December
January
Announcing the Annual Jackson County Master Gardener™ Association
Photo Contest
The Jackson County Master Gardener™ Association Member Services Working Group (MSWG) announces its annual photo contest.
✦The 2026 JCMGA Photo Contest is open to all current Jackson County Master Gardener™ Association members.
✦Photos may be submitted from January 1st until January 31st, 2026. We can accept two (2) photos from each member, although there will be only one winning photo per person.
✦Photographs are limited to those taken in gardens of the Rogue Valley and the focus must be on a plant or flower, garden animals or insects – no people (for privacy issues).
✦Please submit your photograph in portrait format, rather than landscape format to barbaralow@msn.com .
✦All photographs must be at least 1500 x 1575 pixels (5”x5-1/2” at 300 dpi) and all submitted photos become the property of JCMGA.
In addition, since the photograph on the cover of the directory is longer from top-to-bottom than from side-to-side, photos submitted must be in portrait format rather than landscape.
Please submit your picture to barbaralow@msn.com and include your name, phone number, email address and a short description of the flora pictured. If you have any questions, please contact Barbara Low, barbaralow@msn.com. All identifying information will be removed and the contest will be judged by members of the Member Services Working Group.
The winning photograph will appear on the cover of the 2026 JCMGA Chapter Directory, and four runners-up will have their photographs featured in the Garden Beet. Winners will be announced in the April Garden Beet.
Whether your garden consists of several acres or a single plant in a hanging basket, we would love the opportunity to honor the beauty you have created and nurtured.
Tis the season! During the holidays, we can take time to be thankful for friends and family and to reflect on what has happened over the year. The winter holidays are also a time for us to think of the future and set goals.
During the past year, JCMGA has become more involved with our community. We were able to accomplish this due to the impressive efforts of our working groups. Our working groups provide great volunteer opportunities.
Working group activities include:
I encourage you to become involved with one or more of these working groups. Many hands make light work. We have a great time working with each other and sharing ideas.
On another note, I want to thank all of you for your support during the past year. I have been fortunate to be the JCMGA president and work with a talented, hard working group of people on the JCMGA Board. We are very fortunate to have people willing to work in a leadership role to help our organization move forward in our mission of providing horticultural education to our community.
We are currently looking for one or more people to fill the President-Elect office. This is a two-year commitment. It can be done by one person or by two people working together. You will be provided support during the year. If you are interested, please contact me. barbaralow@msn.com
CONGRATULATIONS to the following newly elected officers to the JCMGA 2026 Board of Directors!
President-Elect Vacant
Recording Secretary Emma Holt
Membership Secretary Ann Ackles
Assistant Membership Secretary Lindsey McNab
Treasurer Keltie Nelson
Assistant Treasurer Annette Carter
OMGA Representative Colet Allen
Co-Archivists Teresa Jarratt & Carrie Stanton-Holmes
Members at Large
Joanne Daane
Erin Galbraith
Sandy Hammond
Connie Lyssand
Kaleen Reilly
We so appreciate these members for their generous donation of their time, energy and enthusiasm for our organization! You’re awesome!
Thanks also to everyone who took the time to show their support for these members by casting their votes. You’re awesome too!
On Saturday, November 1st, twenty-three students graduated from the OSU Class of 2025 Master Gardeners program. Congratulations students! Your many hours of training and practicum have culminated in success!
Grace Florjancic did a wonderful job leading the Master Gardener classes from January through April. She provided essential gardening information and invited knowledgeable guest speakers to present on various topics.
For the graduation celebration, the Member Services Working Group did a wonderful job of decorating the auditorium in a Hawaiian theme. Great food was catered mostly by Blue Fish.
We had a wonderful time!
Class of 2025 Graduates
Diann Abbott Galbraith Karen Friend Erin Galbraith
Jan Gnas Deirdre Hammack Emma Holt
Maggi Laurel Chris Massahos Lindsey McNab
Nicole Morgan Scott Nelson Jenn Nichols
Richard Oldham Gordon Olson Elizabeth Peard
Mark Potts Sands Christopher Rob Kimberly Sands
Anita Seda Nicole Shatola Eve Thornton
Katrina van der Linden Cherisa Wooley
Volunteering Superstars
Over 60 Volunteer Hours! Over 90 Volunteer Hours!
Janice Gnas Erin Galbraith
Nicole Morgan Deirdre Hammack
Katrina van der Linden Lindsey McNab
I encourage all our graduates to continue your involvement in the JCMGA . Whether it’s with the Demonstration Gardens, working groups, special events, etc. there is a place for you. We welcome you with open arms!
In response to last year’s JCMGA Member Survey, members asked for in-person educational classes. To meet this request, the Member Services Working Group has planned three educational classes during 2026. They are as follows, with corresponding informational links:
Snacks and drinks will be provided at each of these classes. These are free events, and provide such valuable information. We hope to see you there!
Please contact Barbara Low barbaralow@msn.com if you have any questions.
“A day without a friend is like a pot without a single drop of honey left inside.”
