2024 Scholarships Awarded
The Bluebonnet Master Gardener Association is proud to announce the 2024 annual college scholarships winners. Scholarships were awarded to high school graduates from Austin, Colorado, Fayette & Washington Counties, Texas. To view the winners’ bios, see below. The winners are:
Ryleigh Gilfoil – Austin County
Kase Weishuhn – Colorado County
Cooper Mau – Fayette County
Madison Moran – Washington County
The recipients demonstrated outstanding achievement in leadership, citizenship, community service and other endeavors that form the basis of becoming lifelong responsible, productive citizens and leaders in their communities.
Congratulations to our 2024 scholarship winners!
2024 Water Program – In the Heart of Texas
Plant Party – Monitoring Native Vegetation
Registration is now open!
Join us on June 26th from 10:00 – 11:30 AM (Central) for “Monitoring Native Vegetation“. We’ll have 5 short presentations from experts in the field and will be giving away lots of DOOR PRIZES!
You must register to receive the Zoom link the day before. It’s FREE!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PPMonitoring
Plant Party is a quarterly, advanced plant training series provided by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
For more information contact:
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
2024 Lunch-N-Learn Series – Fall Austin County
Special Austin County Lunch-N-Learn – Disaster Prevention & Resilience
The speaker will cover what to do before, during, and after a disaster. Learn what types of disasters might happen in our area, how to prepare for each, and how to protect your family when a disaster occurs. Attendees will be provided with go/stay checklists to help them assemble an emergency kit.
Our presenter will be Stephen Burnett, Texas A&M AgriLife DAR Agent.
Bring your own lunch.
Light refreshments provided.
1 CEU credit for Master Gardeners
Intern Class of 2024 Graduates
The Bluebonnet Master Gardener Association (BMGA) and the Washington County AgriLife Extension Service is proud to announce the graduation of 20 Master Gardener Interns who completed the 2024 Master Gardener Training Class. The intensive training classes began January 10, 2024, and continued every Wednesday through April 24th at the Washington County Event Center in Brenham, Texas. Trainees from all four BMGA counties were eligible for the class. The training class will not be held again in Washington County until 2028.
After completing 60+ hours of intense instruction, classroom training, field trips and passing a final exam, the interns are required to complete 50 hours of gardening volunteer service within one-year to certify as a Master Gardener. Such volunteer activities on BMGA projects are designed to assist Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in educating the public about gardening. One of the 2024 interns, Ms. Jennifer Burnett, completed her 50-volunteer hour requirement prior to the class graduation date of April 23, 2024, so is now a certified Master Gardener.
Class Coordinator Al Prescott said that the 2024 class schedule incorporated “new field trips, new speakers and other new material not used before in BMGA training classes.” Christy Schweikhardt added that changing the presenters and curriculum helps keep the program fresh and current.
Congratulations to the 2024 BMGA Master Gardener intern graduates:
Joe Bluemel, Donice Karl, Shawn Brightwell, Helen Luchak, Aubrey Brinkmeyer, Shari McCoy, Jennifer Burnett, Rebecca McDowell, Brenda Coston, Gloria Mifflin, Susan Finster, Sally Pitts, Kirby Gor, Rita Saulsbery, Jennifer Groleau, Ashlee Schaper, Heather Horton, Kelsey Wilson, John Jacobs and Christina Wise.
The 2024 Class Coordinators were BMGA Master Gardener volunteers Al Prescott, Christy Schweikhardt and Gary Scardino. Washington County AgriLife Extension Agent Kara Matheney was the AgriLife sponsor of the class. Class Coordinators were assisted by Master Gardener volunteers Beverly Anderson, Cathy Conway, Linda Jordan, Teresa Wilson, Kay Przyborski, Renee Urish, Lisa Nicklow and Cindy McAllister.
Plant Party- Cooking Up Natives Webinar
Registration is now open for the March Webinar!Plant Party: Cooking Up Natives
2024 Washington County Lunch-N-Learn Gardening Series
2024 Colorado County Lunch-N-Learn Series – Winter/Spring
2024 Spring Lunch-N-Learn Series – Fayette County
2024 Small Farms & Vegetable Conference
39th Annual Fort Bend Regional Vegetable Conference
2023 Lunch-N-Learn Series – Colorado County
2023 Lunch-N-Learn Series, Austin County
2023 Lunch-N-Learn, Colorado County Texas
Texas A&M Turfgrass Short Courses (Feb. 2023)
11th Annual Texas Fruit Conference
Hybrid Program-Live & Remote Options!
