In the spring of 2024, Master Gardener Intern Wendy Hubbert asked for a project. Knowing her deep-seated passion for Native Plants, I immediately shared an idea I had for a while but didn’t have the time to execute, a native plant giveaway for our fall booth activities. Wendy took hold of this idea and ran with it. She applied for a Plant Grant from Bona Terra Plant Nursery. Bona Terra’s goal of their Plant grant is to “annually place one million native seedlings into the hands of community members and in turn, these seedlings will support our local ecosystems.”
After successfully receiving this grant and picking up the seedlings, Master Gardeners put the plan into action by having a dividing day in July. One small flat of native plant seedlings turned into over 400 pots to share with our community. This day wouldn’t have been possible without the support of Queen Anne’s County Department of Parks and Recreation for providing us space to divide and repot plants and the countless Master Gardeners who showed up to help and took home plant babies to care for over the summer.
During some of the hottest and driest long weeks of summer, Master Gardeners doted on seedlings ensuring that the plants thrived. We kicked off our Native Plant Giveaway at Corsica River Awareness Day in September at Conquest Beach. Master Gardeners eagerly talked to participants about native plants and the benefits of adding them to their home landscape. Rounding out the end of fall, Master Gardeners were at Centreville Day in October to hand out the remaining native plant seedlings. Each participant was able to take home a native plant and a factsheet about their native plant. When asked how Master Gardeners felt about this project, Master Gardener Denise Malueg said “I am happy that we introduced native plants to gardeners who are our neighbors! That impacts our environment as well as their immediate surroundings.”
In total over 400 native plant seedlings were given away at both events, Master Gardeners volunteered over 142 hours to this project equaling over $4,755 dollars in-kind services back to Queen Anne’s County. Organizer, Master Gardener Intern Wendy Hubbert reflected about the impacts of the project “I loved about this project was seeing groups pool their resources to accomplish a common goal. We made a tangible difference in adding native plants to our area’s gardens because of Bona Terra’s free seedlings, Queen Anne’s County Master Gardeners’ time and expertise and community outreach opportunities created by UMD Extension. It was super rewarding to see how people can accomplish a lot just by being aware of each other’s’ unique capabilities and shared goals. Giving people free plants makes educating them easier and more effective because they see how painless it can be to make small improvements in their own environments. I hope this will become a regular annual QA Master Gardener effort.”
For further information please call or make reasonable accommodations to participate in any event email the University of Maryland Extension Queen Anne’s County, Senior Agent Associate for Horticulture and Master Gardener Coordinator, Rachel J. Rhodes, at 410-758-0166 or [email protected] at least two weeks before the events or see us on Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/QueenAnnesCountyMasterGardeners
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