Jack Ivers

Community Science Projects (adapted from the OSU Master Gardener Coordinators’ blog, December 2020):

Community science projects, such as climate or invasive species tracking, are reliant on observant volunteers on the ground who are able to report back findings. In 2016, we developed guidelines to encourage OSU Master Gardener Volunteers to engage in community science projects and to have those hours count towards volunteer hours. These guidelines require that community science projects must:

• Align with the Master Gardener educational mission of discovering and disseminating research-based gardening information,
• Advance one or both of the flagship programs of the OSU Extension Master Gardener program: sustainable gardening and/or home and community food production,
• Involve participation on one or more levels of the community science typology. These levels are (from least to most involvement): crowdsourcing, distributed intelligence, participatory science, collaborative science.

Here are Oregon and national community science projects which are approved for indirect volunteer hours with the OSU Extension Master Gardener Program as of December 2020. Hours which you spent collecting and submitting data can count as hours. When reporting volunteer hours associated with participation in approved community science projects, volunteers should report in the category of ‘Citizen Science’ (indirect volunteer hours).

Want to know if another community science project qualifies for Master Gardener volunteer hours?

Contact Erika.

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Get ready for 2021!

Our 2021 Elevated Master Gardener Training is coming up soon! Keep an eye on your email for registration dates and information for the skills-building courses (January – March), the Culture of Gardening Series (May – June), and the Statewide Horticulture Series (second Tuesday of each month via Zoom, 3 – 4 pm PST).

Click here for dates and other information for the Elevated Master Gardener Training, public horticulture class series, and more.

“Plant so your own heart will grow.” – Hafiz


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We are greeting 2021 with more hope than we’ve had in nearly a year.

Although Gardeners have not been spared from the myriad hardships of COVID-19, we can feel gratitude that our love for gardening has given us some measure of respite and comfort. Our hearts and community grow when we plant and when we dream of planting.

The garden checklist for January is scant. It’s kind of the “Ready, Get Set” month as days start to lengthen.

The nagging but prudent routine items continue to be pest and weed control. Better to address these early than letting them gain a bigger foothold in the garden. You may need to water ornamentals under the eaves if they do not get reliable rainwater.

Catalogs are rolling in. I hear your brain thinking, “I’d just like to try this or that.” Our eyes are greedy. Can you really use 200 seeds of any one plant? Although they will keep for next year, you might want to work out a sharing scheme with your gardening friends. Oh, and don’t let your seed stash from last year (or the year before that) languish!

Assess your gardening experience from last year. Consider removing pest and disease prone plants and replace with resistant varieties. Does mulch need to be replenished?

The big thing for January is planning…

Your veggie plot. Crop rotation. Is this the year you go for raised beds or container gardening? Are you going to germinate seeds or buy starts? What needs to be pruned this spring? Is it time to test your soil? Are you planting a few native perennials and annuals? Get your row covers organized, clean the greenhouse and then drag yourself to a hot shower or the hot tub!

Wishing you a 2021 filled with promise and health.

By Katy Mallams

Master Gardener 2012

Currants and gooseberries, members of the genus Ribes, are all hosts of the non-native and virulent fungal pathogen Cronartium ribicola, cause of white pine blister rust. It is called white pine blister rust because it causes lethal cankers on young five-needled pines (also known as white pines due to the light color of the wood) and severely weakens the larger trees by killing tops and branches. This makes them susceptible to later attack by bark beetles.

The fungus was introduced from Europe to North America in the early 1900s when five-needled pine seeds were sent to Europe, grown in nurseries and sent back as seedlings. It appeared on the West Coast in 1910 and spread through forests in the West wherever both five-needled pines and Ribes grew. The disease has contributed to major declines in the population of five-needled pines and has made successful planting of these trees very difficult.

Bole canker

During the 1930s to 1950s there was a great effort made to control the spread of the fungus by eradicating wild gooseberry and currant plants from the forest. The effort failed in the western U.S. largely due to the rough, remote terrain and ability of Ribes to sprout after cutting. Today there are programs in several federal agencies to develop disease-resistant five-needled pines for restoration planting.

In our part of Oregon, there are three native species of five-needled pines, all very susceptible to the fungus. Sugar pines (Pinus lambertiana) are found in mixed conifer forests at middle elevations. A good place to see magnificent large sugar pines is along Highway 62 between Prospect and Union Creek. Western white pines (P. monticola) are found on higher and moister sites, mainly in the Cascades and in the Siskiyous on ultramafic soils. Whitebark pines (P. albicaulis) are found at the highest elevations, most noticeably around the rim of Crater Lake, and in scattered locations near Mt. Ashland and Mt. McLoughlin. We also have several native species of Ribes in our forests including stink currant (Ribes bracteosum), spreading gooseberry (R. divaricatum), prickly currant (R. lacustre), Sierra gooseberry (R. roezlii), red-flowering currant (R. sanguineum) (a popular choice in local gardens for attracting hummingbirds), and sticky currant (R. viscosissimum). All can be hosts of the fungus but stink currant, red-flowering currant, and Sierra gooseberry are particularly susceptible.

