2025 in Review

RCMG continued to grow in many ways in 2025.

Total RCMG Volunteers: 434

RCMG grew 7% between 2024 and 2025.

• 286 Active

• 85 New/Intern

• 35 Emeritus Active

• 24 Emeritus Retired

• 4 Leave of Absence

Volunteer Achievements

Every year volunteers contribute their passion, energy and time to serving in our community and sharing the science-based education received by being in the Master Gardener Program. We'd like to recognize the accomplishments of the following RCMG volunteers.

• RCMG Annual Volunteer Awards

  • Leonard Gloeb Outstanding Service Award:

  • Ralph Thrane Extraordinary Partnership Award:

  • Outstanding Teamwork Award Winner:

  • Unsung Garden Hero Award Winner:

  • Friend of the Master Gardener Program Award Winner:

    
    

• 10 Years of Service:

  • Jamie Aussendorf

  • Nancy Berry

  • Cheryl Brady

  • Laran Brandt

  • Julie Coopet

  • Carol Mollner

  • DeAnn Strenke

  • Susan VonBank

    
    

• 15 Years of Service:

  • Cees Duijndam

  • Jerry Horgan

  • Rochelle Jansen

  • Jennifer Moeller

  • Karen Sutherland

  • Laurie Witzkowski

    
    

• 20 Years of Service:

  • Susan Haataja

  • Mary Knuth Kedrowski

  • Jean Thompson

    
    

• 25 Years of Service:

  • Chris Kraft

    
    

• 1, 000+ Hours of Service:

  • Cheryl Brady

  • Linda Minter

  • Beth Fritcher

  • Julie Bechtold

  • Simba Blood

  • Sandy McDonald

  • Judith Ginter

  • Susie Deshon

  • Kay Wimer

    
    

• 7,000+ Hours of Service: Brianna Gohde

Intern Cohort

RCMG hosted the second largest cohort in the program history with 71 people enrolled at the start of 2025, plus a few carryovers from the 2024 and 2023 cohorts.

The 2025 interns were divided into 1-year and 2-year internships tracks.

• 40 interns (56%) completed the 1-year internship track during 2025.

• 17 interns (24%) chose the 2-year track and aim to complete their internship in 2026.

Mentoring & Mentor Teams

Mentor Teams were again used to help interns make connections with other returning volunteers (mentors) and new volunteers (interns) in their rough geographic location. Several of these groups gathered during the summer for informal garden tours or social hours to help build connections. Some teams were more successful than others.

2025 marks the the final year for Mentor Teams. The coordination with these groups along with the rapidly increasing size of the cohort made the process unsustainable going forward.

Departing MGs

Several volunteers (15%) left the program. The reasons mentioned included:

• Changes to availability to volunteer or changes in priority/interest

• Moved away from Ramsey County or Minnesota

• The name change and related process

• Decided not to continue their internship

• Expired Background Check and Safety of Minors Training certification

• Failure to complete volunteer requirements in 2023-2024

NEW Volunteer Activities 2025

RCMG developed several new ways for volunteers to get involved locally. Many of these projects are expected to continue in 2026. Contact the project leaders to get more information.

• Arcade Street Greening (Emma De Vera)

• Casa Guadalupana (Joe Baltrukonis & Jennifer Prowitt)

• Como Park Farmers Market (Brianna Gohde)

• Ebenezer Oromo Church Gardens (Barbara Porwit)

• Harvest of the Hub Community Garden (Ann Aurelius)

• Help a RCMG Friend (Darren Lochner)

• Maxfield Elementary Community Schoolyard Stewardship (Ben Waldo)

• Mears Park Community Garden Advisors (Ellen Tveit)

• Minnesota Tree Identification Guide (Brianna Flavin)

• Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District Stewardship Grant Mentors (Simba Blood)

• Rondo Center of Diverse Expressions (RCODE) (Stephanie Hankerson)

• Rondo Neighborhood Rain Garden (Katherine Tane & Kerry Morgan)

• Steward and Biodiversity Monitors - Pilgrim Mini-Forest/Green Screen (Nate Galloway)

• UMN Bee Lab Pollinator Garden (Julie & Linda) Though this project never got off the ground as the U of MN staff was not able to provide parking for volunteer to reach the site.

