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Walker County Master Gardener Association |
Greetings from the Walker County Master Gardeners!
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Master Gardeners are volunteers for the Texas AgriLife Extension Service. Our charter is to support Extension educational outreach programs through volunteer work. Master Gardeners follow and teach the research-based information and recommendations of Texas AgriLife Extension Service.
Texas Master Gardeners are members of their local communities who have been instructed through the formal Master Gardener training program. Master Gardener volunteers in Walker County, have attended 50 hours of instruction and have committed 50 hours of volunteer service to Walker County’s Texas AgriLife Extension Service program.
The Walker County Master Gardener Association (WCMGA) members are committed to education and outreach on a wide variety of horticultural subjects. In Walker County, particular emphasis is placed on the LEAF-PRO (Landscape Environmental Awareness Facility – Protection/Reduction/Outreach) project. Walker County LEAF-PRO supports Texas AgriLife Extension’s state-wide Earth Kind Environmental Stewardship Program.
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Greenhouse and Demo Gardens
Visit us at the Walker County Extension location at:
102 Tam Rd
Huntsville, Tx,77820-1918 |
The initial training class of the Walker County Master Gardeners was held in the spring of 2001 with 14 Master Gardener Interns beginning the charter class. To date, over 150 individuals have initiated participation in the Master Gardener training classes |
The funding from two solid waste grants awarded by the Houston-Galveston Area Council of Governments in conjunction with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (one in 2004 and the other in 2006), have enabled the group to transform a prairie wasteland into an Outdoor Learning Center which houses a 3,000 square foot Greenhouse, Recycling Center, Butterfly Garden, Herb Garden, Star Garden, Rain Garden, Handicapped-accessible raised beds, Lilly Gardens, two Rose Gardens (one is an Earth Kind Rose Test Garden in cooperation with Texas A&M) and a Composting Demonstration area.
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ADA-compliant walkways allow you to wander throughout the garden areas and were constructed by volunteer Master Gardeners using TREX® decking material which is composed of plastic shopping bags and reclaimed wood scraps; the storage building was built using the excess material from metal barns and large buildings. Benches throughout the garden green spaces allow visitors to sit and enjoy the beauty while sitting on materials made from plastic milk jugs. The Super Sorter Recycling Center allows us to recycle plastic bottles, cans and newspapers and is an effective way to promote recycling in the garden. Interpretative signage throughout the gardens describes the various areas. This is our LEAF-PRO project: Landscape Environmental Awareness Facility, whose objectives are the Protection of our environment, Reduction of solid waste and Outreach education. LEAF-PRO is an educational outreach effort designed to demonstrate and promote educated, ecologically responsible decision making through home landscape practices. |
We offer classes to area youth and organizations in the area as well as quarterly horticulture workshops, many of which are conducted in the Greenhouse and Demo Gardens. Our Speakers’ Bureau is kept busy addressing civic groups on various topics.
Plans for 2008 include the construction of a covered Outdoor Educational Facility, ADA-compliant restrooms and additional equipment to add to our Rain Water Harvesting collection system. |
History of Master Gardeners |
The Texas Master Gardener of Texas activities are coordinated by Texas AgriLife Extension Service.
Texas Master Gardener programs serve all people regardless of socioeconomic level, race,color,sex,religion,disability or national origin.
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