State Master Gardeners to gather on MU campus

It’s berries, butterflies, bees and buds as Missouri Master Gardeners hold their state conference June 15-16 on the University of Missouri campus.

This year’s theme is “Master Gardeners Go to College.” MU is home to the Mizzou Botanic Garden, which comprises 18 different gardens and tree trails.

The conference features three concurrent tracks: Fruits and Vegetables, Ornamentals and Turf, and Trendy. Conference attendees may choose to stay in dorm rooms or in off-campus lodging, said MU Extension state horticulturist David Trinklein.

Tours include an elderberry farm, the Mizzou Botanic Garden, Shelter Gardens and the family-owned Pierpont Farms vegetable farm.

Session topics include berries and elderberries, fruit and vegetable diseases, monarch butterflies and way stations, bee and pollinator preservation, mushroom growing, wildflowers, and artful landscaping.

Trinklein said the conference gives Master Gardeners opportunities to visit and learn in an informal setting.

To register, go to muconf.missouri.edu/mastergardeners. A schedule of events is at mg.missouri.edu/conference/schedule.htm.

Source: David Trinklein, 573-882-9631

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