At the Texas Master Gardener Conference, held last week in Conroe, the Smith County Master Gardener Association received several awards from their peers for their outstanding volunteer and educational programming for the 2007 calendar year.
The Smith County Master Gardener Association received a 1st Place Award in the Graphics Presentation category for a PowerPoint presentation on Bulbs for Northeast Texas, which was shown during the Fall Garden Conference and Bulb Sale last year. Other awards included: 2nd Place Award in the Mass Media category for the Smith County Master Gardener Website (http://scmg.tamu.edu); 2nd Place Award in the Publication category for the Butterfly Gardening brochure that is used in the IDEA Garden and for other events; 3rd Place Award in the Project category for the Tyler Rose Garden Docent program; and 3rd Place Award in the Association category for overall excellence in programming.
Nine Smith County Master Gardeners joined the over 700 attendants at this annual conference where they received advanced training in a wide range of subjects, plus getting an opportunity to see what other Master Gardeners are successfully doing in their counties.
Currently there are 138 certified Texas Master Gardeners in Smith County, along with 17 interns. In Texas, there are 115 counties with Master Gardener programs, where volunteers are trained in a wide range of horticulture topics in exchanged for service in their counties by providing educational programs and information in gardening to the adults and youth in their counties. The Master Gardener program is a volunteer program of the Texas AgriLife Extension Service. Based on the Independent Sector's dollar valuation of $19.51 for a trained volunteer's time, Smith County Master Gardeners volunteer time in 2007 of 10,000 hours, in over 20 different educational projects and programs, equates to $195,100 benefit to Smith County.
The next volunteer training in Smith County will begin in January 2009, with applications accepted beginning this fall. For more information on the Smith County Master Gardener program, see their web site at scmg.tamu.edu or contact the Smith County AgriLife Extension office at 903-590-2980. Residents of other counties should contact their respective county Extension offices.
