Master Gardener 1993 – 2011

Peggy Stewart went through M.G. classes and became certified in 1993, Montgomery County, Virginia. She was active in that county until she moved to Austin, joining TCMGA in 1996. Peggy was elected State Representative in 1997-1998, followed by being elected President in 1999 – 2000.

During her tenure of being President, Peggy lead, created and developed some of our more outstanding programs.  She, with the help of other TCMGA members, helped plan, carry out and co-sponsored the 1999 International Master Gardener Conference held in San Antonio. She was largely responsible for the outstanding success this conference achieved and freely gave many, many hours of dedicated hard work to make it happen. It was with the profits from this conference, TCMGA was then able to purchase a greenhouse. Skip Richter (Horticultural Agent), Don Freeman, Ron Miller and Peggy traveled to various greenhouse operations to inspect, learn and eventually purchase the greenhouse that is still in use today. Although the purchase of a greenhouse was an unassembled kit, each member of our organization came together to volunteer their time, energy and skills to construct and eventually move into a completed structure.

Peggy worked alongside our Agent, Skip Richter, to design and start the first Master Gardener classes offered in Travis County. Many hours were devoted to working with the class to ensure its success and continued development. Peggy worked with all aspects of the early classes, making sure volunteer opportunities were in place for the growth of knowledge and certification program to be achieved.

It was also during this time frame that it was noted no local gardening publication was available to both the public and gardeners wishing to learn about our diverse area. Under Peggy’s guidance, one TCMGA member (Dolores Leeper), designed and edited while fellow members wrote and then published the First Edition of our outstanding TCMGA publication, “Guide to Gardening in Austin & Vicinity”. We are now in the fourth printing of this guide, which continued to sell vigorously all around Travis County.

At the close of Peggy’s tenure as President (2000), TCMGA established the “Peggy Stewart Award” for outstanding contributions to the organization. She was awarded the ‘5000+Hours of Service to Travis County Master Gardeners’ in 2010.