Clara Yates, Dave Close, John Freeborn, and Linda Kline at the Portland, OR Convention Center
International Master Gardener College: Experiencing the Oregon Trail by: Linda Kline and Clara Yates Linda Kline and Clara Yates, from King George County, attended the International Master Gardener Conference this past July and got to experience the Oregon Trail in all of its glory. The Master Gardener Program exists in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, 6 Canadian provinces, and South Korea. Every other year a different state / province hosts the International Master Gardening Conference (IMGC). This year, Oregon Master Gardeners (MG) hosted the IMGC and all MG were invited to “Follow the Oregon Trail to Great Gardening” at the Portland Oregon Convention Center, July 10- 14, 2017. Approximately 1,300 gardeners attended the IMGC this year, including over 400 gardeners from Oregon. Eleven attendees were from Virginia, including Dave Close and John Freeborn from VT, Linda Kline and Clara Yates from King George county which is included in the Master Gardening Association of the Central Rappahannock Area (MGACRA) and Wanda Gerard, VMGA Secretary, from Suffolk. The IMGC may be described as Virginia’s Master Gardening College (MGC) on steroids. It’s like MGC but
bigger and grander with more of everything: more keynote speakers, concurrent sessions, attendees, volunteers and tours, plus vendors and lots of giveaways. Everything was well organized and festive at the IMGC, including the unique bicycle displays that the various Oregon MG associations created. Each attendee had an opportunity to vote for their favorite and the “Beach Bike” was voted the best. Ciscoe Morris, a MG from Seattle and a TV and radio personality, lecturer, author and garden-tour leader, was the colorful MC for the conference. Ciscoe kept us informed, entertained and on-time. Yes, MG are amazing people! Tom Bewick, a national program leader for horticulture in the USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture, gave remarks about the contributions of MG and presented awards to the Search for Excellence winners. MG are involved in many amazing projects and
