Hey there: I think the display gardens we develop and maintain are easily comparable to many botanical gardens I have seen that are open to the public. There is no absolute final criteria for a particular garden and the group that maintains a particular garden may decide to change the design or scope of the garden to meet changing needs. Membership in the garden group is not hard and fast either. If you are interested in a particular type of garden you can request a move. Major changes and purchases must be approved by the Hort. agent but if you have a good idea and present it well he won't have any objections. He does have to work with IUPurdue since it is on their campus and we lease the space. We have at least three or four garden walks each summer for the public. Each garden group is expected to answer questions, supply information, demo a project or present new ideas to the attendees. Sometimes we have representatives from local businesses, an artist doing a painting in one of the gardens, local celebrities from gardening shows and musicians playing in the gardens. Other tours can be conducted by appointment and we have a self guided tour that can be done any time. I don't think I have worked in the garden at any time when I have not stopped to help people exploring on their own. There are always questions and comments. Some of the things I have done are show how to construct a copper trellis, demo container gardens, show how to do water gardens, dig a pond, design and make original stepping stone designs, paint a mural on the shed, designed the pond in the terrace garden, give talks to groups and schools and 4-H or at the local home and garden show, give one of the classes for the new season. Learned how to do Bio-tech and demoed it to classes of children and adults, learned to do hydroponics so I can demo it when needed and I expect to be finished on the construction of the greenroof project in the next couple of weeks. I spend one afternoon a week on the gardeners hotline and help answer questions at the counter for dropins. Since I have had greenhouses, questions about that subject come my way. I have also worked on developing an everlasting garden. I do more than some and less than others and most of the time it flows. Once in a while there is someone who thinks they should have more control or voice than others but that rarely succeeds. I haven't mentioned the record keeping, the paperwork, the newsletter, the seed collecting and packaging, the community outreach, the bus tours, the purchasing committee and the youth group.One group put in an irrigation system for each of the gardens. Another grows special plants for the sales. I have probably forgotten much more. Sandy

Wow! I'm impressed with the variety of your projects. How many MGs are working in your locality and how many hort agents do you have? We average around 100 MGs here and can't get a tenth of your work done! I would love to see a greater variety here. I just might make some suggestions.

We do have a fairly new botanical garden in Richmond and lots of the MGs volunteer there. It's a beautiful place and has lots of classes so we can get our CE hours there, too.

Sandy

As in any group of volunteers there is a fluctuation in active members but we have close to 300 currently. The ages range from 15 to 90. There is one agent in charge of us all and he has other obligations with the job as well. Thank goodness there are MGs who can help him with the reports and coordination of activities etc. We also have a group called Friends of the Garden who for one reason or another can't take the classes for certification but who want to work in the gardens. They kind of float between areas that need extra hands. Every time I am there someone is working on a new project and I am so jealous I am not involved but there are only so many hours. Each group sets up their own work schedule but there is a general workday every month. Usually there are about 50 attending. We have a lunch break and the agent brings us up to date on what is going on. I think just about everyone who has a special talent is encouraged to share it by holding a class or demo or writing an article for the newsletter. There was even a program on Public Access TV by one MG with help from the agent and other MGs. Lots of MGs are involved one way or another with the Conservatory and the Parks Dept. greenhouse and we are often asked to be docents at the Garden Walks each year. Recently we have been hosting Habitat for Humanity recipients who have been learning how to care for their own yards for the first time. One MG has developed a community garden and some of the others help out and teach there.
There are so many talents and projects out there it is hard to catch even half of them. It's amazing what a group like this can do. Sandy

We in Victoria County, Texas also have a big garden that we have raised the money, designed, and built ourselves. We are just going into phase 2&3, phase 1 being a childrens garden, and a vegetable garden.

We have an active membership of 106, and about 30 in the new class started on August 12. Our agent is not a Hort. agent, but has been very involved with the group.

We do put on a yearly garden tour, a yearly garden Symposium, and 2 plant sales a year. And we do Jr. MG, as well as many, many tours of the gardens every year.

Janie

We maintain two grdens in the Tyler Rose Gaarden. One, the IDEA Garden is a garden highlighting plants that do well in NE Texas. The other, the Heritage Rose Garden highlights antique and Earthkind Roses. In addition to the gardens, we sponsor Spring & Fall Garden Conferences, a spring plant sale, & a fall bulb sale. Additionally we publish & sell a calendar & gardening guide, have a spring home tou, a Jr. MG program , lsandscape grounds for houses for Habitat for Humanity & help to coordinate community gardens. We've got an active goup of about 130 members, 20 interns & 20 interns.

If you get the chance to see the IDEA Garden in Tyler, do so. You won't be disappointed. I saw it last year (2003), when Smith County hosted the TMG Conference. It is teriffic(sp?)

Janie

Everything the Master Gardeners do has a educational component. The only reason we need to raise money with garden tours or plant sales is to be able to spend it on our public educational projects. When we need to provide something for our school garden or community garden project we use the money. All is done with the goal of public education. Al

Our local MG have a community garden that was started by a couple of interns a couple of years ago. Now, noone has adopted the garden since the interns have other things to do. It is a hassle to get anyone to work at the garden and it's causing bad feelings. Make sure you have a strong enough organization to maintain anything. Our MG group has tried Boys & Girls Club gardening and Youth Gardening but it's the same 'ol thing. The kids don't want to weed or maintain a garden so the plots are abandoned. Then you have members pressuring the others to "volunter" to maintain these gardens that noone wants anymore.

We became involved with the county to help kids sentenced to community service by the courts. The probation department had a budget that allowed some county unused land by the courthouse to be fenced and raised beds built. On Saturdays master gardener volunteers and a few kids with their probation officer work in the garden. Vegetables are planted in the beds and when harvested are sold with the money going to the kids for things wanted in the juvenile hall. The experience has been good for some of the kids being exposed to gardening and gardeners for the first time. They have been able to keep it going for about six years now but its future is in doubt due to butget cuts in the county which has had to cut back on the number of probation officers. The MGs working there have grown quite fond of some of the kids and are sorry to see them go when they have completed their community hours. Al

Here in the foothills of the Sierras, the Nevada County Master Gardeners have maintained a Demo Garden since before my time -- I think it's a dozen or so years old. It's an excellent educational tool, particularly over the past 5 years as we've made many improvements. We have:
- a deer-fenced raised bed area where the beds are each 'owned' by an MG who plants, maintains something educational and posts explanatory signage.
- an oak habitat, which is to demonstrate the kinds of plants that can be grown under our native oaks. This is the place for dry-summer natives, so those who move here can avoid killing their oaks with gardens that demand water.
- a small orchard in which we give pruning and training workshops
- a xeriscape, deer-resistant garden, unfenced
- a composting operation with 4 different types of bins and working compost.

We give many workshops at the Demo Garden, which is on property open to the public every day as well. We also host our Spring and Fall Fests / Workshops / Plant Sale days there, which is a primary fund raiser for us.

The Demo Garden is an enormous undertaking, and I second Annzn5 who pointed out that you have to be sure to get buy-in for all the work involved. It is also our largest, by far, single budget item each year. We've had problems from time to time, but they've been ironed out as we go. We have about 70 members, with 15 or so who make the Demo Garden really run.