Charles County

Charles County MG Program
Annual Report 2005

1. Basic Information
# of active MGs   68
# of interns   17
# of volunteer hours   2929.65

2. Awards/recognition
Blue Ribbon for Master Gardener booth at County Fair

3. Grants
Grant from Charles County Forestry Conservation Board through Chesapeake Bay Trust to plant trees at Grace Lutheran School for reforestation--$824.

Grant from Chaney Foundation to build Sensory Garden at Lions Camp Merrick for blind, hearing impaired and children with diabetes as well as other campers. $1000 . Grant from Historical Trust in joint project with College of Southern Maryland to design a historically appropriate landscape for Friendship house. $500.

4. Partners
College of Southern Maryland, Christmas in April, Lions Camp Merrick, Dr. Samuel Mudd House, Chaney Enterprises, Grace Lutheran School

5. Highlights from 2005

Residential Landscaping Workshop
The 3rd annual workshop was held at the College of Southern Maryland’s Center for Business and Industry; it was co-sponsored by the College of Southern Maryland, which provided extensive publicity assistance. The response was enthusiastic, with 115 paid registrants. The theme of this year’s program was maintainability, with parallel sessions of presentations on hardscaping and plantings.

National Gardening Month display
The Master Gardeners staffed an information table at the Potomac branch library each Saturday morning during April.

Christmas in April
Master Gardeners allocate plant material among the homes to be renewed. They then prepare and plant, often while renovating existing plantings and cleaning up overgrowth. Grace Lutheran School
Master Gardeners received a grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust for a reforestation project on the grounds of the school. The students were trained in the classroom by a wetlands specialist, and then planted the trees and shrubs around the school’s storm water management pond.Lions

Camp Merrick Sensory Garden
The Chaney Foundation and the Waldorf Lions Club donated funding for a sensory garden at this camp for physically disabled children. A pentagon-shaped raised bed was prepared and filled with plants and decorative materials to stimulate the senses of sight, hearing, smell, and touch. We hope to make four other gardens to exemplify square, rectangular, triangular, and circular shapes.

Bugs & Nutrition
A program was presented to pre-K children at several local elementary schools. They dressed up as bugs, and were taught how both bugs and humans depend on plants. They were also introduced to vegetables that they might not normally eat.

Impatiens Giveaway
When Greenstreet Growers offered free New Guinea impatiens for MG projects, Master Gardeners made good use of them. Hundreds were sold at the local farmer’s market, and more were used to decorate the grounds of a local senior day care center, with help from the center’s participants.Charles County FairOur educational exhibit at the county fair was well-received. We won a blue ribbon, as well as a rosette from the Maryland Federated Garden Clubs for the Best Educational Exhibit. Dr. Samuel Mudd House We continued to develop and maintain this historic garden. The foundation that operates this historic site has made its appreciation clear by assisting us with implementing our plans, and including financing in their annual budget.

For more information, contact Robin Hessey

Last updated: 02/21/2007