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For all of the details about the 2012 Master Gardeners' Conference and How to Register, click on -- http://msucares.com/srmg
Here is a bit of information of Past Master Gardener Conferences
FEARLESS GARDENING Mississippi Master Gardener State Conference May 11-13, 2011 JCJC Whitehead Advanced Technology Center (ATC) Howard Technology Park, Ellisville
Wednesday, May 11 11:00 - 1:00 MG Board Meeeting Noon – 6:00 Registration
2:00 – 6:00 FREE Tours Assignments made in the order in which paid conference registrations are received. Transportation from the ATC on your own, follow local MG car.
Tour A 2:00 – 6:00 Buckatunna, near Waynesboro -- Approximately 1 hour from the ATC, 45 min. from hotels in Laurel, and 1 hour from Best Western in Ellisville K&M Roses http://www.kandmroses.com/index.htm See over 200 varieties of roses grown by James and Daisy Mills. Mr. Mills is a Consulting Rosarian, Master Rosarian, and Master Gardener. K & M Blueberry Farm and Nursery http://www.kandmroses.com/Blueberries.htm The Mills’ farm produces fresh and frozen blueberries that are marketed across the United States. They also raise blueberry plants to sell. Tour B 2:45 – 5:30 Laurel -- About 15 min. from the ATC, across the street from Wisteria Bed & Breakfast, 5 min. from Laurel hotels; 10 min. from Best Western Ellisville Inn Lauren Rogers Museum of Art http://lrma.org/ Opened in 1923, LRMA draws over 30,000 visitors each year from across the nation, with its outstanding collections of European and American art, Native American baskets, British Georgian silver, and Japanese woodblock prints. Laurel Historic District http://www.laurelms.com/v_attractions-3- historic.html A walking tour of Laurel's Central Historic district led by George Bassi, Director of LRMA. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it is considered Mississippi's best example of the town planning idea popularized during the City Beautiful Movement of the early 20th century. This living historical district is the state's largest, finest, and most intact ensemble of early 20th century architectural styles including classical and colonial revivals, Queen Anne, bungalow and craftsman. Rogers-Green House – http://lrma.org/about/rogers-green-house/ Refreshments provided by the LRMA. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a pivotal structure in the Laurel Historic District, the Rogers-Green House stands as one of the primary examples the Belle Epoch period. Outstanding features include original Tiffany light fixtures and extensive leaded glass windows.
Tour C 3:00 – 5:30 Laurel Approximately 10 min. from the ATC– about 5 min. from Laurel hotels and Wisteria Bed & Breakfast; about 10 min. from Best Western Ellisville Inn Veterans Memorial Museum (6000 square foot museum with hundreds of military exhibits) http://www.veteransmemorialmuseum.org/index.htm Gene and Jan Harlow’s picturesque raised-bed garden (featured in the March 2009 issue of Southern Living)
Dinner on your own Thursday, May 12 Breakfast on your own
7:30 - 4:00 Registration -- Coffee / drinks
8:00 - 5:30 Shopping with Vendors
8:30 - 8:45 Welcome and Announcements, Door Prizes
8:45 - 9:45 “Eat Your Landscape!” -- Jim Long
9:45 - 10:00 Break / Refreshments /Shopping
10:00 - 10:45 "Heirloom Seeds -- Vintage Antique vs. Passé Novelty" -- Donna Beliech
10:45 - 11:00 Break / Refreshments / Shopping
11:00 - 11:45 Simultaneous Break-out Sessions:
11:45 - Noon Break / Shopping
Noon - 1:30 Awards Luncheon, History of Mississippi Master Gardeners, Door Prizes
1:30 - 1:45 Break / Shopping
1:45 - 2:45 “Making Bentwood Trellises” -- Jim Long
2:45 - 3:00 Door Prizes / Break / Shopping
3:00 - 3:45 Simultaneous Break-out Sessions:
4:00 - 4:45 MS MG Assn. Business Meeting / Door prizes
VENDORS AVAILABLE UNTIL 5:30
6:00 - 7:00 Banquet
7:00 - 8:00 “Organic Gardening and Beekeeping” -- Robert St. John
Get a good night’s sleep and dream of seeds, bulbs, roots, and dirt…
Friday, May 13, 2011 Breakfast on your own
7:30 - 8:30 Registration
8:00 - 1:00 Vendors
8:30 - 8:45 Welcome & door prizes
8:45 - 9:30 “Bromeliads -- Straight from the Funny Farm!” -- Michael Seal
9:30 - 9:45 Shopping / snacks
9:45 - 10:30 “Friends and Foes in the Garden” -- Dr. Michael Williams
10:40 - 11:25 “Creating Dynamic Container Combinations” -- Paula Pettis
11:30 - Noon Conference Wrap Up & Surveys Door prizes
12:00 – 1:00 Final opportunity to shop with our vendors!
