Dearest Master Gardeners,
This is a call to action from your JCMGA Board of Directors.
The last 2½ years have been a struggle for our association: COVID-19, loss of our program coordinator, loss of many of our experienced board members, fire, drought, the failure of the well on campus, and the condemnation by the county of our Practicum classroom. All have conspired to diminish our ability to function and left a small, core group of dedicated volunteers struggling to keep the association going.
Despite all the bad news, we have been able to accomplish remarkable things: We have teachers at OLLI, and folks giving classes at Jackson County Library Services branches and to garden clubs. The Plant Clinic is up and running. The Demonstration Gardens are open and the GEMS are on site every Wednesday from 9 to noon. The Native Plant Nursery is bursting with plants that need homes. We have had pop-up plant sales and are selling our The Garden Guide for the Rogue Valley: Year ‘Round & Month by Month book at all the local nurseries. The rain catchment system is installed and waiting for its interpretive sign to be purchased and installed. As you can see, the small cadre of dedicated volunteers are working like mad, but we need YOUR help!
There are so many ways you can get involved.
- The Plant Clinic needs more man/woman power.
- The Demonstration Gardens need volunteers to help keep them presentable.
- Our Communications Working Group needs help with outreach on social media – we could really use a volunteer tech person to help. We need folks with marketing experience, someone to help with the membership database and member services.
- We would like to reinstate our Garden Buds program with the 2023 class and need someone to head that.
- Our Membership Committee needs help planning and setting up for events like our annual picnic, first day lunch for students, graduation banquet and other events.
- We need folks to help get the Spring Garden Fair back up and running, albeit in a smaller form on campus for 2023.
- The Community Outreach Working Group needs speakers for community education, someone to work with Community Garden and School Garden grants and with scholarships.
- The 2023 Winter Dreams/Summer Gardens will need speakers and someone to line up those speakers, starting in July.
- Once our 2023 class begins, we will need an apprentice coordinator to place students with GEMS in the Demonstration Gardens.
- And Practicum is always looking for more mentors, as we would like to get that program up and running again.
If you would like to become more involved, please contact Lynn Kunstman at kunlynn52@gmail.com and let me know where you would like to “plug in.” I will forward your mail to the committee or working group chair in charge of the area in which you have an interest.
The Daylily Garden features more than 100 cultivars of the Hemerocallis genus. For more than a decade, volunteers in the garden have been crossbreeding different daylilies, including about a dozen new hybrids that will be registered with the American Hemerocallis Society. Marsha Waite is the GEM for this garden. 
The Lavender Garden includes 80 varieties of lavender and more than 250 plants. The garden is the only one in the Pacific Northwest registered with the Herb Society of America. Part of the Southern Oregon Lavender Trail, open from June to mid-August, our largest garden needs lots of TLC. Please come work with Irv Johnson 
Over 150 varieties of roses grace our gardens. These include hybrid tea roses, floribundas, grandifloras, miniature roses, climbing roses, and David Austin roses. Learn to care for and prune roses with Joanne Mitani, the Rose Garden GEM. 
The Water-wise Garden conserves water by using mostly drought-tolerant plants, by grouping plants together with similar needs and by mulching. Contact Monette Hoffmeister 
The Wanda Hauser Garden was the first Demonstration Garden at this site, established in 1994. The garden features a wide variety of common ornamental plants with less commonly known culinary, medicinal, and cosmetic uses. Most of the plants are perennials, while others are self-seeding annuals or shrubs. Marcie Katz is the GEM for this garden. 
The Vegetable Garden demonstrates various methods for small scale home vegetable gardening. Methods include growing vegetables in straw bales, growing potatoes in very small areas, and cool and warm season cover crops used in carbon sequestration, weed control and nitrogen fixing. It features pollinator plants and a bountiful harvest of vegetables. Sean Cawley is our GEM. 
