Website Upgrades
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The Iowa Master Gardener website is now mobile-friendly. Check out the new website by clicking here. This upgrade will allow you to access the website from the garden or anywhere else with your smart phone or iPad! Of course, you can still visit the website with your laptop or desktop computer, too.
Changes are coming to the Master Gardener Hours Reporting System. This September, the website will have a new look, and will be more user-friendly. Tutorials on how best to use the new system will be part of the upgrade.
All the data for Master Gardeners currently enrolled in the old system will be automatically transferred from the old system to the new platform. The new system will make it much easier for you to track your volunteer and continuing education hours. During the conversion--sometime during the first 10 days of September--the old system will be inaccessible for a couple of days. If during that time you are unable to log in, please be patient and try back a couple of days later.
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Last of the Summer 2015 Webinars
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County Extension offices across Iowa are offering a three-part webinar series this summer. In the final webinar, Pollinators and Growing Herbs, presenters are Nathan Brockman, Iowa State University Reiman Gardens butterfly house curator, and Master Gardener Susan Appleget Hurst. Attendees will learn about attracting bees, birds, and butterflies to the garden as well as growing, harvesting and preserving culinary herbs.
The two-hour-long webinar counts towards Master Gardener continuing education requirements. Contact your local Extension office to find out when the webinar is being shown in your area.
Locations offering the webinar include the following towns: Allison, Altoona, Atlantic, Bettendorf, Boone, Bloomfield, Cedar Rapids, Chariton, Charles City, Cherokee, Council Bluffs, Cresco, Decorah, Denison, DeWitt, Dubuque, Fayette, Fort Dodge, Fort Madison, Grinnell, Grundy Center, Guthrie Center, Hull, Ida Grove, Independence, Indianola, Iowa City, Le Mars, Logan, Marshalltown, Mason City, Mount Pleasant, Muscatine, Nevada, Newton, Onawa, Osage, Oskaloosa, Pocahontas, Sigourney, Sioux City, Tripoli, Wapello, Waterloo, Waukon, Webster City, West Burlington, and Williamsburg.
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Volunteers Needed for Class on Campus
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Master Gardener core course training includes a hands-on day of classes at Iowa State University. We are looking for Master Gardener volunteers to serve as group leaders at Class on Campus either on Saturday, October 10th or Saturday October 24th, 2015. Please sign up here if you are interested in helping. Participants can earn eight hours of continuing education or volunteer service, get a refresher in the class-on-campus topics by participating in classes and tours, and enjoy a free lunch. It's also a great way to establish connections with the new trainees.
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Award Winning Master Gardener Project
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Congratulations to Marshall County Master Gardeners who won a 2015 Search for Excellence Award for their community youth teaching garden. Master Gardeners engaged close to 200 youth in hands-on vegetable gardening and cooking classes.
If you have a youth-oriented garden project that you would like to submit as an award application for next year, click here to learn more. Applications are due March 15, 2016.
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New Master Gardener Shirts Available
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Have an upcoming event or program? Show your Master Gardener pride with a new shirt. The ISU Extension Online Store is now offering blue polo shirts and t-shirts in a variety of sizes. Click here to start shopping.
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Register now for the Master Gardener training core course offered through Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. The cost is $195 for the 40-hour core training course and a certificate upon completion. After completing the course, Master Gardener trainees start their work as volunteers within the community. After finishing 40 hours of volunteer service, the master gardener title becomes official and they join thousands of other Iowa Master Gardener Extension volunteers. Check with your local Extension office for registration materials and deadlines. The registration deadline may have already passed in some locations, but in others it will be open until September 11. Classes start in mid-September. Locations offering training this fall include the following towns: Albia, Altoona, Ames, Bettendorf, Bloomfield, Carroll, Cedar Rapids, Cherokee, Council Bluffs, Creston, DeWitt, Dubuque, Fairfield, Garner, Grinnell, Grundy Center, Ida Grove, Independence, Indianola, Iowa City, Knoxville, Logan, Maquoketa, Marshalltown, Mason City, Monticello, Mount Pleasant, Muscatine, Osceola, Oskaloosa, Pocahontas, Rock Rapids, Sac City, Sioux City, Tipton, Tripoli, Vinton, Wapello, Washington, Waterloo, Waukon, or West Burlington.
