The January 2023 meeting included information about upcoming youth project opportunities, Healing Gardens, plant pre-sale and efforts to conserve Minnesota's native plants.
1/23/2023
The January monthly meeting was held online via Zoom from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Watching the recording of this meeting can be counted as 2 hours of Continuing Education. (Find the recording in the Archives of the Monthly Meeting page.)
THANK YOU
Many thanks to the RCMG volunteers involved with the January Meeting:
Education Committee: Jane Carlstrom & Simba Blood
Project Leaders: Susan Cathey & Ed Shinbach (youth projects) & Martha Lantz (Healing Gardens), Mary Parenteau (Plant Pre-sale)
Journalist: Mindy Johnson
Zoom Aide: Brianna Gohde
6:30-6:45 pm: Project Updates
Youth Projects (Susan Cathey)
RCMG is getting into more training for youth programs; there’s been many school, library, and community requests for Master Gardeners. Sometimes the projects are already established, but we often get special requests. Three upcoming opportunities- Children’s Garden in Residence program (created by the Arboretum and requires their training). February 18 is the first training session.
Deadline to sign up is Feb 11. Junior Master Gardener Curriculum is the second opportunity. There is a fee for training but there is financial aid for those in need. The third opportunity is an in-house version of the youth master gardener program.
Growing the RCMG Youth Projects: https://www.ramseymastergardeners.org/post/growing-rcmg-youth-projects
Contact RCMG Youth Project Leaders: Susan Cathey spcathey@msn.com & Ed Shinbach smadeline@comcast.net
Healing Gardens (Martha Lantz)
RCMG is going to continue working with the Muriel Sahlin gardens. There will be a Train-the-Trainer session for the Nature Heals class. Healing gardens have a great impact on health and well being. They’re designed with elements that promote healing such as flowy paths, places to sit, water features, etc. Contact Martha marthawlantz@gmail.com or Susan Mitchell skracum@gmail.com for more information
RCMG Healing Garden Project https://www.ramseymastergardeners.org/post/healing-gardens
Plant Pre-sale (Mary Parenteau)
We’ve added natives from Glacial Ridge. The pre-sale ends January 27. Proceeds go back to RCMG projects. Prices were not increased much, they are reasonable. Plants are sold by the flat not individually.
2023 Bedding Plant Pre-Sale: https://www.ramseymastergardeners.org/volunteer-pre-sale
Darren Lochner's Coordinator Updates (6:45pm-7pm)
Darren informed all those attending the meeting about how our monthly meeting agenda works. We're going to have a social time at 6:00 pm or 6:15 pm before the monthly meetings begin at 6:30 pm. He welcomed new interns to the program. He said to look out for the State MG Program newsletter and the Ramsey County newsletter that are emailed to everyone. If you did not see the newsletters let Darren or Brianna know.
Find the RCMG newsletter online: https://www.ramseymastergardeners.org/newsletters
The first two RCMG monthly meetings of the year will be via Zoom only. All meetings will be the third Tuesday of the month. All other meetings will be hybrid except: no May meeting, July there’s a tour, August will be a joint meeting with Washington County. Meetings count as educational hours. Find the address for the in-person meeting (starting in March) https://www.ramseymastergardeners.org/monthly-meetings
There are 71 new interns this year. Interns keep in mind that background checks are required every three years.
Save the date March 28 for the RCMG Volunteer Fair. It’s a chance to learn about volunteer opportunities. Volunteer opportunities will be posted on SignUp Genius Thursday mornings and Sunday evenings.
International MG Conference is June 18- June 22 in Overland, KS
International Master Gardener Conference (Jun 18-22) https://imgc2023.com/
Guest Lecture – David Remucal, Arboretum's curator of endangered plants talks about conserving Minnesota's native plants (7-8pm)
David Remucal covers the plant conservation program at the Arboretum. He discusses the vision statement for the arboretum and goes over conservation at botanic gardens. New orchid beds were planted last year. He talks in depth about seed banking, which is the heart of the program. He also discusses transplanting and demographic work. He gives information on the ball cactus including crack, shield, and foam planting. He discusses conservation plans for 2023 and beyond. The program relies mostly on volunteers and a few employees.
Minnesota Landscape Arboretum: https://arb.umn.edu/
QUESTIONS & COMMENTS
(Re: Live Beds) Why isn’t the change of genetics desirable? Wouldn’t this make the plant more adaptable?
(Re: Ball cactus transplants & Fungi with Orchids) Just finished reading "Finding the Mother Tree" so my question is about the important of fungi with helping establish rare native plants. Any insights?
(Re: getting involved) How do we sign up to volunteer?
(Re: Anoka Sand Plain Project) Do these developers have to pay anything at all for destroying these habitats?
(Re: Anoka Sand Plain Project) Do you know of any state senators or reps that are generally friendly to naturalist causes that might be open to discussing/incentivizing something like that?)
Do MN biologists inspect for rare species before land development occurs?
How many plants need to be in existence to be considered rare?
Does The Arb work/communicate/partner with the Land Stewardship Project in any manner?
8-8:30 p.m. RCMG News from the Board of Directors leaders
RCMG Financial Summary (Kathy Passe, Treasurer)
Kathy highlights where RCMG 2022 funds came from, mostly from the plant sale, Get your pre-sale orders in for this year (by Jan 27). She covered where money was spent last year such as community outreach and education. Overall a very successful year. Questions contact Kathy at kmpasse@me.com
Annual Audit (Julie Bechtold, Vice Chair)
The annual RCMG audit will be held this Saturday, 1/21/2023. The RCMG Audit and Financial Review Committee is looking for volunteers. Contact Julie juliebechtold@gmail.com for more information
Recap provided by Mindy Johnson
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