, gave the keynote address. There were 120 attendees. On August 19, the second statewide conference was held at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. In October of that year, the first Georgia Master Gardeners Association organizational meeting was held with bylaws and plans for GMGA put into place. In January of 1990, the third statewide conference was held at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens with 100 attendees, with the fourth conference in the fall. Claire Leach served as President. In January of 1991, Jim Fier was elected President at the fifth conference in Atlanta. On July 3, 1991, Georgia Master Gardener Association, Inc. was
incorporated with the Secretary of State of Georgia, and later that year, the sixth conference was held. The remainder of the 90 s brought conferences throughout the state, and the following members were elected President: 1992 Julienne Martin (Floyd) 1993 Sammy Turner (deceased) (Lamar) 1994 Kay Sobers (deceased), DeKalb 1995 Kathy Ippolito (DeKalb) 1996 Joe Turner (DeKalb) 1997 Chuck Zdeb (Henry) 1998 Becky Blades (Cobb) 1999 Daryl Pulis (Forsyth) 2000 Becky Pickett (DeKalb) In 1994, 282 new master gardeners joined 504 veteran master gardeners in volunteering 45,478 hours. Between 1994 and 2000, our numbers continued to grow: NEW VETERAN TOTAL MG S HOURS VOLUNTEERED 1994 282 504 786 45,478 1995 368 555 923 54,186 1996 277 673 950 62,257 1997 495 727 1,222 67,771 1998 462 932 1,394 78,897 1999 593 898 1,491 102,810 Becky Pickett of DeKalb County was elected President at the January 8, 2000 conference held at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Later that year, on May 13-17, the Southeastern Regional Master Gardener Conference was held at the University of Georgia. Also in 2000, Bob Westerfield reported that 833 new master gardeners and 1,664 veteran Master Gardeners shared their knowledge with others resulting in 103,279 hours of service to the citizens of Georgia. Those same Master Gardeners came from 108 counties and traveled 432,009 miles that year. The year 2001 brought Sharon Box to GMGA as President. Sharon was elected at the conference on January 6, held at the Vet School at the University of Georgia. This was a departure from the Atlanta Botanical Garden, as GMGA had outgrown that space. The second conference of the year was held March 23-24 in Savannah, Georgia. Reports from UGA indicated that 556 new Master Gardeners were added to the existing veteran Master Gardeners numbering
1,413. Those gardeners donated 127,233 hours of expertise and traveled 699,511 miles to perform those chores. Ed Millere of Thomas County stepped into the President s office on January 12, 2002, at the winter conference at the Lawrenceville Justice Center in Gwinnett County. CMGA s second conference that year was held May 24-25 at the Radisson Hotel in Augusta, Georgia. Five hundred and three (503) new Master Gardeners were added to the existing 1,319, and all Master Gardeners volunteered 125,073 hours. On January 18, 2003, GMGA held a conference at the Oconee Center in Watkinsville, Georgia. Members always seem to enjoy conferences held here. Doreen Lubin of Lumpkin County was elected President and presided over our second conference later that year in Helen, Georgia. Unicoi State Park & Lodge, with its view of Mt. Yonah, was our conference headquarters. Five hundred and sixty (560) new Master Gardeners joined 1,592 veterans to volunteer 141,911 hours. GMGA headed south for our next conference held January 27, 2004 at the Coweta County Fairgrounds. Ginni Flotta of Greene County was elected President. We moved even further south for our next conference that year to The Columbus Convention and Trade Center for our April 24 Conference. UGA statistics for 2004 reflect that 436 new Master Gardeners were added to the 1,789 veteran Master Gardeners together, they volunteered 149,862 hours of time. Still South of Atlanta, our January 14-15, 2005 conference was held at the National Fairgrounds in Perry, Georgia. Ruth Smith of Oconee County was elected President. The Georgia Mountains Center in Gainesville, Georgia was a good choice for our meeting held on September 24. In 2005, 463 new Master Gardeners joined 1,889 existing Master Gardeners to volunteer 170,961 hours at projects throughout the state. On January 14, 2006, GMGA returned to the Lawrenceville Justice Center in Gwinnett County. Ruth passed her gavel to Ed McDowell of Houston County. A fall conference seemed in order, so GMGA moved to the Augusta Marriott, hosted by Richmond and Columbia Counties on September 30. Volunteer hours totaling 194,138 were worked by 454 new Master Gardeners and 2,196 veteran Master Gardeners. The year 2007 brought a return to Savannah The Coastal Gardens on January 13 was our venue. Arlene O Neill of Hall County was elected President. The second conference held on August 3-5 highlighted a new location The Classic Center in Athens. One hundred more new Master Gardeners took the course in 2007 (562), and they, together with 2,644 existing Master Gardeners volunteered 192,854 hours.
