The Lafayette County Master Gardeners spent the weekend sharing their garden knowledge with participants at the Holiday House Arts & Crafts Fair in the Arena and at the Chamber of Commerce Holiday Open House on the Square. 15 Master Gardeners volunteered 16 hours of their time for these two events and provided assistance to the citizens of Lafayette County. Gift baskets were provided for both events.

We had sunshine and blue skies for our tour of Sherra Owen’s amazing garden. Thank you Sherra for sharing your vast botanical knowledge and beautiful property with us today.

Katherine Webb of Farmstead Florals presented a fun and interesting “Growing and Decorating with Dried Flowers". We learned how to dry flowers, how to make wreath forms using elaegnus shrubs and how to decorate them with dried flowers.

Debra Hardy still has blooms & tomatoes! Anyone else have fresh flowers?

Lafayette County Master Gardeners participated in the 2024 Arbor Day Program. The morning included remarks from several organizations, a 5th grade poster contest, and of course tree planting.

The Lafayette County Master Gardeners enjoyed beautiful weather on their final day of the 2024 Mid Town Farmers Market. The market runs annually from the beginning of May through October. We set up an informational table 2-3 Saturdays every month. This year we had a total of 28 different LCMGA volunteers who volunteered over 78 hours and thirteen days. We added many individuals to our Friends of Master Gardeners educational email list, answered a lot of garden questions, and set up several home consultations. We look forward to 2025.

Thank you Sherra Owen for presenting two excellent talks last Saturday for over 60 attendees at our Fall Lecture - “the flora of yoknapatawpha, the making of the faulkner literary garden” and “living with natives and nature’s most important plant”

Another great day at the Mid Town Farmers’ Market

for those interested in learning bonsai tree design for the first time or continue with their education, zach adamz is offering several programs for this fall

LE BONHEUR CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL TOY DRIVE - PLEASE DONATE TOYS AT THE EXTENSION BUILDING BEFORE DECEMBER 12TH

PENCIL IN NOVEMBER 15TH & 16TH FOR AN ARTS AND CRAFT FAIR BEING HELD AT THE LAFAYETTE COUNTY EXTENSION ARENA

The Lafayette County Master Gardeners enjoyed another great Saturday at the Mid Town Farmer’s Market. Since the market opened on May 1st we have provided information and answered garden related questions 2-3 times per month. Our final day is October 26th and we look forward to the market reopening May 3rd, 2025. Long time Master Gardener Ms. Julia always stops by to say hello.

The Lafayette County Master Gardeners recently spent time in the Oxford Community Garden with Girl Scout Troop 13689. The scouts toured the garden, painted signs for The Pantry plots in the garden, and learned about pollinators and bugs. What a great group of young people and leaders!! 

MASTER GARDENER DEBRA HARDY STILL HAS PRETTY FLOWERS IN HER YARD

Dr. Jeff Wilson spoke to a large group at our September meeting about growing fruit trees & bushes

One day Lafayette County Master Gardener Suzan Laney’s husband came home and said “let’s save the world” and so they became beekeepers. Fifteen years later Suzan is still an apiarist “saving the world” one beehive at a time. Suzan will be sharing the three main stages of beekeeping with us. This first step shows checking the hive with reproduction brood cells to ensure they are foraging flowers and sources for nectar and pollen to generate honey. They were “busy as a bee” outside the hives plus caring for the baby brood inside. Stay tuned for step two in July when Suzan will demonstrate harvesting the full honey super bees with capped honey in cells.

Last month the Master Gardeners spent a day in New Albany visiting the William Faulkner Literary Garden and Camp Creek Natives. Docents at the Literary Garden provided an interesting garden tour, telling how Faulkner tied Mississippi grown plants into his prose. At Camp Creek Natives, Robert Ballard spoke about their work in preserving and propagating Mississippi native plants for sale.

Bronwynne Bailey has been a lafayette County Master Gardener for two years. These are pictures of her flowerbeds in Tula that she started from scratch three years ago. You can learn more about gardening by reading her articles in the Local Voice or contacting the MSU Extension Office at 662-234-4451

Lafayette County Master Gardeners continue to keep South Lamar litter free

A GREAT DAY FOR ANOTHER OLE MISS STAFF APPRECIATION PLANT SWAP!

MASTER GARDENER ANN O’DELL HAS BEEN ORGANIZING THESE SWAPS FOR OVER 20 YEARS. APPROXIMATELY 80 PEOPLE SHARED PLANTS AND HOW TO CARE INFORMATION.

ONCE AGAIN LAFAYETTE COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS HAD A GREAT DAY SUPPORTING THE DOUBLE DECKER 2024 FUN RUN BY MANNING A WATER STATION AND CHEERING FOR THE RUNNERS

OVER 70 PEOPLE ATTENDED OUR SPRING LECTURE TODAY MAY 2, 2024. KATHRYN WEBB OF FARMSTEAD FLORALS LOCATED HERE IN OXFORD GAVE A VERY INFORMATIVE PRESENTATION ON GROWING FLOWERS AND ESTABLISHING CUTTING GARDENS. KATHRYN IS THE OWNER OF FARMSTEAD FLORALS, A CUT FLOWER FARM BEST KNOWN FOR THEIR SELF SERVE FLOWER STANDS ON THE OXFORD SQUARE, OLE MISS CAMPUS AND BOOTHS AT THE LOCAL FARMERS MARKETS.

Dr. Eddie Smith of MSU Extension in Pearl River County spoke to a crowd of over 80 attendees at the second of our Spring Lecture Series. Don’t miss our third lecture on May 2nd

OUR SPRING LECURE SERIES STARTED MARCH 7TH WITH “NINE SUSTAINABILITY PRINCIPLES” PRESENTED BY DR. Chris COOPER, COUNTY DIRECTOR AND MASTER GARDENER COORDINATOR WITH THE SHELBY COUNTY EXTENSION SERVICE AND HOST OF “THE FAMILY PLOT": GARDENING IN THE MID-SOUTH”.

DON’T MISS OUR NEXT LECTURE ON APRIL 4TH

MEETING THE CHALLENGES OF A CHALLENGING yard

Or how to have so much garden in a small yard

Joe Ann Allen opened her lovely magical garden to local Master Gardeners and guests today. Rocks, “rubble”, bricks, porch, walls, paths, seating, bottle trees, art and of course plants, trees and flowers. These pictures are just a few of the beautiful things we saw today.

Mississippi State University Extension Service Publications

The Extension Service has many publications which provide information on a wide variety of topics. Click on this link to go to the publication website.

https://extension.msstate.edu/publications/publications

This link can always be found under RESOURCES & DOWNLOADS

Ashley Gonce with the City of Oxford presented the Lafayette County Master Gardeners with a Keep Mississippi Beautiful award this morning. The city nominated the LCMGA for the Great American Cleanup Award and the LCMGA won first place for cities 25,000 and larger. Accepting the award are project leader Keri Dibrell and President Nancy Kesselring. The award was accepted in honor of Jan Henning who started the Beautification Initiative and helped us become the first association to Adopt-a-Street in the city of Oxford. Pictured also are some of the members who have been a part of the project.

BE SURE TO VISIT AND LIKE OUR FACEBOOK PAGE

https://www.facebook.com/lafayettecountymastergardenersassoc

Learning, Sharing, and Growing Together

The Master Gardner Program was introduced to Mississippi in 1991 and serves to provide research-based educational programs and information to improve the economic, social, and cultural well-being of all Mississippians