• Vadnais Heights Community Garden (Colleen Bergstrom)

New projects are reviewed by the Program Coordinator, Darren. See the "Projects" page for more details.

IMPROVED Volunteer Activities 2025

RCMG continues to re-evaluate and update existing projects and activities.

• The quarterly Train-the-Trainer education event resumed in spring however they did not continue for Summer or Fall due to low interest.

• The Speakers Bureau unveiled 2 new presentations: Gardening with Native Plants (developed by Karen Randall) and the Art of Tomato Growing (developed by Victoria Morris and Julie Lindholm). Both did very well in their debut year.

• The Barn Garden Committee confirmed that, after a scare in 2024, there are no jumping worms in Barn Demonstration Gardens.

• Participation in the Ramsey County Fix-It Clinics expanded this year to cover the growing season.

• The Ramsey County Correctional Facility (RCCF) Apple Orchard Team recruited and coordinated a Harvest Team to collect fruit from the orchard from July through October.

DISCONTINUED Volunteer Activities 2025

Volunteer projects sometimes come and go. In 2025, we said farewall to the following projects and activities.

• The Battle Creek Yard Waste Site Educational Garden closed after trucks destroyed the garden beds and the program decided not to invest in rebuilding them; there have been fewer and fewer residents visiting or noticing education gardens at the yard waste sites and all are expected to decline and come to an end in the coming years.

• The collaboration with the CLUES Community Garden fell aside as the leadership at that organization changed.

• The Gopher Adventures youth camp on the U of MN campus was closed this year.

• The Healing Gardens effort at the Roseville Muriel Sahlin Arboretum failed to find new leadership as both previous project leads left RCMG.

• The Junior Master Gardeners remained inactive as school groups get more competitive.

• The trio of Keystone projects, the Blooms Community Garden, Giving Garden, and Pollinator Garden ended after the first year as the project lead left employment at Keystone for another position.

• The informal Lawns to Legumes Coaching Group ended after finding that the group was not well attended the previous year/2024.

• Merriam Park Library was unable to define the collaboration they wanted with RCMG and went another direction.

• The Office Help role was eliminated while the Resource Center is being updated and redesigned.

• RCMG activities at the Round Lake Senior Living Garden Club ended.

• The Soil Health Advocate role in collaboration with Ramsey County failed to continue as the county went another direction with their soil health efforts.

RCMG offered a wide variety of options for volunteers to increase their knowledge and skills in 2025. The Continuing Education web page was reviewed and updated to make it easier to find recordings and other sources of continuing education.

Monthly Meetings The Education Committee brought in top notch speakers like

• Natalie Hoidal (Soil Health and Soil Preparation Best Practices)

• Michelle Bruh (Companion Planting)

• Marissa Schuh (A Deep-dive on Pesticides and reading Pesticide Labels)

• Justin Townsend from Ramsey County Parks and Recreation Soil and Water Division (Emerging and Established Invasive Plants in the Landscape Trade)

• Peer-to-Peer Demonstrations and Discussions of Barn demonstration garden beds

• Darren Lochner (Best Practices for Telling Engaging Volunteering Stories)

• Dr Mark Seeley (Climate Change in Central MN)

• Professor Lee Frelich (Trees and Windstorms)

• Ramsey County, Frogtown Green, and Urban Roots (Overview about local community gardens)

• Peer-to-Peer presentation of "Buds, Blooms and Thorns" of 2025 included presentations by Jo Sullivan, Jan Fransen, Sue Mason, Tina Fredrickson, Gene Ranieri, Deon Haider, Patty Hren-Rowan, Alex Meyer, and Ann Pineless

Recordings available on the monthly meetings page for 2025 Continuing Education credit.

