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Oct 30

Jackson County Master Gardeners Announcements – November 2025

By Beet 2025 11 November

 

 

November

  • JCMGA Membership Renewal for 2026 will be open November 10th. Remember to renew your membership by January 31 to be included in our JCMGA 2026 Chapter Directory.
  • November 14th – JCMGA November Board Meeting from 9-11:30 a.m. in the SOREC Auditorium.

December

  • December 5th – JCMGA 2026 Board Orientation from 9-11:30 a.m. in the SOREC Auditorium.
  • December 12th – JCMGA December Board Meeting from 9-11:30 a.m. in the SOREC Auditorium.

January

  • January 31st – JCMGA Photo Contest for the cover of the JCMGA 2026 Membership Directory. (Details will be in the December Garden Beet)
Oct 30

President’s Column

By Beet 2025 11 November

It has been a wonderful fall so far. There has been rain and lower temperatures, both of which are needed and appreciated by gardeners. It has been nice to get out in my garden – getting my raised vegetable beds ready for winter, planting cover crops, mulching my ornamentals, shrubs and trees, and putting my garden tools away. Soon I will be planting some lilies, daffodils, crocus, and tulips – once they arrive in the mail. It is amazing how much we can do for our plants and soil in the fall. Now is the time to begin the tasks of planning for next year’s vegetable garden, reorganizing berry patches, and boning up on fruit tree pruning. (Grace gave an excellent presentation on fruit tree pruning and care. It was a great refresher class.)

This cyclical pattern of tasks is one of the things that I love about working in my garden – always checking my plants, modifying what I do to help them be healthier, and looking forward to the future. There is always something to do in the garden – even besides weeding!

One of the projects that I have been working on for the past two years is removing some of my lawn – mainly in the front yard. I have been planting natives. I have also put in a pollinator garden in my vegetable garden. In talking with Lynn Kunstman, I realized the importance of having natives in our yards. Of course she was right. I have seen insects – including bees – which I haven’t seen before. They are fascinating to watch. I continue to plant my ornamentals (many have sentimental value and loving memories), but I am definitely planting more natives. I hope that you will consider planting more natives in your yard too. If you want to purchase natives, definitely visit our JCMGA Native Plant Nursery at the SOREC Extension. Fall is the best time to plant them.

Also, if you have the time and inclination, please consider working in one of our wonderful Demonstration Gardens at SOREC Extension. We have 16 different gardens that all have a unique focus, from flowers to vegetables to fruiting trees! Each garden has a readable brochure found on our website at:

https://jacksoncountymga.org/demonstration-gardens/.  Marcie Katz is in charge of the Demonstration Gardens and can provide you with any additional information that you may be looking for.

It is delightful to be a gardener. Have a great time in your garden or ours!

 

Oct 30

Coordinator’s Column

By Beet 2025 11 November

Hello Gardeners,

Fall is the time when we do a lot of planning for the future. We plan out our veggie gardens, prepare for many upcoming holidays, schedule trips to see family and friends, and reflect on the past.  I have started planning volunteer opportunities for the Master Gardeners to increase our community involvement.

We share resources and answer questions at tabling events around the valley. This past summer we partnered with Rogue Food Unites at their mobile farmers markets in Eagle Point, Medford, and Talent. Many people took fliers about native plants, veggie gardening, and the plant clinic. The microgreens activity was a big hit and a great way for people who have limited gardening space, or gardening novices to dip their toes into growing food. I am looking forward to continuing this outreach opportunity next year.

My contact in ACCESS heard what we were doing with Rogue Food Unites and reached out to get us tabling at some of the ACCESS pantries. I was able to make it out to the Central Point food pantry once this late summer and had a great experience. Next year, I hope to schedule dates at various ACCESS pantries in more locations to help get gardening information out to more Jackson County residents.

In the past, Master Gardeners held plant clinic events at the Medford Farmers Market to answer gardening questions. It was a daunting task to transport all the books from the office to the markets.  But many of our resources are now online. In the future, Master Gardeners will partner with the Master Food Preserver volunteers to feature both organizations at the Medford market so we can provide resources; from sprouting seedlings to canning vegetables. I am working with the Master Food Preserver Coordinator, Daniela Garcia, to plan out this partnership. Daniela and I hope to have our programs present in the Medford Farmers Market once a month to share resources, information, and have a fun food-themed activity.