Enjoy a delicious lunch at one of Jones County’s many restaurants.
Then head home for some FEARLESS GARDENING!
Fearless Gardening Sessions
“Eat Your Landscape!” -- Jim Long Did you know that many of the plants in your landscape are edible? For example, roses, bee balm, catnip, goldenrod, juniper, mahonia, beach rose, red bud, bamboo, cane, cannas, elephant ears, hibiscus, hollyhocks and many, many more landscape plants have a place on the dinner table! Learn what ones are edible and how they are used. Slides, recipes and lots of information.
"Heirloom Seeds -- Vintage Antique vs. Passé Novelty" -- Donna Beliech What in the world are non-hybrid, non GMO, non-treated and non-patented seeds? Why would anyone want to grow vegetables from heirloom seeds instead of from seeds of modern disease-resistant varieties? Learn the lingo, the lure, and the future of heirloom seeds as Donna shares her passion for these living reminders of our past.
“AgrAbility: Gardening in Spite of Handicaps” – Dr. Wayne Porter AgrAbility defines a disability as a physical or mental condition that limits one or more major life activities. Conditions include difficulty with movement, sight, and speech. This session offers adaptive solutions to some of the difficulties faced by gardeners with conditions such as amputation, arthritis, back injury, chronic pain, head injury, health conditions, hearing impairment, heart conditions, respiratory diseases, spinal cord injury, and visual Impairment.
“Changing the Vegetable Garden Paradigm”-- Dr. Gary Bachman Do you think you need a large space for a vegetable garden to have a plentiful harvest? Gary will talk about changing the vegetable garden paradigm and present ideas that everyone can use to become an urban farmer.
“How to Give Your Landscape a Facelift” – Pat Drackett Learn the simple steps for analyzing your property's landscape and some valuable tips for how to create a low-maintenance and attractive landscape design with Pat Drackett, the Crosby Arboretum’s Senior Curator. Pat will discuss the basics of the landscape design process, and teach how to give your property a quick and inexpensive facelift. An overview of some outstanding plants for use in the landscape will also be included.
“My Regimen for Gorgeous Roses”– James Mills James says he’s learned a lot of things by trial and error, as well as much from other rosarians, during his 20 years of growing Fortuniana rootstock roses. He’ll teach you about the benefits of planting roses grown on Fortuniana rootstock. He’ll explain how to prepare your soil, plant, water, feed, spray, and prune your rose bushes. His ultimate goal is that you’ll learn to grow and ENJOY roses.
“Making Bentwood Trellises” -- Jim Long Nothing adds charm and romantic appeal to a garden as much as the natural beauty of a bentwood trellis. Learn how to use saplings and limbs that would otherwise be thrown away, to make a beautiful bentwood trellis for your garden. Jim shows step by step how anyone can easily make a bentwood trellis. This is a wonderful way to recycle otherwise wasted limbs from downed trees during winter storms, too! Demonstrations are based on Jim's 3 books on making bentwood trellises.
