|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 9:38 PM CST
Master gardeners recognized at state conference
EFFINGHAM — Three University of Illinois Extension master gardeners from Coles County were recognized with honors at the 2009 University of Illinois Extension State Master Gardener Conference held this fall in Effingham.
“We were pleased to have one of our Coles County master gardeners receive the highest honor for the master gardeners in the state,” said Sharon Kuhns, county Extension director. “Two other Coles County master gardeners were among the 33 statewide winners of the Outstanding Master gardener Award.”
Coles County Extension master gardener Paula Enstrom was honored as one of 12 Illinois winners of the Sustained Excellence Award. This award is given to those who have previously been recognized as State Outstanding Master Gardeners and have completed an additional 300 hours of volunteer service and leadership to the county organization.
Enstrom is an active member of the “speakers bureau,” filling requests for gardening presentations for civic and community groups. She is an accomplished photographer and often puts together her own Power Point presentations for groups.
She has cared for special sections of the Idea Garden, a large multi-section garden on the grounds of the local hospital, and has been responsible for plant list handouts for the public. She has organized weekly “planting, digging and weeding” work sessions at the gardens.
Rita Wiessing, Humboldt, a master gardener since 2003, received the State Outstanding Master Gardener Award for her work in Coles County. Wiessing has focused her volunteer service with youth gardening programs, the Idea Garden and speaking for community groups.
As a master gardener, Wiessing has shared her love of gardening with young people at the Mattoon Middle School after-school program and Lake Land Summer College for Kids program. She has served as vice-chairwoman of the county master gardener organization and this past year has been co-chair of the Idea Garden, located at Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center. She has been a speaker at numerous community organizations, motivating and encouraging others to try their hand at gardening.
Phyllis Schultz, Mattoon, was also honored as a State Outstanding Master Gardener at the 2009 conference. Since completing training in 2005, Schultz has been involved in the renovation of one of the areas of the Idea Garden, creating a Xeriscape Garden that is a highlight of the project.
As co-chair of the garden Schultz also was instrumental in establishing the bog garden and promoting the new signage at the garden. During the past year she has served as vice-president and organized educational programs to compliment the monthly master gardener meetings. She has secured new speakers on a variety of topics, so all county master gardeners continue to learn.
The Coles County Extension master gardener program is associated with U of I Extension. There are currently 51 active master gardeners who have completed intensive horticulture training and now volunteer hours of service back to the Coles County Extension office.
To learn more about the program, apply to become a trainee or to schedule a speaker for a community group, check out the Web site at www.extension.uiuc.
edu/coles/ or call 345-7034.
Add your comments
Not already registered?
Then click Here.
Comment policy:
JG-TC.com encourages readers to engage in civil conversation with their neighbors. Comments that are submitted are not posted to the site immediately. They go into a queue to be moderated and may take several hours to be reviewed. Comments posted on Saturday may not be reviewed until Sunday afternoon.
In order to keep the page a set width, long lines (mostly long links) will be chopped. Try putting spaces in your links or consider using tinyurl.com to make a smaller link that you can include.
We will never edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to remove comments that violate our code of conduct.
No comment may contain:
* Potentially libelous statements; such as accusing somebody of a crime, defamation of character, or statements that can harm somebody's reputation.
* Obscene, explicit, or racist language.
* Personal attacks, insults, threats, harassment or inciting violence.
* Commercial product promotions.
If you have any questions, please contact our moderator.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
