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Master Gardeners Program Is 10 Years Old and Growing

PIctured from left above are six of the eight original members of the Stone and Taney county Master Gardeners: Jane Schwartz, Carol Frische, Josie Abettor, Carol Gerhart, Cathy Wolven and Joe Wolven. Not pictured are E.J. Adams and Belle Bechtold.

The Master Gardeners of the Ozarks are, gardening and education volunteers. They have been helping anywhere they can through the Ozarks. They are celebrating their 10th anniversary. The original eight members were from Stone County and within a short time Taney Master Gardeners merged, to establish “The Master Gardeners of the Ozarks.”
Today the group, sponsored by the University Extension, has helped people with ideas for their vegetable or flower gardens, fruit orchards, landscaping, children’s learning gardens, control of disease and pest, proper fertilization, land management, ergonomic, nursing home gardens and container gardening, without a charge. The group also has special projects such as the Dewey Short gardens for the previous three years and the Children’s Learning Garden at the Kimberling City Library, as an ongoing project.
Whether you are one, or a group of 200, the master Gardeners will come and talk, teach and help where possible. The main object of the Master Gardeners is education, to all of Stone and Taney counties.
Each Year the group raises and donates a $1000 scholarship to a College of the Ozarks student specializing in horticulture.
With over 100+ members and still growing, the Master Gardeners of the Ozarks has logged approx 80,000 volunteer hours in assistance and education in the local area over the past years.
Six of the eight original members of the Stone and Taney county Master Gardeners are still active. They include Jane Schwartz, Carol Frische, Josie Abettor, Carol Gerhart, Cathy Wolven and Joe Wolven, who was the first president of the group. Tim Schnakenberg of the University of Missouri Extension has been with the group since the inception. He works as an active supporter, adviser and leader.