— Winnie-the-Pooh
Last year, our Jackson County Master Gardener Coordinator, Grace Florjancic read that isolated older adults who have few to no friends or close family members, tend to experience more health problems and depression. Wanting to address this issue, she and Master Gardener Kendyl Berkowitz (class of 2023) joined forces to write a grant application. They were awarded the Rural Older Adult Mini Grant from the Association of Oregon Community Mental Health.
Grace and Kendyl used the grant to create classes for older adults in the Jackson County community. These classes are based around simple indoor gardening projects, and provide participants with opportunities to socialize while completing the day’s project.
The 2024 classes were held in local libraries and were taught by the following JCMGA Master Gardeners:
Kelli Loux, Louise Parker, David Gremmels, and Gayle Reed in Medford
Chris Veach and Grace Florjancic in Shady Cove
Connie Lyssand, Tina Elliot, and Blake Elliot in Ruch
Barbara Low, Bruce Millbank, Cathy Millbank, and Liv Schneider in Rogue River
Margie Dode and Grace Florjancic in Butte Falls and Eagle Point
This year there was enough money left in the grant to also offer the classes in Talent and Gold Hill. Katrina van der Linden, Maggi Laurel, and Eve Thornton were the Talent instructors; Erin Galbraith and Jane Moyer taught in Gold Hill.
The classes taught included the following:
Week 1: Introductions
Discussion of class purpose
Aging and loneliness resources available
Repotting houseplants
Care of houseplants
Participants received a small grow light to take home
Week 2: Introduction (review)
Discussion on how participants’ houseplants are doing
Plant propagation (stem and leaf cuttings)
Discussion of plant cuttings by the pioneers
Discussion of experiences with plant propagation
Week 3: Introduction (review)
Discussion of art projects done using nature
Plant poetry (Mad Lib and Acrostic poems)
Discussion of floral design
Creating a simple bud vase arrangement to take home
Week 4: Introduction (review)
Discussion of food plants that can be grown indoors
Discussion on gardening adaptations made to accommodate aging
Discussion of micro-greens and their benefits
Planting a container of micro-greens to take home
Planting a container of herbs from seeds to take home
Discussion of how to care for houseplants
Week 5: Introduction (review)
Discussion of how micro-greens are doing
How to press flowers
Making a bookmark and a see-through picture frame with pressed flowers
Week 6: Introduction (review)
Discussion about using pesticides safely (IPM) and the JCMGA Plant Clinic
Discussion of how to identify and treat houseplant pests
Participants received yellow sticky traps and a hand lens to take home
Week 7: Introduction (review)
Discussion of who has herbs sprouting from Week 5 and/or growing outside
Discussion of various methods for drying herbs
Making bundles of herbs to take home to hang and dry
Tea party (The tea was made using herbs and plenty of honey tocelebrate our n ew friends.)
Participants received a souvenir mug to take home
How to find out about classes offered by Master Gardeners (JCMGA website)
Planning for how to stay in touch
The participants enjoyed themselves, and said they had learned a lot about gardening indoors while making new friends. A side benefit for JCMGA was that Erin Galbraith, who had accompanied her mother to the class in 2024, decided to take the 2025 Master Gardener class and has become very active in the association. In fact, she was elected to the JCMGA Board of Directors as representative from the class of 2025 and reelected as a member at large for 2026. She has also become quite active in many working groups.
Here’s to another successful season of Cultivating Companions!
A queen Yellow-faced Bumblebee (Bombus vosnesenskii) sleeping on an aster blossom one early autumn morning. Yellow-faced Bumblebees are native to the West Coast of the United States. These large fuzzy pollinators nest in abandoned rodent holes, and the queens can often be found spending the night on cosmos or aster flowers in my yard.
The 2026 membership renewal process is now open! We hope you will renew your membership between now and the end of January. As usual, the membership fee is only $25.
This year, we ask you to complete a renewal form. This informs us of the areas in our organization in which you are interested in participating. You can find the renewal process form on our home page under “Membership Renewal.”
If you want a hard copy of the renewal form to list your areas of interest, we will mail one. Just indicate it as you process the membership form online.
This year you will have the ability to choose to list your home address or not. Please bear in mind that, if you do not want your home address in the Directory, you will have to pick up your copy at the Extension office at 569 Hanley Road, Central Point in the spring. This is because we can only use the bulk mailing process to send a copy to addresses in the directory.
In 2026 we are looking to help increase our membership by finding old members who might like to rejoin our organization. Once a Master Gardner, always a Master Gardner, and one can rejoin at any time. Do you know a prior Master Gardener who is inactive? If yes, please encourage them to become involved again.
There are so many benefits of being a JCMGA member; for example, the education offerings are outstanding. The annual picnic is great, and the spring and fall plant sales have been very successful. One of my most favorite benefits though, is the great people I meet who are also members. Don’t wait, renew your membership today!
The Member Services Working Group plans a variety of member events during the year such as:
For the past couple of years, we have used a survey to help us with the planning of events for the coming year. We have updated the survey, and we will be emailing it to our members on December 15th. Please check your email for it – including your Spam/Junk folder. We want to have all the surveys returned by December 31st. Your responses to this survey will help us to make our plans for 2026.
We want to thank you ahead of time for taking the time to complete the survey.
Oregon State University Extension
© 2026 Jackson County Master Gardener Association.
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