Lafayette Parish Master Gardeners
Mission Statement: The Lafayette Parish Master Gardeners Association, Inc. assists the LSU AgCenter in educating Lafayette and surrounding areas about horticulture and environmental stewardship through the transmission of factual, research-based information.
Vision Statement: Growing a vibrant, green, and healthy community through Horticulture Education
Events
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2nd Saturday
"Second Saturday Gardening Class" 10:00 am Green T Lindon School Cafeteria & Memorial Garden 603 Avenue B, Youngsville |
3nd Saturday
“Garden Talk” 10 am @ Ira Nelson Demo Beds, Lafayette, LA |
News
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Winter has arrived and it is a good time to refresh our
memories on how to best handle cold weather on our landscapes and citrus. Here are two documents that can help with protecting your plants.
"When And How To Protect Citrus From Winter's Cold" and "Cold Protection In The Louisiana Landscape, Ornamentals And Vegetables" by Dan Gill, LSU AgCenter Consumer Horticulturist |
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The Vermilionville Medicinal Garden Committee members recently toured third-graders through the garden. Members do a lesson plan that involves showing the children the collection of mints on the left side of the house inside the fence. They show them in particular the peppermint, the spearmint, and the mountain mint which smells like camphor. They let them rub the leaves between their fingers and smell the mint fragrance and compare the smells with toothpaste, peppermint candy, Vicks vaporub (most of them don't even know what that is because they are so young!) and sometimes mouth wash and peppermint tea. Additionally, the students learn about traiteurs and herbal healing traditions combined with a lesson on the general history and culture of our area.
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November 6 AOC program: Katherine McCormick and Carlee Alm-LaBar speaking about the City
of Lafayette’s Project Front Yard. A great initiative supported by the
LPMGA.
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MGIT Propagation Class
October 20, 2014
August 30, 2014
Lanier Cordell presented ”How to Use Herbs for Health and Well-Being” in the Healing Traditions in Acadiana speaker series at Vermilionville. Over 138 community members attended the informative talk. Lanier took the mystery out of using medicinal herbs. She showed how to harvest, dry and use herbs in everyday life. She then demonstrated how to make medicinal teas, infusions, decoctions, poultices, syrups and salves Lanier is a native Louisianan and Master Gardener as well as a member of the Herb Society of America and the American Botanical Council.
Lanier Cordell presented ”How to Use Herbs for Health and Well-Being” in the Healing Traditions in Acadiana speaker series at Vermilionville. Over 138 community members attended the informative talk. Lanier took the mystery out of using medicinal herbs. She showed how to harvest, dry and use herbs in everyday life. She then demonstrated how to make medicinal teas, infusions, decoctions, poultices, syrups and salves Lanier is a native Louisianan and Master Gardener as well as a member of the Herb Society of America and the American Botanical Council.
August 13 , 2014
Members taking care of the Demo Beds
and preparing for plant sale on
September 13th from 8am – 1pm
at the Demo beds across from Blackham Coliseum.
Members taking care of the Demo Beds
and preparing for plant sale on
September 13th from 8am – 1pm
at the Demo beds across from Blackham Coliseum.
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August 16, 2014
Today’s Garden Talk on Vermiculture was a huge success. – Speaker, Rusty Wilson and his wife, Linda started raising worms in June 2013. Later that year they began their business, Acadiana Worm Farm. Their goal is to educate the community on the benefits of vermicomposting and the resulting bi-product, worm castings as a natural fertilizer and growth medium. They are members of the Louisiana Fruit and Vegetable Grower’s Association and hope to help gardeners transition away from synthetic fertilizers and take a more natural approach to gardening. Their grandchildren assist with producing worms. |
Information about the benefits of worms in the landscape can be found at www.acadianwormfarm.com.
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Rusty’s granddaughter has been growing worms and is ready to start her own business. A future Junior Master Gardener!
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August3, 2014
Acadian Culture Day was a complete success! Despite the heat and part-time inclement weather, we toured almost 200 people through the garden. Special thanks goes out to May Waggoner--who did several tours completely in French and Mary, Lynn, Carolyn, Jan, Janice, and Lisa for assisting throughout the day.
Acadian Culture Day was a complete success! Despite the heat and part-time inclement weather, we toured almost 200 people through the garden. Special thanks goes out to May Waggoner--who did several tours completely in French and Mary, Lynn, Carolyn, Jan, Janice, and Lisa for assisting throughout the day.
June 21, 2014
"Garden Talk"
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Marcus Descant speaking about edible Landscaping.
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June 14, 2017
Tina Jumonville, Master Gardener, presenting "How to Make Your Bed- from the Ground Up" at the "Second Saturday Gardening Class" at Green T. Linden School. There were 20 people in attendance.
Tina Jumonville, Master Gardener, presenting "How to Make Your Bed- from the Ground Up" at the "Second Saturday Gardening Class" at Green T. Linden School. There were 20 people in attendance.
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May 31, 2014
LPMGA members, Jeanell Duhon, Sandra Creswell and Lauren Daspit manned a booth at the Daylily Festival in Abbeville, LA and made contact with 300+ people. They handed out brochures on LA SuperPlants and various other brochures (about 20 topics) from the AgOffice....Butterfly Gardening, Vegetables, Composting, etc.
LPMGA members, Jeanell Duhon, Sandra Creswell and Lauren Daspit manned a booth at the Daylily Festival in Abbeville, LA and made contact with 300+ people. They handed out brochures on LA SuperPlants and various other brochures (about 20 topics) from the AgOffice....Butterfly Gardening, Vegetables, Composting, etc.