September 26 & 27, 2022, 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Civic-Consvention Center
375 S. Castell Ave.
New Braunfels, TX
For more information, visit:
https://tamu.estore.flywire.com/products/texas-fruit-conference
or call 979-862-1218
2022 Austin County Lunch N Learn Series
Texas Olive Update & Grower’s Seminar
When: Sept. 30, 2022 8:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Where: Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Research & Extension Center, Uvalde
1619 Garner Field Rd
Uvalde, Tx 78801
Space is limited so RSVP now at: tx.ag/TxOliveUpdate
Colorado County Lunch-N-Learn Series
Colorado County members of the Bluebonnet Master Gardener Association are pleased to announce the upcoming Colorado County Lunch-N-Learn Series focused on gardening and horticulture!
Programs will be held on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at the Colorado County Services Facility located at 305 Radio Lane in Columbus. Registration will open at 11:50 am with the program starting promptly at 12:05 pm and ending by 12:55pm. Attendees are asked to bring their own lunch. Light refreshments including coffee, tea and snacks will be provided. No preregistration is required for this free program.
The following is our program line-up:
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- July 20th – Firewise Landscaping
- August 17th – Fall Vegetable Gardening
- September 21st – All About Berries: Blackberries and Blueberries for the Home Gardener
- October 19th – Tree Care
- November 16th – Soil Biology and Compost Tea
For more information please contact the Colorado County AgriLife Extension Office at 979-732-2082.
Summer Celebration in The Gardens at A&M-You’re Invited
The Gardens at Texas A&M Saturday, June 11, 2022 Free parking available in lot 97. Join us at our annual community Summer Celebration for food and fun for the family, including children’s educational activities, story time with Chance The Librarian, JJ’s snow cones, and more. You won’t want to miss this fun-filled morning! |
Intern Class of 2022 Graduates
By Faye Beery, 2022 Class Coordinator
On April 26, 2022, our new Bluebonnet Master Gardener intern class graduated with 33 interns. One of them, Joe Jimenez, completed his 50 hours of volunteer work during the class period and is now a full fledged Master Gardener. We also had the youngest intern that we have had, Webb Sherman, age 17. The class had the largest ever enrollment with 40 students, but unfortunately, we lost 7 due to various reasons.
![Joe Jimenez](https://txmg.org/bluebonnet/files/2022/05/Joe-Jimenez-2022-cropped-300x244.jpg)
Joe Jimenez with Class Coodinator Faye Beery.
![Webb Sherman](https://txmg.org/bluebonnet/files/2022/05/Webb-Sherman-2022cropped-300x258.jpg)
Webb Sherman with Class Coordinator Faye Beery.
We kept statistics for our class to determine the knowledge gained during the classes. Our pretest average grade was 55 with 23 missed. Our final test (posttest) averaged 89. The highest score was 98, made by several people. We also gave them 2 bonus questions from a list of words given them weekly that corresponded with their chapter. With the bonus questions, the average score was a 95. With the bonus questions, the highest score was a 108.
Several of the students were new to the area, having recently brought property in one of our 4 counties. There were also 3 sets of couples who were new to the area.
All of them were eager for information and asked lots of questions. They enjoyed the speakers and kept some of them a little over time to ask more questions. They are going to be good master gardeners, a good source of information for our community, and good friends.
Thanks also to the helpers for the class. Nikki Griffin was invaluable handling all the food and drink for the classes, as was Marcella Ausmus, helping with the hospitality and grading papers. Esther Hartman, Susan Yancey, and Leah Pierce helped to grade papers also. Thanks to all who came.
![2022 Intern Class](https://txmg.org/bluebonnet/files/2022/05/2022-Intern-Class-Photo-cropped-scaled.jpg)
Bluebonnet Master Gardener Intern Class 2022
Interns:
Prudence Allwein Ramin Baranpourian Jim Campbell Mary Lu Campbell Nancy Darst Linda Duffy Carla Eriksson Tory Farley Jeri Franco Dolores Gonzalez Cheryl Grassmann Freida Hale Amy Schramm Webb Sherman John Sims Chris Terry Jim Hudgins |
Linda Huron Joe Jimenez Chad Johnson Kayleigh Johnson Lorrie Maddox Scott Maddox Rebecca Marek Margie O’Brien Mary Ott Karen Reip Jacqueline Samples Keri Sherman Barbara Shersh Carrie Staples Renee Urish Angelica Zurita |
Fruit & You in ’22! Agrilife Texas Fruit Conference
Fruit & You in ’22!
The Texas Fruit Conference is returning for its 11th year, and we would love to have all fruit growers and enthusiasts join us for two days of education, networking, and fruit sharing!
When: Monday, September 26th and Tuesday, September 27th
Where: New Braunfels Civic Convention Center, New Braunfels, Texas
What: New grower information, advanced orchard management topics, research on new and existing fruit crops, fruit variety performance, pesticide CEU’s, and our Taste of Texas Fruit Reception!
Contact: Monte Nesbitt, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Horticulture, 979-862-1218, [email protected]