Master Gardeners Help Highlands County Stay Green

Over the past year, the volunteer master gardeners of the Highlands County Extension Service fielded more than 8,000 inquiries from people on everything from handling problems with turf and trees to advice on putting in flower or vegetable gardens.

Don Ingram of Lake Placid is among the 48 volunteers and says this program gives him great satisfaction in expanding and sharing his ever growing fascination with all types of plants.

"It's very gratifying to help someone with their gardening situation and if they're having a problem to be able to come up with a solution," he said.

Dee Dee Jacobson, the environmental horticulture extension agent, is taking applications for the new round of training for master gardeners, which will start in February. Applications are available in the extension office at the Bert J. Harris Jr. Agricultural Center on George Boulevard and are due by Monday.

The training involves 12 weekly sessions from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on subjects ranging from botany to entomology, lawns, plant pathology, citrus, vegetable gardening, landscaping, pruning and grafting, plant and pest identification and more.

To be certified as a master gardener, the student has to not only pass a final exam but also volunteer 75 hours over the next year, and give 35 volunteer hours per year to remain in the program.

Ingram has become affectionately known as "the banana man" since he became a master gardener four years ago, soon after he moved with wife, Dee, from suburban Miami to Lake Placid.

His interest in raising bananas began years ago when a friend in the Miami area gave him two varieties to plant, but grew by leaps and bounds once he retired here. He now grows 15 varieties, ranging from Thousand Fingers and Praying Hands to Rajapuri and Dwarf Brazilian.

Ingram volunteers one afternoon a week at the master gardener's help desk in the extension office, fielding questions from people who drop in or call.

"For the first couple of years I worked on the desk, I guess my most common response to people coming in was, 'I don't know but I will find out for you,'" he said. With more experience, that doesn't happen often now, he said, but the master gardeners can always find the answer.

Jacobson backs them up, and Ingram said the master gardeners have not only several hundred books for reference but also the extensive computer data base of the University of Florida's College of Agriculture.

"That's probably our most valuable resource, the extension data base," Ingram said. "They've got just thousands of documents that help us answer the questions homeowners have."

Through the seminars, workshops and the annual three-day, statewide conference offered by the University of Florida to master gardeners, Ingram said he's continually delving into new topics.

"I did get interested in butterfly gardening, something that I wasn't aware of before I moved here and went through the classes, and learned what plants you need to attract butterflies to your property," he said.

He also learned about putting in plants that attract birds, planting native species that require no or minimal irrigation, and has recently started planting tropical fruits.

"My interests are always evolving," he said.

Beyond bananas, he's now growing mangos, early- and late-season avocados, citrus, guava and pomegranate in his half-acre yard, and has recently added more exotic species including Atemoya, which produces a fruit he describes as a cross between pineapple and banana, and Jaboticaba, which produces a large, dark berry.

Ingram said he first became acquainted with master gardeners some 30 years ago when he and Dee bought their first home in suburban Miami and he sought help in putting in his back lawn and landscaping the yard.

"I didn't know anything at that time, so they were very instrumental in providing me information so that I would be successful in my plantings," he said. "I went back to the office many times."

Jacobson said the focus of the master gardeners program in the coming year will be community service and education. She hopes to have more volunteers going into the schools, putting on programs ranging from butterfly gardens to water cycles and the environment.

Ingram is one of the master gardeners who will begin training in mid-January to volunteer on the mobile irrigation lab, which will be run by the Highlands County Soil and Water Conservation District.

Master gardeners will help staff the project, in which homeowners associations and individual homeowners can have their irrigation systems analyzed, with recommendations on how they can reduce water use.

"I think this is very important and it's going to become even more important," Ingram said. "We're controlled by the Southwest Florida Water Management District and they've just set more stringent water restrictions for Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties. I can see that being extended in the future to other counties as people move in and you have all these growth issues."

Like the other master gardeners, Ingram has learned integrated pest management and advises people on how to use minimal amounts of pesticides.

"The key is understanding that it's not necessary to have an absolutely bug-free yard, and that efforts to do that are not in the environment's best interests," he said.

Jacobson describes master gardeners as "not just a volunteer program but a large gardening family."

Ingram agrees with that description. About the rewards of his volunteer work, he said, "If I had to pick just one thing, it would be helping homeowners with their gardening problems. And there is also the educational opportunities, and the fellowship with people who have a common interest.

"I really enjoy sharing gardening experiences with other people."