Cross-County Meetings

A combined meeting with the Washington County Master Gardeners was held in Mahtomedi. The focus was on Climate Change in Central MN presented by Dr. Mark Seeley. This meeting was hosted by the Washington County group.

Peer-To-Peer Learning

Using information from the Skills & Interests Survey, the Education Committee identified both widespread knowledge gaps among volunteers, and individual RCMG volunteers who had strong skills in those areas. They developed a Peer-to-Peer Learning format for volunteers to share their knowledge with other volunteers.

• AV and Technology Training by Christopher Skelly

• Spring Train-the-Trainer hosted by the Speakers Bureau

  • Project Lead Training

  • Gardening with Native Plants

  • Climate-Resilient Gardening

• Demonstrations and talks about the Barn gardens by RCMG volunteers

  • Monarch Waystation - Amy Jay and Carol Mollner

  • Native Plant Demonstration Garden - Chris Stevens and Dan Holbrook

  • Pollinators 101 - Olivia Blanchflower

  • Creeping Bellflower Campaign - Julie Ann Wegscheid

  • Watershed Grant Programs - Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District, Rice Creek Watershed District and Vadnais Lake Area Water Managment Organization.

• Blooms, Buds and Thorns: Garden stories from RCMG volunteers by RCMG volunteers TBD

Special Workshops

Over the course of the year, several special workshops were scheduled to help volunteers build their knowledge and grow their skills.

• Fruit Tree Pruning (Feb) RCCF Orchard w. Madeline Wimmer

• Rain Garden Shrub & Tree Pruning (Apr) RCMG Speakers Bureau

• Steward and Biodiversity Monitor Training (Apr) Pilgrim’s Mini Forest/Green Screen w. Hannah Lewis, author of Mini-Forest Revolution

• Audio/Visual Support Training (Apr) AV Team

• Advanced Soils Training (May) Natalie Hoidal

  
  

Garden Gate Tours Several Garden Gate Tours were scheduled from May to September. Most tours were hosted by RCMGs in their home gardens though a few went further afield to visit some of the RCMG project sites.

• Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

• Nilgün Tuna

• Alex Meyer

• Lilac Hill – project site

• St Anthony Rain Garden Project – project site

• Fabienne Bridges

• Gene Ranieri

• Ann Pineless

• Garden Of Good Hearts – project site

• Sue Ellen Campbell

• Tim Eldridge

• RCCF Orchard – project site

• Tina Fredrickson

• Maggie Maggie

RCMG Book Club RCMG Book Discussion group met every-other-month on the 4th Tuesday. In 2025, the group read the following titles. Copies of these books are available in the RCMG Lending Library for all volunteers to read for Continuing Education credit

• Comfort of Crows

• Twelve Trees

• The Serviceberry

• Brave the Wild River

• The Light Eaters

• The Story of More

Extension & State Services

Local Program

• Darren Lochner, Program Coordinator celebrated his 5-year anniversary in July.

• Data from the 2024 Volunteer Satisfaction Survey was reviewed and found to be in-line and very similar to data collected in 2019, despite the significant growth during the ensuing years.

• Natalie Boyd (Extension staff) joined as Darren's assistant, working 4 hours per week on assigned RCMG tasks.

• An Absentee Policy was developed to record, monitor, and respond to volunteer absences from events for which they were signed-up. This is in response to several years of reported volunteer concerns.

• Severe Weather Guidelines were developed, allowing project and shift leads to make decisions regarding volunteer activities in light of weather issues and concerns.

• The State Leadership Team organized a Name Change Working Group, which met between Sept and Dec to review the proposed new name, identify the costs of changing the name and replacing materials, and provide feedback about the process.

• A Program Leadership page was developed to help volunteers identify who to contact for assistance.

• A new project co-lead role was developed to monitor and help coordinator Ask A Master Gardener (AAMG) events.

• A series of focus groups inspired by the 2024 Volunteer Satisfaction Survey around Building A Sense of Community were launched, completed and summarized in the spring, with no clear actions suggested.

