
DATE: Sunday, August 3, 1997                TAG: 9708010258

SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER      PAGE: 06   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Cover Story 

SOURCE: BY SUSAN W. SMITH, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  161 lines

MASTER GARDENERS CHESAPEAKE'S VOLUNTEER PLANT ENTHUSIASTS ARE A FOUNTAIN OF KNOWLEDGE JUST WAITING TO BE TAPPED.

IF YOU HAVE blackspot on your photinias, borers in the willows, scales in the nandinas or blossom-end rot, who you gonna call?

Try the local Master Gardeners' hotline number. They might not cure the problem but they can provide some tips to help the afflicted plant. Or they may suggest another specimen more suitable for that boggy area or the hot, sandy corner. And they certainly would suggest a pass on the popular Bradford pear tree in favor of a sturdy wax myrtle.

The Master Gardeners' program, which started in Seattle in 1972, began in Chesapeake in 1984. Now, it is a nationwide environmental and horticulture training and educational service for plant enthusiasts.

There are about 66 people in Suffolk, 110 in Norfolk, 150 in Virginia Beach and 300 in Chesapeake who have earned the right to be called Master Gardeners.

Debbie Hennessy, Bob Heines, Kerry Goldmeyer and Cindy Johnson are a few of the many Chesapeake graduates of the program sponsored by the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service and managed locally by the Chesapeake Extension office. Students must complete 50 hours of classroom time before they pin on their Master Gardener tags.

Besides plant identification, the students learn about water management, compost, fertilizer, lawn care and pest control. They discover how to create butterfly and therapeutic gardens. And they concentrate on how to grow and tend healthy, plants that are suitable for the soil and climate of this area.

The workbook cost $60, but there is no charge for the course. In exchange, the graduates agree to donate 50 hours of service to the community the first year and 20 hours the second year.

But some volunteers give much more. Abby Hughes has contributed more than 5,000 hours, and Walt Baldwin, Virginia Doughty, Heidi Howell, Jeanne Perrenoud and Carl Swindell each have accounted for 2,500 hours of service since they have been Master Gardeners.

``Master Gardeners in Virginia are very lucky,'' said David S. Vandergriff, Chesapeake's agriculture extension agent. ``They have the advantage of research, knowledge and the expertise of Virginia Tech and Virginia State University. And Chesapeake is lucky because of our outstanding crop of volunteer gardeners.''

Horticultural science, studied and tested at the schools, is passed to the Virginia Cooperative Extension office, Vandergriff explained. Therefore, Master Gardeners have access to the latest information about fungicides, nutrients, soil testing and native or disease resistant plants.

``People tend to buy what they see in nurseries, which generally stock 30 to 40 varieties of plants, and many are not common to this area,'' Vandergriff said. ``Tidewater has more than a 1,000 native plants and trees like myrtles, red maples and a variety of oaks and birches that do well and are environmentally friendly, which means less pesticides.''

Vandergriff said another great local resource is Virginia Tech's Hampton Roads Agricultural Research & Extension Center located on Diamond Springs Road in Virginia Beach. Annual and perennial testing gardens and an arboretum with more than 100 trees are open to the public.

Jean Holston has been a Master Gardener for five years. Now besides tending to three acres of gardens and lawn in Deep Creek, she mans the hotline several mornings a week. About 65 worried callers a month seek help about bugs, dropping leaves or dying lawns. They also want assistance identifying unusual leaves like Ginkgo, Osage Orange or Sour Maple.

``Pour a solution of bleach and water on the spots,'' Holston recently advised one concerned caller who discovered a strange looking growth in her garden's mulch. ``A combination of heat and humidity sometimes cause a nasty but not harmful looking fungus to sprout overnight.''

Other gardeners offer planting, pruning and growing advice or assistance during The Chesapeake Jubilee, Paint Your Heart Out Hampton Roads, Arbor Day or in demonstrations in schools, community centers and the YMCA.

Besides creating her own butterfly-friendly yard with verbena, cone flowers, Black-eyed Susans and milk weed, Kerry Goldmeyer is on call with the speaker's bureau and for plant clinics. Most Monday mornings, she and a crew of others nurture the Bicentennial Garden at the Municipal Center.

Goldmeyer completed her initial training here, and when she moved to Charleston, S.C., a few years later, she enrolled in that area's program before moving back to Chesapeake.

``Soil, weather and plant life vary in different regions,'' Goldmeyer said. ``Besides, discovering gardens and landscapes is a good way to learn a city and meet new friends.

After Cindy Johnson, a former teacher, became a Master Gardener, she returned to the classroom as a volunteer.

``My mother and my grandmother were terrific gardeners,'' said Johnson, who is originally from Minnesota. ``I wanted to follow in their tradition, but I knew I needed some help, and I needed to know more about local plants.''

After she completed the course and began work on her own River Walk landscape, she signed on to co-ordinate Ready Set Grow. It's a school program designed to introduce youngsters to basic planting tips.

``It's classroom enrichment, and it's fun. We provide seeds, pots and some instruction about light and water and an activity packet for theteacher,'' said Johnson, who with 35 volunteers presented the activity to almost 4,000 kindergarten through sixth-grade students in 27 schools last year.

For time to herself, Debbie Hennessy, a nurse, treated herself to the Master Gardener program after the birth of her fourth child.

``I've always had a passion for horticulture,'' said Hennessy. ``Then, I looked forward to the classes as a time of rest and relaxation.''

Besides digging and pampering her crepe myrtles, hibiscus and pachysandra, Hennessy finds time to work with ``Paint Your Heart Out'' and with the Chesapeake Arboretum.

``I like to research the drainage, eye the sunlight and plan step-by-step how to use a variety of plants,'' said Hennessy, who also found time to start Garden Gate Landscaping, a business that specializes in design and planning.

Bob Heines waited until he retired to pursue his garden interest.

``Now I am into sustainable landscaping management,'' Heines explained. ``I'm learning and sharing how to manage water usage and to avoid pesticides. And to choose plants and trees that fit the location.''

Now one of the directors of the Chesapeake Arboretum, Heines has 40 acres of woodland and a meandering stream where he practices his skills.

And there are many other ways Chesapeake Master Gardeners help in the community:

Last year, 46 volunteers promoted planting trees on Arbor day and passed out almost 10,000 dogwood, ash, cypress, river birch and pine seedlings to residents and school children.

In advance of bulldozers, many volunteers dug and poked through the woods behind the Great Bridge Community Center as they identified and tagged more than 100 native plants. The plants were moved to various city gardens before the area becomes a parking lot.

And today and Monday, many of the Chesapeake Master Gardeners will share their knowledge, talent and skills at the ``Fair at the Beach,'' the first regional state fair underway at Camp Pendleton. ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]

GARDEN GURUS

Staff photos by MORT FRYMAN

Annette Leidig reports for work as she and her fellow Chesapeake

Master Gardeners gather early every third Monday to landscape the

Bicentennial Garden at the Chesapeake Schools administration

building.

Staff photos by MORT FRYMAN

Elizabeth Cali is coordinator for the group of Master Gardeners

responsible for maintaining the Bicentennial Garden at the school

administration building.

Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN

Master Gardeners offer planting, pruning and growing advice or