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International Master Gardener Conference
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Co-hosted by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach and University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension, workshops will provide opportunities to learn about partnering with food pantries to diminish hunger as well as numerous other gardening topics.
"Food gardening has the potential to strengthen individual, household and community food security by helping people get easier access to healthy, fresh foods." said Margaret Murphy, horticulture educator and regional foods coordinator for ISU Extension and Outreach. Keynote speaker, Gary Oppenheimer, a master gardener from New Jersey, who founded AmpleHarvest.org, will present Ending the Waste of Food - From the Ground Up, on Friday, Sept. 25, 1 p.m.
The full conference registration fee is $440. Single-day registrations are also available for the conference. All fee options include lunch; registration closes Aug. 31. For more information or to register, click here: http://mastergardener.unl.edu/imgc2015. Join 700 other Master Gardeners and friends from all over the world at this exciting event. It will never be closer than in our own backyard!
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Lights, Camera, Action!
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Do you have photos of Master Gardeners in action? Submit digital images for the Master Gardener photo contest by October 1st to win prizes. Download and send the entry form and three to five digital images to be entered into the Master Gardeners in Action Photography Contest. Please note that the images should include at least one Master Gardener involved in a project or program. Let us see and share with everyone some of the great work that you do as Master Gardener volunteers!
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Super Sleuths
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The mystery plant from July elicited more correct responses than the previous month, so it must have been easier to identify. The Super Sleuths who recognized the plant pictured below were: Carolyn Magnani, Polk County; Nancy Dunbar, Polk County; Bonnie Meyers, Clinton County; Jack Robertson, Poweshiek County; Alyce Dolphin, Dubuque County; Paula Winslow, Polk County; Mary Meier, Black Hawk County; Mary Hawley, Wright County; Mary Baughman, Cherokee County; and Judy Brozik, Hancock County.
They all correctly identified the plant as Diervilla sessilifolia Cool Splash, commonly known as southern bush honeysuckle or dwarf bush honeysuckle. Cool Splash is a trademarked name; the cultivar name of this particular plant is 'LDPC Podaras', not terribly memorable. However, the arching plant habit, white-edged foliage and creamy yellow blossoms make this plant a noteworthy addition to the summer landscape.
At maturity, Cool Splash reaches three to four feet high and wide. It adapts well to full sun or part-shade and grows in most soil types except poorly drained sites. Hardy in USDA Zones 4-8, it can sucker up and form a dense colony. It is in the same family (Caprifoliaceae) as more common garden honeysuckle shrubs and vines from the genus Lonicera, but Diervilla has none of the negative invasive qualities sometimes displayed by its "cousins."
Denny Schrock
State Master Gardener Coordinator
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Featured Plant from July
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Southern bush honeysuckle,
Diervilla sessilifolia Cool Splash
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August Mystery Plant
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What am I?
The August Mystery Plant is an Iowa native biennial that behaves much like hollyhocks, self-seeding in the garden to act more like a perennial. The plant grows from two to six feet tall, but seldom is more than a foot wide. Its tubular red flowers attract hummingbirds. It prefers dry soil and grows best in full sun, although it will tolerate part shade.
Send your response including its common name and botanical name in your reply to Denny. In the next newsletter, we'll recognize up to the first 10 respondents that provide the correct identity of the mystery plant.
August Mystery Plant
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Upcoming Events
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What: Master Gardeners' Art Show When: September 13, 1:00PM Where: Altoona When: September 22, 5:30-7:30PM
Where: Muscatine
When: September 22-25 Where: Council Bluffs Price: $385 for full conference by July 1; daily registration also available What: Speaking for the Trees When: September 26, 9:00-11:00AM Where: Iowa Arboretum, MadridPrice: $15 members; $20 non-members Do you have other educational opportunities coming up? Email the state Master Gardener office with details.
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