MG History - Baltimore City

The Baltimore City Master Gardener program began with the first Master Gardener class in 1982, becoming the third program in the state of Maryland.

One of the first duties of the graduates was to visit private homes and become plant doctors. Because one of the original 5 students, Virginia Brown, was the president of Cylburn Arboretum Association, it seemed only natural for an alliance to form between the two groups.

Currently, Master Gardeners help with the Cylburn greenhouse and festival work, while Cylburn provides us with a place for a demonstration garden and compost display area. The garden still exists today and one of the regular gardeners is Betty Stran, another one of the original 1982 class. We later started using the Cylburn Mansion for classes, workshops, and meetings.

More recently, we have formed a great working relationship with the Parks & People Organization of Baltimore City. We are supporting each other in a variety of educational opportunities.

Because of the unique nature of our urban setting, Baltimore Master Gardeners have supported the creation and continuation of about 20 community gardens. A grant from the Department of Agriculture in the early 1980’s provided the initial funding which allowed the Maryland Cooperative Extension to create partnerships with neighborhoods and community leaders.

As word spread about our existence and our mission, we were invited to participate in many city festivals ~ the Flower Mart, the Baltimore Herb Festival, and various community fairs. On the weekend mornings in the summer, we run plant clinics at two City Farmer’s Markets. We also coordinate the statewide participation of several county MG programs at the State Fair and Home & Garden Show.

Many of the Baltimore City Extension Agents have gone on to work in other areas of the Extension Program. Pam King was the first extension agent and is now Extension educator in Charles County; Wanda (Trent) McLaughlin has moved to CMREC as Extension educator for residential and landscape management, which includes the Bay Wise Program; John Forester, from Anne Arundel County, stepped in to become our MG coordinator when we lost our extension agent and contributed to the 2004 Regional Conference as leader of the Search for Excellence Program; and last but not least, Jon Traunfeld was instrumental in starting a Community Garden program in the City of Baltimore, before he moved on to become our state MG coordinator and Director of the Home and Garden Information Center.

For more information, contact Robin Hessey

Last updated: 04/7/2008