Would you like to volunteer at any of the above tabling opportunities? Reach out to Grace Florjancic at grace.florjancic@oregonstate.edu to get notice of the 2026 food pantry and farmers market schedules.  Happy fall planning!

Oct 30

Fall is the Best Time to Plant Native Plants!

By Beet 2025 11 November

While most gardeners think of planting new garden plants in spring when the weather fall.  Autumn planting of natives has many benefits: for the gardener, for the plants and for the soil.  Our native plant nursery at Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center has many beautiful native grasses, perennials, shrubs and trees for you to plant in late October for establishment over the winter months.

We have plants for sale every weekday from 9 am to 4 pm.  The nursery is self-serve. Choose the plants you want, pull the price tags, and take them into the office and pay.  Check or cash is preferred, but if the plant clinic is open, they can run a card.  Yes, this is shameless self-promotion, but we want EVERYONE to plant native plants this fall!

Plants that go into the ground in mid to late fall have an advantage over those planted in spring.  Because native plants use the first several months in the ground growing their root systems, they can take advantage of the soil warmth, even after air temperatures drop to the point that top growth becomes dormant.  It may look like nothing is happening, but those roots are growing and moving down in the soil, making associations with the mycelial organisms that will help them grow faster in the spring, and help them to infiltrate the rain that falls on your property.  When planted in the spring, native plants will often appear to not be growing at all, as they race to get their roots established.  By taking advantage of fall planting and cool season root growth, you can see faster growth in spring of the above-ground vegetation.

Of course, not waiting to plant until spring means not having to water through the dry, hot season while the plant establishes itself.  Native plants require less water and pruning maintenance in comparison to non-natives, but like any young plant, if planted in spring they will require more watering to ensure survival.  Fall planting just makes sense to keep both the plant and the gardener from stressing!

Benefits to the soil abound as well.  As long as the plant can photosynthesize — that is build carbon body parts — using sunlight and carbon dioxide, that carbon is being pumped out of the air and into the root systems as long as there is green vegetation above ground.  Carbon expelled from root tissue can stay in the soil for hundreds to thousands of years.  Think of our native prairie soils, made rich and black by millennia of native bunchgrass roots.  The exact same thing happens in your garden when you plant our deep-rooted native plants.  Soil organisms that evolved with western native plants abound where natives grow and add to the richness of the soil ecosystem.

Plant some native plants in your yard this fall and you will see the ecosystem benefits:  healthier soil, more abundant and diverse wildlife, more pollinators and butterflies, more breeding birds, better water retention and less need to irrigate.  This fall, GARDEN FOR LIFE!

 

Oct 30

JCMGA Fall Tips and Tricks

By Beet 2025 11 November

Compiled by Susan Hoehn

 

   A big thank you to all who contributed

to this column!

 

 

 

*I rake all my leaves into the garden area and the flower beds. I find several types of birds will come through – flipping leaves with their little feet, looking for bugs all winter!  —Dee Copley, MG 2014

*Save yourself some labor in the spring by planting a cover crop in the fall. I’m using Lacy Phacelia in between planted areas in my pollinator garden. It should serve as a weed barrier through the wet months and early spring — as well as an early-blooming and readily reseeding flower for pollinators. In the spring, I will simply dig out any areas that I want to fill with new plantings, and leave the rest of the Lacy Phacelia as a filler, pollinator flower and soil amendment. This attractive purple flower fixes nitrogen in the soil.  Fellow apiphiles: this crop attracts Van Dyke’s Bumblebees, whose males are bright yellow, in large numbers! — Erin Galbraith

*We have lived here for 47 years and had a garden every year. In the fall, after all plants and vines are removed, we cover it all with a deep layer of leaves: leaves that I rake up, and leaves the neighbors have bagged up. (That is a win-win for us both, as we do not have city leaf pick-up.)  In spring we rototill and, voila!! The leaves have all disappeared!!