“Organic Gardening and Beekeeping” -- Robert St. John Robert St. John, author, chef, columnist, world-class eater, -- and now farmer and beekeeper – will share what he’s learned about growing veggies and keeping bees. In his delightful story-telling manner, he’ll entertain us with tales of his successes, failures, and lessons learned along the way, as he produces fresh food for his restaurants in Hattiesburg and Meridian. Be ready for some luscious recipes as well!
“Bromeliads -- Straight from the Funny Farm!” -- Michael Seal Catch Michael’s enthusiasm for these bizarre beauties! He will take us into the diverse world of bromeliads, and teach us about their care, propagation, and effective ways to display these easy-to-please plants.
“Friends and Foes in the Garden” -- Dr. Michael Williams Do you know whether you have arthropods in your garden? If so, is that good, or bad? Learn about beneficial arthropods, butterflies, bees, and pests. Mike will even tell us how to attract fireflies to our summer gardens!
“Creating Dynamic Container Combinations” -- Paula Pettis Paula Pettis, of Prissy Pots Landscaping, is known for her unique plant combinations, often presented in out-of-the-ordinary containers. Learn about the latest “hot” plants and some dynamic ways of displaying them.
Our Fearless Presenters
Dr. Gary R. BachmanAssistant Extension/Research Professor of Horticulture at the Coastal Research & Extension Center, Mississippi State University
Gary’s formal education includes BS and MS degrees from Clemson University, as well as a PhD.,THE from Ohio State University.
Prior to his affiliation with Mississippi State University, Gary spent 13 years with the GTE Corporation in Detroit, MI and Westminster, SC; worked1 year as on-site researcher at Carolina Nurseries in Moncks Corner, SC; served as Assistant Professor of Ornamental Horticulture at Tennessee Tech University for 4 years as the University nursery specialist at the Nursery Research and Service Center; and was Assistant Professor of Horticulture at Illinois State University for 5 ½ years, where he taught in Illinois’ only business-oriented horticulture program.
Gary currently has a 90% Extension/10% Research appointment, with the goal of developing an aggressive horticulture program relevant to Mississippi and the upper Gulf of Mexico and targeted at both youth and adult audiences.
He is the host/writer of the Southern Gardening TV and radio programs, as well as the weekly newspaper columns.
Gary and his wife, Katie, a consultant for IBM, live in Ocean Springs. In their spare time, they operate the Heritage Cottage Urban Nano Farm and grow specialty vegetables and produce for the local farmers market and restaurants.Donna H. BeliechMSU Extension Service Area Horticulturist
Donna grew up as the youngest of four daughters on a small dairy/soybean farm just outside of Greenville. She says that her family fit the stereotype of rural people having lots of animals. Their pets consisted of any stray dog within a 2-mile radius, goats, ducks won at the fair, horses, cats, birds and of course, cows. She was a typical kid who grew up climbing trees, swimming in the lake, mowing the yard, hanging out with girlfriends and mooning after boys. Her interest in plants probably stemmed from working in the family garden. She says that although gardening was, by no stretch of the imagination, fun, she still enjoyed the work.
Her fascination with plants led to a degree in Forestry and another in Horticulture. Donna found out something new about herself while working at garden centers. It was that she enjoyed talking with people about their garden, lawn, landscape and fruit tree projects or problems. So, in early 1996, she joined the ranks of the MSU-Extension Service.
As an Area Horticulturist, Donna works with horticulture businesses (garden centers, nurseries & growers), presents educational programs to community groups/clubs, and finds the answers to people’s plant problems. She finds that presenting landscape talks is the best way to keep up with gardening trends and plant availability, which play a key role in sales at garden centers and nurseries.
Patricia R. Drackett
Pat is the Senior Curator of the Crosby Arboretum, a native plant conservatory dedicated to preserving and protecting Mississippi's natural and cultural heritage. The Arboretum is owned by MSU and operated by the Extension Service.
