Spring brings out the gardeners in us

The spring equinox has passed, meaning our days are now longer than our nights. With the sunny days and longer daylight, all of us are getting out into our gardens more. The small native bees in my yard are visiting the blooming Western Ninebark (Physocarpus capitatus) and the bulbs are starting to push up from under the leaf litter.

Jackson County Master Gardeners has a lot going on this month. Our Membership Services Working Group has been busy getting our membership renewals in as well as starting our two new study groups – succulents and native plants. If you have an interest in joining either of these study groups, please contact Susan Koenig.

The Membership Services Group has also been helping to locate and line up volunteers for our Native Plants Tour, which will be available virtually May 10-15 and live (we hope) on May 22. We still need some help with filming the gardens in Ashland and Medford. We need three or four more folks who feel comfortable using an iPhone to video the gardens. There are 12 gardens. We would like to have each videographer take two at a time mutually convenient for you, the garden owner, and coordinator. We will be scheduling the video visits March 22-27, and the actual visits will take place March 28-April 8. This will earn volunteer hours! This is an important task, so If you feel you could help, please email Sherri Morgan or call her at 541-326-7998. Husbands, wives, and significant others are welcome!

Our Fundraising Working Group has also been busy, selling our Garden Guides to the Rogue Valley at local nurseries and trying to organize the Spring Plant Sale. We are hoping that COVID-19 restrictions will be lowered enough so that we can host some type of fundraising event sometime in May.

While we wait for the Extension campus to reopen, we have a few gardeners who have permission to go on campus to keep the gardens alive. Hopefully, later this spring we will be able to work in small groups again to keep the gardens looking good, inventory the plants in the native plants nursery, and get all our students their volunteer hours. That is the hope.

Enjoy your time in the garden, and we hope to see you soon. And remember, Garden for Life!