We do have good soil—not clay, but we do have millions of small stones in the soil.  Or so it seems! — Liz Koester

*In general, I leave fall clean-up of my yard until March, when air temperatures are above 50 degrees F.  That way, I know most or all of the stem-nesting bees have emerged.  I leave my leaves as much as possible where they fall, or under shrubs and in the paths between my vegetable beds.  I never compost, shred or bag them, as they are habitat for many beetles, larvae, moths, chrysalises of butterflies and even adult butterflies – and those provide winter food for birds.  When I cut the stems, I lay them gently in my ornamental beds as mulch, so that all the native bees can emerge.

*My vegetable garden beds either get covered with leaf habitat (it’s not litter) or planted with green manure cover crops: crimson clover, winter pea and grass mix, and always Phacelia tanacetifolia (Lacy Phacelia). It blooms until heavy frost, provides great winter cover and blooms in spring and summer for native bees and beneficial insects.  It’s a better companion plant in your veggie garden than marigolds! — Lynn Kunstman

*Clean and sharpen tools, put away movable drip water systems in metal trash storage cans, and move all frost-sensitive plants inside beneath a light source.

*Prune back all cane berries and strawberries.  Mulch any root vegetables left to winter in the ground like beets, carrots, potatoes.

*Prune plant parts away from ground for easier flow of leaf blowing. Blow leaves into piles.  If left, they can cause disease around plants that don’t like being buried in winter, and cane berry/rose leaves can carry diseases.  Use a backpack leaf blower, or rake. Leaves are blown to vegetable planting areas and leveled in a thick layer.  My Jack Russells race through and crush them, so they disintegrate quickly.   Dry leaves must be cleaned up since they’re summer fire hazards in our area.

*Spray autumn fungicide copper soap on plants that need it (stone fruits, pyracantha).

*Root establishment is better for autumn planted perennials like fruit trees, grapes, hardy kiwi, cane and blueberries, and ornamental shrubs.

*Do autumn spraying, remove young weeds before they make seed, shield stone fruit trees from rain/snow to keep leaf curl away.  Pot up new plant starts. — Jordan and the Two JRTs

 

 

Oct 30

Winter Dreams Summer Gardens 2025: A Success!

By Beet 2025 11 November

 

We had another great Winter Dreams Summer Gardens educational event this year! For four days in October, a wide variety of gardening topics were presented by very knowledgeable field experts. Topics dealt with climate change, use of non-gas-powered garden tools, bees, native plants, vegetable gardening, the importance of soil, cane berries, and much more. Over one hundred participants capitalized on the opportunity to Zoom in to the presentations in real time, or they may view them at their leisure in the coming months.

I want to thank those who are a part of the Winter Dreams Summer Gardens Working Group for their countless hours of work in providing this wonderful educational opportunity. The Winter Dreams Summer Gardens Working Group consists of Colet Allen, Blake Elliott, Susan Koenig, and myself. Together we were able to put together a top-notch program.

For those of you who participated in this event, please take the time to complete the satisfaction survey that was emailed to you by November 7th.

 

 

Oct 30

Three Essential Organizational Tools Every Gardener Needs This Fall

By Beet 2025 11 November

As the nights grow cooler and our focus changes from fading summer blooms to the bright hues of autumn leaves, it is the perfect time to get ourselves organized for the upcoming gardening season. While most of us think of “gardening tools” as our everyday maintenance equipment, like trowels and pruners, there is a set of behind-the-scenes essentials that can make our gardening journeys a smoother experience that is both incredibly rewarding and more enjoyable.

Here are my top three recommendations:

  1. A Garden Journal

A dedicated logbook can transform your gardening experience. Record planting dates, harvests, seasonal changes, and observations to learn what works best in your garden. If you are able to purchase one, I highly recommend New York Botanical Garden’s Gardener’s Log: A 5-Year Planner. I like the format and helpful seasonal checklists. Any notebook or journal will work, but I recommend one with dot or grid pages for designing beds. Your new gardening log will turn your good intentions into a lasting record of growth and success.

Do you consider yourself a “Chaos Gardener?” Not every aspect of your process needs to be chaotic. The next time you toss a handful of biennial Sweet William seeds into a blank space in your pollinator garden, you’ll have a record to which you can refer when they bloom like crazy two years later. You’ll know what those first-year rosettes are, too!

Do you have a greenhouse? It’s helpful to record planting dates, plant arrangements and light setups, temperatures, other patterns you notice, watering needs, equipment you use or wish to acquire, and any pest problems and solutions so you can improve your methods the next year.

