Join a horticulture tour with Master Gardeners

By Nathan Winter, University of Minnesota Extension

This year the Minnesota State Master Gardener Conference will be in Hutchinson. This conference is a great opportunity for Master Gardeners to update their education on horticultural topics and for a chance to learn more about horticulture through tours.
This year tours and workshops are available to the public on Friday, Sept. 12. For brochure and registration information, contact McLeod County Extension at (320) 587-0770 or Meeker County Extension at (320) 693-5275. The brochure can also be found on the Web at www.extension.umn.edu/county/template/index.aspx?countyID=46.
Deadline for registering is Sept. 2 and classes can fill before the registration deadline.
Below are highlighted tours and workshops:

Tour I — Meeker County: 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. departing from McLeod County Fairgrounds. Cost is $55 with lunch included.
Featured tour stops are:
• Dahlberg home landscapes with shade and sun flower gardens, vegetable gardens and water gardens.
• Niemela Organic Farm, a cut-flower and soap business.
• Raisanen home on Little Swan Lake with water gardens and unique lakeshore landscaping.
• Millner Heritage Winery where lunch will be served.
• Anderson Gardens located on Lake Ripley with trees, shrubs, and perennial plants.
• Creekside, Hutchinson’s city-owned and operated compost and recycling facility. Tour the process from beginning to end.

Tour 2 — Renville County 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. departing from McLeod County Fairgrounds. Cost is $55 with lunch included.
Featured tour stops are:
• Creekside, Hutchinson-owned and operated compost and recycling facility. Tour the process from beginning to end.
• Vine Valley Farms features commercial vegetable production.
• Jacoby Gardens and Prairie, a National Wildlife Federation certified backyard wildlife habitat. Unique features are a bubbling rock in the front gardens, a waterfall, pond, a deck, planting pergola and plants chosen specifically to attract wildlife, a living snow fence of 650 trees with four acres of restored prairie.
• Ginsburg Gardens, perennial gardens incorporated in small-farm landscape and floral-inspired quilting projects.
• McGraw Farm and Gardens, an abandoned farm site that includes a large 100-year-old ash grove and features a shelter belt, perennial gardens, garden structures, a wildlife pond and pastures for sheep and horses.

Tour 3 — Morning Half-Day: 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tour departs from the McLeod County Fairgrounds. Cost is $40 with lunch included.
Featured tour stops are:
• Cedar Hill Apple Orchard is an environmentally conscientious orchard. Tour includes a hay ride to orchards, bee hives, and shopping in the apple barn.
• Patterson Uncommon Farm And Gardens, a restored 1860-era log cabin, with an herb garden, perennial beds with water features, a rock garden, fruit trees, small fruits, and a vegetable garden.
• Creekside, Hutchinson-owned and operated compost and recycling facility. Tour the process from beginning to end.

Tour 4 — Afternoon Half-Day: 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tour departs from the McLeod County Fairgrounds. Cost is $40 with lunch included.
Featured tour stops are:
• Creekside, Hutchinson-owned and operated compost/recycling facility. Tour process from start to end.
• Patterson Uncommon Farm and Gardens, a restored 1860-era log cabin, with an herb garden, perennial beds with water features, a rock garden, fruit trees, small fruits, and a vegetable garden.
• Cedar Hill Apple Orchard, an environmentally conscientious orchard. Tour includes a hay ride to orchards, bee hives, and shopping in the apple barn.

Plant Propagation Workshop: 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at McLeod County Fairgrounds. Cost is $40 with lunch included.
For beginners or as a refresher for seasoned propagators, this workshop will provide plant physiology background and hands-on experience with various sexual and asexual propagation methods. It is especially focused on fall propagation methods to help Master Gardeners with seasonal propagation questions during their fall volunteer events. Some topics that will be taught include extracting, saving and storing seeds over winter as well as scarification and how to break dormancy. In addition, students will learn to take cuttings to use in over-wintering plants indoors, over-wintering bulbs and corms, dividing spring or early summer flowering perennials, etc. Tools, supplies and plant materials will be provided. Instructors include Dr. Tom Michaels of University of Minnesota Department of Horticultural Science and Bill Peters, teaching specialist with the same department.

Rain garden Workshop: 1 to 4:30 p.m. at McLeod County Fairgrounds. Cost is $65 with lunch included.
Here’s your opportunity to learn from Extension experts about designing, building and maintaining residential rain gardens. This class features a lecture section which will provide in-depth information about rain garden design and construction, and a hands-on section where students will have a chance to actually implement some of the skills and information learned in the classroom. Other topics will include soil preparation, plant selection and maintenance of rain gardens. Instructors include University of Minnesota Extension Educator Elanor Burkett and University of Minnesota Master Gardener Darren Lochner.

(Nathan Winter is an agricultural educator — McLeod and Meeker counties, with the University of Minnesota Extension.)