The life cycle of Cronartium ribicola is complex and requires both Ribes and five-needled pines to complete. Spores of the fungus spread from five-needled pines to Ribes in spring and back to pines in the fall. Although the spores can travel a long distance when conditions are right, most successful infections occur when Ribes and pines are within one-half mile of one another. On currant and gooseberry plants, both wild native and cultivated varieties, infection by the fungus causes small raised yellow-orange spots containing spores on the underside of the leaves in early to mid-summer. Later in the summer, brownish hair-like spore structures develop in the same area. Severely infected plants may lose all or most of their leaves.

White pine blister rust is not an issue for most gardeners because most of the five-needled pines growing in our local forests are not near where the majority of people are gardening unless you live near Prospect, Butte Falls, the upper elevations of the Applegate Valley or unless you have a five-needled pine in your landscape such as eastern white pine (P. strobus), Swiss stone pine (P. cembra) or Vanderwolf’s Pyramid (P. flexilis). In these situations, blister rust-resistant species or varieties of currants and gooseberries should be chosen. Black currants grown for home gardens are varieties of R. nigrum or R. odoratum. They are more susceptible to infection than red or white currants (R. sativum). However, rust-resistant varieties of black currants are available, including Prince Consort, Minaj Smyriou, Blackdown, and Titiana. Red currant cultivars Viking and Red Dutch are practically immune. Jostaberry is a blister rust-resistant cross between black currant and gooseberry species developed at Oregon State University that has qualities of both species.

Sources:

Managing Insects and Diseases of Oregon Conifers by David C. Shaw, P.T. Oester and G.M. Filip. Oregon State University Extension Service EM 8980. 2009.

Pacific Northwest Plant Disease Management Handbook, Gooseberry and Currant.

Pacific Northwest Plant Disease Management Handbook, Pine, White – White Pine Blister Rust. Pine, White-White Pine Blister Rust | Pacific Northwest Pest Management Handbooks

Shrubs to Know in Pacific Northwest Forests by Edward C. Jensen. Oregon State University Extension Service. EC 1640. 2013.

Status of Sugar and Western White Pines on Federal Forest Lands in Southwest Oregon: Inventory Query and Natural Stand Sur vey Results by Ellen M. Goheen and D.J. Goheen. United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region SWOFIDSC-14-01. 2014.
Sunset Western Garden Book, edited by Kathleen N. Brenzel. 2001.

Devyn Schneck is a current student in the Master Gardener class of 2020.

We were fortunate to have Devyn qualify, with completed hours, to run as a member at large

Devyn Schneck

candidate for the Board of Directors. Although not initially elected from the six candidates, we were

fortunate to appoint Devyn when Marcie Katz resigned her member at large position to become the Board representative of the Gardens and Grounds Working Group. We are so happy to welcome her to the board.

Devyn has been active on campus between COVID-19 shutdowns, working with Lynn in the Native Plants Nursery. She is an avid cook and gardener. As the owner of a freeze-dried food business, she is required to grow all the food she processes and sells, so her garden is mammoth! She is also a long-time member of the Ashland Rowing Club, which means she is extremely buff!

Welcome, Devyn!

By Patrice Kaska

Master Gardner 2016

JCMGA membership renewal for 2021 is now in progress. Although members can renew at any time during the year, please renew by Jan. 31, 2021 if you would like to be listed in and receive the 2021 Chapter Directory.

Three methods of renewal are available this year. You can renew online; by printing out the form and mailing it and your $25 check for dues to PO Box 401, Ashland, OR, 97520; or by requesting a paper renewal form be mailed to you. The occasional renewal Mailchimps contain a variety of buttons that lead directly to the various renewal methods to make renewing as easy as possible for each member.

If you have questions about the renewal process, please contact Patrice Kaska, JCMGA Membership Secretary.

In a change from previous years, Erika Szonntag, the Jackson County OSU Master Gardener Coordinator, will contact JCMGA members about the online completion of the two required OSU volunteer forms (Conditions of Volunteer Service and Code of Conduct). This process will begin in early 2021.

As everyone during this pandemic, JCMGA has had to make many changes to its usual activities in 2020. Yet the Board and other committees are working diligently to plan and schedule various classes and other activities so that we can remain the wonderful association we’ve all valued over the years. We hope you will join us in 2021.