Plant Swap at Ira Nelson Demo Beds April 19th 2014
January Update
Driving up to the LPMGA Demo Beds this week, I was struck by the sea of little white spots all over the gardens. What in the world is that? The first thought was that they looked like "mini" tombstones. Then I realized that they were the plant signs for all of the named plants in our beds.
I actually didn't realize how many plants we have. When everything is in bloom or filled out, the names are not so readily seen. This last freeze certainly took its toll.
If you are dealing with this same scene in your garden, take a deep breath and give nature a chance to do her work. Our LSU Ag Center Experts are cautioning us to go easy on cutting back too soon. Cutting back will encourage the plant to send out new growth and another freeze will do even more damage.
This is nature's time out. Use it to see what you have that did well these past few weeks. You also have some time to think about the placement of plants that may have been too close together. Just remember that Spring is only about 2 1/2 months away and we are going to be wishing for those forty degree mornings in April and May.
I'm thankful that I can still see my plants even in their sad condition. So many places are buried under piles of snow. Be ready to rejoice when you see that first little green shoot coming up from a plant you thought surely was a "gonner".
Patient Gardening, LPMGA
1/15/2014
Driving up to the LPMGA Demo Beds this week, I was struck by the sea of little white spots all over the gardens. What in the world is that? The first thought was that they looked like "mini" tombstones. Then I realized that they were the plant signs for all of the named plants in our beds.
I actually didn't realize how many plants we have. When everything is in bloom or filled out, the names are not so readily seen. This last freeze certainly took its toll.
If you are dealing with this same scene in your garden, take a deep breath and give nature a chance to do her work. Our LSU Ag Center Experts are cautioning us to go easy on cutting back too soon. Cutting back will encourage the plant to send out new growth and another freeze will do even more damage.
This is nature's time out. Use it to see what you have that did well these past few weeks. You also have some time to think about the placement of plants that may have been too close together. Just remember that Spring is only about 2 1/2 months away and we are going to be wishing for those forty degree mornings in April and May.
I'm thankful that I can still see my plants even in their sad condition. So many places are buried under piles of snow. Be ready to rejoice when you see that first little green shoot coming up from a plant you thought surely was a "gonner".
Patient Gardening, LPMGA
1/15/2014
What’s new in the Garden?
Jack Frost visited our Demo Garden and left his calling card. Lots of frost bitten leaves and drooping vines. Mother nature trumps all the best laid plans. If you are feeling like you can’t catch up with the leaves and the trimming, don’t be discouraged. This time of year gives us a chance to reassess where we have things planted and which plants are likely to hold up in some seasonally cold weather.
Our propagation team chairman noted that the plants didn’t really have a chance to harden off before this unusual cold snap. We, also, were thinking that it wouldn’t be that cold this early. But Mother Nature wasn’t listening to any of us.
This past Wednesday, the propagation team spent the morning cleaning up drooping tropicals and trimming back plants that regenerate from the bottom up. We also rejoiced at the plants we were expecting to see damaged but weren’t. We are a demonstration garden not a display garden so we always try to demonstrate the best practices of the LSU Ag Center while keeping everything looking as good as possible.
If you’d like to see how we managed the recent challenges to our gardens, please stop by the garden any day. We are always available on Wednesday between 8:30am and 11:00am to answer questions or join us for the Garden Talk on Saturday, December 21, 2013 at 10:00am. See you in the Garden!
12/13/2013
As we assess our recent Plant Fest success, we are already looking forward to the next sale in the Spring.
Master Gardeners are taking cuttings of plants that will die back in the winter, deciding which plants will not be sold in the future and what new plants we should trial in our Demo Beds. This is the wonderful part of gardening - the ever changing, ever evolving landscape pallet.
Come and visit our garden at Ira Nelson as we ready it for the winter months.
11-05-2013
Jack Frost visited our Demo Garden and left his calling card. Lots of frost bitten leaves and drooping vines. Mother nature trumps all the best laid plans. If you are feeling like you can’t catch up with the leaves and the trimming, don’t be discouraged. This time of year gives us a chance to reassess where we have things planted and which plants are likely to hold up in some seasonally cold weather.
Our propagation team chairman noted that the plants didn’t really have a chance to harden off before this unusual cold snap. We, also, were thinking that it wouldn’t be that cold this early. But Mother Nature wasn’t listening to any of us.
This past Wednesday, the propagation team spent the morning cleaning up drooping tropicals and trimming back plants that regenerate from the bottom up. We also rejoiced at the plants we were expecting to see damaged but weren’t. We are a demonstration garden not a display garden so we always try to demonstrate the best practices of the LSU Ag Center while keeping everything looking as good as possible.
If you’d like to see how we managed the recent challenges to our gardens, please stop by the garden any day. We are always available on Wednesday between 8:30am and 11:00am to answer questions or join us for the Garden Talk on Saturday, December 21, 2013 at 10:00am. See you in the Garden!
12/13/2013
As we assess our recent Plant Fest success, we are already looking forward to the next sale in the Spring.
Master Gardeners are taking cuttings of plants that will die back in the winter, deciding which plants will not be sold in the future and what new plants we should trial in our Demo Beds. This is the wonderful part of gardening - the ever changing, ever evolving landscape pallet.
Come and visit our garden at Ira Nelson as we ready it for the winter months.
11-05-2013