The Demonstration Orchard boasts over 40 different apple trees. Many are of commonly known varieties such as Honeycrisp and Fuji. Less known are Bramley’s Seedling, Belle de Boskoop and Arkansas Black. Also present are varieties of peaches and pears. Sean Cawley is doing double duty as this garden’s GEM. 
mentors Becky Belau 
The Native Plant Garden showcases native plants found in this region that are suitable for the home garden. Native plants are adapted to local environmental conditions and provide food and shelter for native birds, butterflies, and other wildlife. The Native Plant Garden has expanded to incorporate a rain garden – a shallow depression designed to collect rainwater The rain garden captures water for a short period of time, allowing it to soak slowly into the landscape. The deep roots of the surrounding native plants assist in this water infiltration. Sherri Morgan is the GEM 
campus and to the community at large. We propagate our plants from cuttings and seeds, and grow a variety of annuals, perennials, grasses, shrubs and trees. Nursery work usually goes from mid-January to mid-November. If you are interested in learning how to stratify seed, propagate from cuttings, or just learn more about native plants and help with regular pop-up sales, contact Lynn Kunstman at 
Our Perennial/Shade Garden has a mixture of shade, dappled sunlight and even areas with hot afternoon sun. Perennial plants are the backbone of nearly every flower garden. The lifespan, bloom time, culture and form of perennial plants varies greatly. Shade gardens are those with little or no direct sunlight. Since few edible plants grow well under shady conditions, shade gardens are usually ornamental. Doug Kirby is the GEM. 
that can be eaten, used as spice, or for tea. We need a GEM for this garden! Talk to Marcie Katz if you are interested.
The Wildflower Garden features flowers, shrubs and grasses that are native to the Rogue Valley. Our area is part of the California Province of Wildflowers which is considered a hotspot for native plant biodiversity. The garden also includes non-native plants that are frequently found in our area. The Wildflower Garden was registered as a Monarch Way Station in 2015. Sue Koury is our GEM. 
Our Vineyard Garden is being replanted in wine grapes. This garden needs a GEM! Are you that person? You would work closely with our viticulturist, Dr. Alexander Levin, who, by the way, speaks both Spanish and Russian.
Tufted Hairgrass, Deschampsia cespitosa, is a native bunchgrass. It grows naturally in moist, high elevation sites; sandy or rocky shores; bogs & fens and requires medium water. It does best in part shade. The seeds are an important food for birds, and it is host to Skipper butterflies (Hesperiidae family). If you have an area that gets regular water, this is a grass you might consider.
Blue Wild Rye, Elymus glaucus, is a cool season, tufted perennial bunchgrass. The loose to dense tufts have erect to somewhat nodding seedheads. The foliage is blue-green in color. Growing 3-6 feet, this decorative grass likes part shade, and will tolerate dry sites. It is a desirable species for use in erosion control. The attractive, blue-green foliage adds value to commercial landscaping projects. It is host to nine species of butterfly and moth.
Yarrow, Achillea millefolium, is a tough, lacy gray-green evergreen perennial herb. It grows 2-3 feet tall, with white flowers. It fills spaces aggressively, to form a thick, weed- preventing mat. Bloom lasts from April into September. It does well in both full sun and part shade and is especially drought tolerant. Added benefits are that it is fire resistant, hosts 10 butterfly and moth species, and is of special value to native bees.
Self Heal, Prunella vulgaris, is a vigorously spreading member of the mint family. This tough little native grows 6 inches to 2 feet tall and forms a lush green mat. It is topped with lovely purple flower stalks from May through September. It can be grown most anywhere, with a little extra water in very dry conditions. In very hot areas, give it a spot that is protected from the hot afternoon sun. Self Heal is a favorite of bumblebees and butterflies, both as a nectar and a host plant.
It’s easy! Pick up a BLUE BAG or two (no more than two please) from the table in the lobby of the Extension office and fill it with clean, empty, beer, soda, water, tea, or juice container–ANY bottle or can that has the OR 10 cents redemption value listed on the label. Once your bag is full, you can drop it off at any of the following bottle redemption sites:
Oregon State University Extension