She began her position in October 2007, bringing with her an extensive background in plants and an enthusiasm for public education. A lifelong gardener, she holds a degree in botany from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where she grew up surrounded by the Smoky Mountains and bountiful wildflowers. She later earned a master’s in landscape architecture from Louisiana State University, and practiced as a landscape designer and horticultural consultant for twenty years prior to joining the Arboretum staff.
Jim Long Long Creek Herbs -- Blue Eye, Missouri
Jim Long writes extensively and travels the world looking for interesting new herbs and vegetables. He’s been a regular columnist for The Herb Companion and The Ozarks Mountaineer magazines since 1992. He has a regular column, “The Heirloom Herbalist,” in The Heirloom Gardening magazine and writes for Small Farm Today, Edible Austin, State by State Gardening and Missouri Gardening magazines. Additionally, he writes the Ozarks Gardening column for newspapers across the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks. Jim is a member of Garden Writers of America and The Herb Society of America.
His gardens have been featured in Southern Living (twice), several Better Homes & Gardens' publications, and numerous other garden magazines. He's appeared on Home & Garden TV and Discovery Channel programs as well as the P. Allen Smith Gardens show.
Gardeners and food enthusiasts from around the globe follow Jim’s weekly gardening adventures on his garden blog: http://jimlongsgarden.blogspot.com/. Jim’s Recipes blog gives updates on new recipes using herbs from his own kitchen: http://jimlongsrecipes.blogspot.com/ and he also writes about Stress-Reducing Dream Pillows and their uses on his Dream Pillows blog: http://jimsdreampillows.blogspot.com/.
Jim chaired the first Herb of the Year project in 1994 while on the Board of Directors of the International Herb Association, helping found the Herb of the Year project.
James Mills K& M Roses, K& M Blueberry Farm and Nursery
K & M Roses is located in Buckatunna, Mississippi, which is in the southeastern part of the state, approximately 65 miles north of Mobile, Alabama. Nestled among the pine trees near the Chickasawhay River, which flows along the property line, the nursery is on property that has been in the Mills family for well over 100 years. The K & M Blueberry farm, one of the area's largest producers of fresh and frozen blueberries, is also located on the Mills property.
With the help of the MSU Extension Service, James and Daisy developed a technique for grafting roses that has made their roses the standard for grafted roses. Over the past 20 years, they have received many awards for their dedication to the promotion of Fortuniana-grafted roses, including the Bronze Medal for Outstanding Service by the Mobile Rose Society and the Silver Medal of Honor from the Gulf District of the American Rose Society.
James is a Consulting Rosarian, a Master Rosarian, and a Master Gardener. He spends much of his time promoting Fortuniana-grafted roses at seminars and lawn and garden shows across the South. The Mills have approximately 1,000 bushes in their rose garden where they grow and evaluate different varieties of Fortuniana-grafted roses. Their rose garden also contains several huge Fortuniana bushes which supply graftwood for their grafting operation.
Paula Pettis Prissy Pots Landscaping, Gulfport
Paula is the owner of Prissy Pots Landscaping in Gulfport and a regular vendor at the Ocean Springs Herb & Garden Festival. She offers a wide variety of herbs and vegetables, popular plants, and exciting new varieties.
She is an active member of the Mississippi Landscape and Nursery Association, where she serves as Region I Director. Paula also presents gardening workshops at numerous venues throughout the region.
Dr. Wayne Porter MSU Extension Service Area Horticulture Agent
Wayne has been with MSU Extension Service since March 15, 2004. His assignment area covers 14 counties in the Southeast District. His responsibilities include educational programs and problem solving in all horticulture crops (vegetables, fruit, turf, ornamentals) and conducting Master Gardener training in the 14 counties of the Southeast District.