The Classic Center in Athens must have been a good one, because GMGA held its January 26, 2008 conference there again. Arlene passed the gavel to Sharyn Altman of Columbia County. The second conference in 2008 was moved to the fall and close to the Atlanta metro area. Southern Polytech in Marietta was the locale for the conference held October 17-18. In 2008, perhaps the drought dropped the number of new Master Gardeners to 348. Our 2,145 veteran Master Gardeners and the newbies volunteered 176,224 hours also down from past two years. It s always fun to try new places, so GMGA s first conference in 2009 was held at Darton College in Albany. Brenda Beckham of Clarke County began her term as President. Another new place Fernbank Nature Center in Atlanta, played host to GMGA on October 16. Six hundred and forty-four (644) new Master Gardeners (the highest number since 2000) joined 2,501 existing Master Gardeners to work an incredible 217,010 hours. Judy Mitchell from Cobb County took over as President in 2010. Our first conference that year was held January 22-23 at the First Baptist Church in Gainesville. Many firsts this year our second conference was held October 1-2 at Hills and Dales Estate in LaGrange. Master Gardener enrollment fell back to 498 in 2010, and, added to the existing 2,619 Master Gardeners, volunteered 221,184 hours. The number of hours worked this year is our record to beat. In 2011, we moved away from holding a conference in January. W. H. Smith of Carroll County presided over our April 29-30 conference at the Forum in Rome. The local committee performed wonders working around the recent tornado in the area, and our conference was another success. The fall took us south to Macon, with another great conference at the Marriott City Centre. Our 2,613 veterans were joined by 561 new interns to volunteer 217,563 hours. In 2012, GMGA made the decision to hold only one conference per year, and our conference was held April 20-21 at the Conference Center in Canton, Georgia. Mike Sikes of Barrow County was our 2012 President during the conference another great one. In 2012, we came into the digital age, electing our officers primarily by online voting. We saved a few trees by going this route, and more members were able to vote than those that ordinarily attend the fall conference. The number of new Master Gardeners fell to 355 in 2012, but the number of existing Master Gardeners increased to 2,911. Together, the Master Gardeners volunteered for 203,888 project hours. Carole Teja of Gwinnett County took office on January 1, 2013. The March 22-23 conference held at the Oconee Conference Center in Watkinsville was a success we do seem to like the facility. A Master Gardener Day was enjoyed at Gibbs Garden in Ballground, and other events are planned for the remainder of the year.
Training sessions are being held throughout the year across the State, adding hundreds of master gardeners to our ranks. Currently, GMGA s members number above 1,100, and we hope to grow that number this year. Our newsletter, The Scoop, has moved from a quarterly publication to a bimonthly publication. The Scoop is available online and by subscription. Next year, we celebrate 35 years of the Master Gardener program in the State of Georgia. A conference in Savannah is a great way to accomplish that. Thanks to Becky Pickett for her original history to which we added and updated. Additional thanks to Krissy Slagle for her statistics and files and to Jim Fier for the early years. We would love to hear from Master Gardeners who want to expand and/or correct our history. Comments can be sent to Marjorie Stansel at 4615@bellsouth.net.