Great Program Thursday night and tomorrow, new class begins

THANKS AND KUDOS TO MICKEY GAZAWAY for a wonderful program last Thursday night on Camellias! It was informative and included some examples of great japonicas and sasanquas along with beautiful companion plants.

I gave out membership cards for this year at the meeting, so if you missed it, stop by and pick yours up at the office! You can be a "card-carrying" Master Gardener!

New Master Gardener Class
Our new Master Gardener Interns begin their classes tomorrow. They will meet me here at 8am to head out for Carroll County and begin their new adventure. I sent around a sign up sheet at the meeting Thursday asking for folks to join us tomorrow as greeters, but it never made it back to me. So if you signed up and I haven't spoken with you about it, please meet us here at the office in time to van pool at 8am or meet us at Carroll County at 8:45am to help setup and greet our new faces!

Volunteer and Education (by you) Opportunities
Since I did not get my sign up sheet back, I also do not know if I should be expecting any of you for other activities that were listed! If you signed up to help with any of the following tasks, please let me know, so I don't scramble:

February 21st -Assist with Lunch and Learn setup (computer/projector and screen)
Setup/take down in the conference room, greet guests and help them sign in from 10:30am until 1:30pm

February 4-Office assistance (am OR pm?)
February 27-Office assistance (am OR pm?)

Education (for you) Opportunities
Rolling Hills RC&D has organized another Arborist Training and you can sign up now! See the brochure for more details, but the basics are:
Class begins Friday, February 22 at Chattahoochee Technical College in Dallas and Registration is required by February 15th. The cost is $150 dollars. The test is a separate fee and will be offered at the end of the class. Contact Ginger Watson at Rolling Hills RC&D for more information, 770-749-0444.

On February 2 at 10 am Pike's Nursery is having a drought response meeting at their Dallas Hwy/Barrett Pkway store in Cobb County. This is for the community with speakers from Smith Gilbert Arboretum, Pike Nursery's Wayne Juers, Randy Drinkard, former Extension agent from Cobb and Bartow County. the owner of Semprviren Landscapes and maybe someone from Lost Mtn. Nursery. We are also inviting gardeners to share tricks that they have used to beat the drought.

Holly Thornton has posted January's Homeowner Plant Disease Clinic Report. It includes some great information and photos of Winter Injury that may mimic disease.

Just for Fun (unless you are one of my workers!)
On Friday, February 1, I will be accompanying 4 of our recently certified Master Gardeners to operate the Master Gardener Booth at the Southeastern Flower Show. We will leave the office at 1pm and we will work a 3pm-8pm shift at the booth, hopefully returning here around 9pm. I will have 4 extra seats in the van for anyone who is interested in riding. First come, first served! Please call the office (770-443-7616) and ask Dara to put you on the list of riders if you wish to join us. I'll spring for parking, but you'll have to pay your way into the show.

Off and running!

I taught the first of many classes for regional Master Gardener Trainings yesterday. The West Metro Group's training in Carroll County begins on Tuesday, January 29th and we need some veteran Master Gardeners to welcome the new interns and setup a Paulding County Master Gardener display. Please email or call me if you would like to join us. If you drive yourself, you can be there by 8:45 to setup and leave after breakfast (around 9:45). You are also welcome to vanpool with the interns and me (leaving office at 8am and returning around 1:30-2pm. (Yes, whichever option you choose, it counts as volunteer time for you!)

I am putting together their notebook information right now and could use input from you all about projects and committees where their help is needed-send me a description of yours. They will be looking for opportunities to learn about our organization and complete their volunteer hours, so this is your opportunity to get information to them early!

Our office is in the process of updating the directory file: if you have had address/phone/email changes that we need to be aware of, please call them in or email them to us!

Don't forget that our meeting this month is scheduled for January 24th at 6pm at the Senior Center. Our speaker is our own Mickey Gazaway and the appropriately timed topic is Camellias! I'll have an update from our office and I'll be recognizing some folks for their work. Please come.

Happy New Year!

2008 is here! Along with the new year come many Master Gardener volunteer and continuing education opportunities. I just got information about February's Garden and Patio Show at the Cobb Galleria and an opportunity for you to enjoy a special speaker, just for Master Gardeners! Dr. Jeff Lewis from the State Botanical Garden will speak at 11:00am on February 7th. If you attend this event you also get a reduced entry fee of $5.00 (with your Master Gardener Badge). In order to participate you need to email (msheff@uga.edu) or call me by January 15th and let me know if you'll be attending.

Also, I recently got alerted to a the quarterly Georgia Bee Letter, which you can access here if you are an aspiring beekeeper:
http://www.ent.uga.edu/Bees/Newsletter/07_12_GBL.pdf

Later this week, you'll receive the most recent edition of The Paulding Vine, so watch your email or check back here for an update! Laurie Bartron has been working hard to format your articles, pictures and news. To submit an article for the next newsletter (spring), send it to pauldingvinenews@yahoo.com.

Hope to see you soon!