 

  1. Empty Seed Packets

I’ve learned the hard way that seeds tend to multiply and clutter your space—until you take control! Instead of storing seeds in mismatched boxes, bags, or other awkward containers; invest in proper storage. I recommend using sealable paper seed packets, which keep your seeds dry and well-organized. You can label them however you like: with species, harvest date, place of origin, and any other notes, such as stratification, germination, or planting requirements.

 

  1. A Seed Binder or Photo Album

My collection of seeds was once a jumble in an 18-gallon Sterilite tub—divided between spice jars, used snack baggies, salt cellars, mesh sacks, and shoeboxes. Now, I keep the entire collection neatly in a sturdy green binder labeled “Seeds” in loopy gold lettering. This makes my seed collection portable, easy to browse, and space-efficient—especially important if, like me, you live in a small space. An old photo album with a binder closure would work just as well.

You can also keep related items in the same binder, such as printed photos of the plants in your garden that were grown from your seed packets, general photos of the plants whose seeds you collected, favorite salsa recipes, and even plastic plant stakes you have saved from a previous year. You could divide the binder however you like: examples would include organizing by planting season, natives/wildflowers, perennials, annuals, herbs, ornamentals, fruits and veggies, or even just alphabetically.

For years, I harvested and saved seeds from my pollinator garden, wildflower patches in the woods near my house, and friends’ gardens. Leftover seeds accumulated in a variety of containers, making it difficult to find what I needed. Recently, I decided it was time to bring order to my seed collection.

I hopped online to order my supplies—sealable envelopes and a sturdy green binder—and spent a few days carefully cataloging my seeds. I labeled each envelope with species, harvest date, and notes on origin or special conditions. Seeing my entire collection organized in one place was a revelation. No more digging through mismatched boxes—just a tidy, portable seed library that I can’t wait to show off.

 

Oct 30

2026 JCMGA Membership Renewal starts November 10th!

By Beet 2025 11 November

 

The Member Services Working Group has updated the JCMGA Membership Renewal Form for 2026. While very few changes have been made to the form, please read through it carefully. The new form will be available on the JCMGA website on November 10th. It can be accessed by signing into the Member Portal and clicking on the Membership Renewal link in the menu on the right. The form and the $25 annual renewal fee may be submitted online, or in print form and mailed with a check to:

Membership Secretary
JCMGA Member Renewal
569 Hanley Road
Central Point, OR 97502

 

Please make your check payable to JCMGA. The $25 fee is waived for those with a lifetime, associate, or honorary membership status.

Correctly completing the renewal form ensures that the membership has your accurate contact information. It also affords you the opportunity to list your areas of interest and how you’d like to participate within the association.

We want to make sure everyone understands that if they choose to not have their address included in the JCMGA Membership (Chapter) Directory, they will need to pick up their copy of the new directory at the SOREC Extension Office when it is ready. This must be done because we can’t use our bulk rate on a few directories to mail, so it becomes quite expensive.

Make sure to renew your membership by January 31, 2026 to be included in the 2026 JCMGA Membership (Chapter) Directory.

 

 

 

 

 

Oct 30

Critter On a Flower

By Beet 2025 11 November

 

The Mordellidae are a family of beetles commonly known as “Tumbling
Flower Beetles” for the movements they make when escaping predators.
They are also known as “pintail beetles” due to their abdominal tip,
which helps them perform these tumbling movements. I found this one on
a Western Wallflower.

Oct 30

Thank You for Voting

By Beet 2025 11 November

 

Voting is now closed for the JCMGA 2026 Board of Directors!

A great thanks goes to all the competent candidates on the ballot for being willing to serve on the JCMGA Board of Directors. The Tellers Report with the election results will be presented to the Board at their November meeting. After the Board approves the report, the candidates will be notified and asked to attend the Board Orientation Meeting on December 5th.

JCMGA is a great organization with many functioning parts that work together to provide horticultural education to our community. We could not do everything that we do without the leadership of the Board of Directors. The Board is the governing body of the JCMGA; it makes sure that the JCMGA Bylaws, Policies and Procedures, and Articles of Association are followed. It also collaborates with OMGA and OSU.

Thank you to all who took the time to complete and submit the voting ballot!  Your support means a lot to the candidates.