Harold Pieratt (BMGA President), Cathi Pendergrast, Garry Kroeger
Annually, the Bellville Town and Country Garden Club awards a person or place in Bellville in honor of Arbor Day. The first Friday in November in Texas is the state’s Arbor Day. National Arbor Day is the last Friday in April. This April the garden club purchased a Meyer lemon tree from the BMGA Plant Sale held in Sealy and chose BMGA member Garry Kroeger as their Arbor Day Award recipient. Garden club and BMGA member Cathi Pendergraft presented Garry with the tree at BMGA’s May 29, 2018 monthly meeting in Sealy.
Mr. Kroeger is the project leader for BMGA’s thriving Sens Center Vegetable Demonstration Garden, with the help of BMGA member Pete Smith and a team of other BMGA volunteers. The garden is located behind the Sens Community Center in Bellville and is used for educational purposes including at the 2017 BMGA Kids Kamp last summer. The garden provides produce to local non-profits, Austin County residents in need and Mr. Kroeger and his dedicated team of Master Gardener volunteers sell excess produce at the Farmer’s Market in Bellville. As Ms. Pendergraft says, “He has done this for years so who better to award it to?”
BMGA is very proud of Garry Kroeger, an Austin County resident who supports the efforts of BMGA’s four-county community (Austin, Colorado, Fayette and Washington) to increase the knowledge of gardening to the general public.