• The Resource Center was cleaned and reorganized, officially ending the Diagnostics Clinic service. New materials were purchased to make material pick-up and return easier. Education Kits contents were reduced and standardized based on actual volunteer use.

• Based on the updated guidelines for reporting contacts, a Contact Tracking Tally Sheet was created adn rolled out for events.

• RCMG continued to send weekly SignUp Genius messages to invite volunteers to upcoming available activities. The message was retitled from "RCMG Volunteers Needed This Week" to "RCMG 10-day Volunteer Forecast" to improve clarity about what was needed. Additionally, SignUp Genius event pages were updated to include links to the RCMG directory and volunteer database for entering hours to make the tool more convenient for volunteers.

• The internal volunteer directory updated to include Retired volunteers in their own section (July)

• RCMG began using Extension's contract and invoice system for Speakers Bureau adult education classes with community education programs.

State Program

• The State Leadership Team initiated a transition away from the historic volunteer database to Better Impact but the process was stalled in May. This transition may happen later in 2026. The original database was re-activated in May for all volunteers.

• The State Leadership Team updated guidelines for reporting contacts at public events that don't have pre-registration (e.g., Ask A Master Gardener booths). In the updated guidelines, volunteers are to note headcount and age (Adult or Youth) only; collecting race and gender details are no longer required or recommended for these types of activities.

• The State Advisory Board hosted Regional Gatherings around the state with keynote speakers, Dr. Brandon Miller (Assistant Professor in the Department of Horticultural Science) and Laura Irish-Hanson (Extension Educator for Resilient Managed Horticultural Landscapes) and their presentation, "Resiliency: Extension Horticulture’s Vision for Managed Landscapes in Minnesota."

Volunteer Committees

Education Committee

• The Education Committee was led by Gene Ranieri and Susan Mason. They organized speakers and organized the Garden Gate Tours in 2025.

• The Committee used information from the 2025 Skills and Interest Survey to identify desirable educational topics.

• Garden Gate Tours included visits to popular volunteer activities sites with the goal of helping volunteers feel more comfortable with this locations and encouraging future involvement with those projects.

New Volunteer Committee

• The New Volunteer Committee was lead by Tiffa Foster and Susie Deshon. They were joined by Travis Sandland in late summer 2025 to help onboard the 2026 applicants.

• Collection and release of the new intern bios was suspended after poor response by the 2025 cohort of interns.

• The Intern Guide was updated, with a form created for interns to contact the Committee co-chairs directly through the website.

Marketing and Communications Committee

• The Marketing and Communications Committee was led by Stacy Sola and Nanette Boudreau.

• They designed materials for the plant sale and signage for community events and continued to expand RCMG's online presence.

RCMG Nonprofit Board

Coordination with Extension

A subcommittee continued work to identify the roles and responsibilities between the University of MN Extension Master Gardener Volunteer Program of Ramsey County and the Ramsey County Master Gardeners 501(c)3.

Finance Committee

The 2025 Finance Committee accomplished several tasks during the year, including the definition of several policies regarding how nonprofit money can be requested, used, and reimbursed..

• Transitioning to using QuickBooks instead of spreadsheets

• Financial Aid policy

• Purchasing policy

• New Grant Proposal policy

• Created a Project Reimbursement Form for project leads

Board Members Transitioning into 2025

• Julie Bechtold retired to Board Chair-emeritus and Kay Wimer became Board chair.

• Board of Director elections were held in November 2024. RCMG volunteers elected Beth Fritcher as vice-chair.

• Laurel Watt joins the board as secretary

• Kristina Hughes joins the board as treasurer and resigns from the position in May; and Kathy Passe resumes the role as treasurer.

• Simba Blood leaves the Education Chair position and is followed by Gene Ranieri as Education Chair. Susan Mason joins Gene as co-chair for 2025.

• Karen Randall left the New Volunteer Chair position and is followed by Tiffa Foster as Chair. Susie Deshon joins Tiffa's as co-chair for 2025.

• Stacy Sola was elected as Communications co-chair and serves with Nanette Boudreau.

• Laura Savin led as the Finance Committee chair.