His education includes BS and MS degrees in horticulture from Mississippi State University and a PhD in Horticultural Science from North Carolina State University.
Prior to joining the Extension Service he spent a period of time in temporary retirement and part time jobs. Before this he worked nearly 23 years with the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center conducting research on horticulture crops.
Dr. Porter and his wife, Julia, have 2 daughters and 2 grandsons.
Michael Seal The Funny Farm, Poplarville
A member of the Mississippi Nursery and Landscape Association, Michael is the owner and operator of The Funny Farm in Poplarville. Since 1984, he has specialized in the care, propagation, and arrangement of bromeliads.
Michael has been a featured speaker at numerous gardening events, including Mississippi State University, Arkansas Flower & Garden Show, LSU, S.W. Louisiana Garden Festival, and Tennessee Master Gardeners Bloomin’ Garden Festival. He has also spoken to Master Gardener groups throughout Mississippi and Louisiana.
Robert St. John Chef, Author, Restaurateur & World-Class Eater, Gardener, and Bee-Keeper
A native of Hattiesburg, for the last 20 years Robert has served as executive chef, president, and CEO of the Purple Parrot Café, the Crescent City Grill, and the Mahogany Bar in Hattiesburg and Meridian.
St. John is a nationally-known restaurateur, chef, food writer, author, and a true original. One of the nations’s only food/humor columnists, he began self-syndicating his weekly newspaper column six years ago and quickly amassed a loyal and fanatical readership. The Lexington Herald-Leader called him a “Jeff Foxworthy-style chef with an opinion on all things culinary.”
He has been featured on The Food Network, The Travel Channel, and the Turner South network. He has two television projects in development and is a creative force in the gourmet food business.
A self-taught cook, St.John was named the state’s top chef, by Mississippi Magazine in 2006 and 2007. Additionally, the former Mississippi Restaurateur of the Year’s restaurant, The Purple Parrot Café, was named the best fine dining restaurant in Mississippi in 2007.
St. John is past president and chairman of the board of the Mississippi Restaurant Association. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Mississippi Arts Commission, The Mississippi Museum of Art, and is on the National Chef’s Council for the Chefs for Humanity Organization.
St. John says he has a beautiful wife and two wonderful children who obviously take after their mother.
His books, available at Main Street Books in Hattiesburg, include:
Dr. Michael Williams MSU Extension Entomologist Emeritus
Mike was born and raised in Mississippi on a small farm. He earned his BS and MS Degrees from Mississippi State, and his PhD in Entomology at Auburn.
He retired in 2006 as Extension Entomologist Emeritus at Mississippi State. Prior to that time, he served as Extension Entomologist, working primarily in row crops, but also with 4-H entomology. He began the 4-H Entomology Camp. Mike is especially passionate interested in promoting butterfly gardens in Mississippi.
Mike says his chief job these days is chasing his 7 grandkids. They like to
camp, and they still chase bugs from time to time. He is also a gardener,
concentrating mainly on butterfly gardens and vegetables.
RECOMMENDED LODGING
Directions to the 2011 MS MG Conference Site
Go to Exit 85 on Interstate 59 (intersection with Highway 590; approximately 10 miles south of Laurel and the southern-most exit for Ellisville and Ellisville State School.) The Howard Technology Park is 1/10th mile east on HWY 590. Jones County Junior College Whitehead Advanced Technology Center is approximately 2/10th mile down Technology Boulevard, on the right.
This is actually the view coming from the east, not coming from the interstate. Whitehead Advanced Technology Center
2008 MSMG Conference Where did all these people come from? With 229 registered for the Conference, including many of our new Master Gardeners, it was our largest MSMG Conference. Click here for additional pictures and other information about the conference and some of the planning for 2009 Conference. This will be the Conference Information page and new items will be added...check it out! 2007 MSMG Conference Here are some pictures from the MSMG 2007 Conference in Gautier...click on image for larger picture.
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