North Fulton Master Gardeners, Inc., is continuing to provide horticultural education in the North Fulton community through free virtual gardening education programming. This series of 10 classes began February 2, 2021, and is available through live Zoom webinars and Facebook Live. The classes are also available for later viewing at www.youtube.com/NorthFultonMasterGardeners. Each class emphasizes practical gardening activities at the time of year that is best suited for that activity. Please register in advance for each class to assure your place. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about how to join the webinar. If you can’t attend the live webinar, you can register anyway so you will receive a recorded link to the class.
Spring Vegetable Gardening
Live Zoom: Tuesday, February 2 @ 7 pm
Early February is a great time to start your vegetable garden in North Fulton County. George Scesney, a North Fulton Master Gardener, shares his expertise on how to prepare your garden, select the best vegetables to grow in our area, the optimal time to plant each type and some tips for a bountiful harvest!
Growing Lavender
Live Zoom: Sunday, February 7 @ 2 pm
Lavender is a member of the mint family and native to regions of the Mediterranean. English lavender -Lavendula augustifolia – and its cultivars are the most commonly grown in southern gardens, along with hybrids between English and spike lavenders of France -L. latifolia. Growing lavender in the south can be a challenge but it can be done very successfully when you know which species do best, the soil type, and weather conditions best suited for optimum growth. Join Rebecca Pinckney, a North Fulton Master Gardener, to learn which elements are needed to successfully grow lavender in Georgia.
Right Tree, Right Place!
Live Zoom: Wednesday, February 10 @ 7 pm
This class is presented by Tom Redmon, a North Fulton Master Gardener. Trees offer so many benefits to a homeowner and the communities they live in whether it’s shade, privacy, windbreak, beauty, or increased property values. However, these benefits are only enjoyed when you plant the right tree in the right place. Tom will share with you his experience and knowledge of the most important planning tips to consider before picking your landscape trees.
Hosta – A Perfect Addition to Your Shade Garden
Live Zoom: Sunday, February 21 @ 2 pm
This class is presented by Carole MacMullan, a North Fulton Master Gardener. No shade garden should be without a hosta. Hostas have been the mainstay of shade gardens for at least one hundred years. Even though their flowers are insignificant, the appeal is the diversity of their leaves. The leaves of hosta, thanks to hybridizers, come in a variety of sizes, colors as well as textures. Learn how to plant, care for, fertilize, and prevent eradication from hosta enemy number one – deer.
Lawn Care for Spring and Summer in Atlanta
Live Zoom: Tuesday, March 2 @ 7 pm
Beautiful, healthy lawns require more than simply mowing and fertilizing. Cool-season and warm-season grasses require similar activities, but at different times, to be effective. John Kligora, a North Fulton Master Gardener, will provide this class, which will cover: the difference between cool-season and warm-season grasses and what they require; value of soil testing; fertilizing, weed control, aerating and watering.
Big Trees of Sandy Springs
Live Zoom: Sunday, March 7 @ 2 pm
Come enjoy a stroll through an old-growth forest in the middle of Sandy Springs! Katherine Coppedge, a North Fulton Master Gardener, presents an overview of The John Ripley Forbes Big Trees Preserve. The Preserve is the legacy of John Forbes, the foremost preservationist of the great outdoors in the southeast. Once a plantation along Roswell Road, the 30-acre forest is awash with native trees, shrubs, and wildflower meadows planted and maintained by North Fulton Master Gardeners. Deer, raccoon, fox, opossum and the resident raptors, red tail, sharp-shinned, coopers hawks abound. Powers Branch Creek is alive with salamanders, crawfish, and minnows. Our mission is “to preserve and protect this urban forest while linking community learning, health, and well-being to the natural environment”.
Establishing and Growing Perennials
Live Zoom: Sunday, March 14 @ 2 pm
“I’m Baa-aack!” This is what a perennial says each spring as it emerges from the ground. Its reliable spring debut is made possible by you, the gardener, who prepares the soil, plants it in the right spot to ensure enough sun, and cares for it during its warm weather performance. Donna Whitesel, North Fulton Master Gardener teaches you how to do this, so you’ll have beautiful flowers and healthy perennial plants in your garden, year after year.
Attracting Wildlife and Detracting Critters
Live Zoom: Sunday, March 21 at 2 pm
Practically EVERYONE who is a “happy homeowner” has had problems with some sort of pest or animal attempting to infiltrate and/ or destroy their property. At the same time, we want to encourage some wildlife to thrive and coexist amicably within our healthy and safe environment. What to do? Marlysa Raye-Jacobus, a North Fulton Master Gardener, will provide information and solutions to your dilemma.
Native Schmative! What’s the big deal?
Live Zoom: Tuesday, March 23 @ 7 pm
Paula Lindsey, a North Fulton Master Gardener, explains why native plants are important and how to incorporate native plants into your landscaping! She will provide helpful tips on which common landscaping plants can be replaced with a native and the benefits provided by this substitution.
Spring Vegetable Planting Demonstration
Live Zoom: Sunday, April 18 @ 2 pm
Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_22pO-K63SvmPKOLO1_3X2g
A hands-on how and what to plant class with Robin Pollack who will showcase her beautiful raised-bed gardens. Learn the basics of spring to summer veggie gardening. Suitable for beginners to experienced gardeners!
In response to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, the North Fulton Master Gardeners went virtual with our Fall 2020 Gardening Lecture Series. All classes can be viewed on the Fall 2020 Gardening Lecture Series playlist. Our series includes “Hydrangeas – How to Plant, Grow, and Prune” with Master Gardener Linda Cline, “Gardening in the Shade” and ”Fragrant Gardens for All Seasons” with Master Gardener Carole MacMullan, “Create A Fall Vegetable Garden” with Master Gardener George Scesney, “Top Ten Lawn Care Mistakes” with Master Gardener Ben Whitley, “Vermicomposting” with Master Gardener Kathie Lunsford, “All About Bulbs! Bulbs for all Seasons” and “How to Create a Bulb Lasagna Container Garden” presented by Master Gardener Donna Whitesel, “Winter Interest Plants” presented by Marlysa Raye-Jacobus, and “Holiday Wreath-making with Plants from the Garden”, “Mailbox Holiday Decoration with Plants from the Garden”, and “Decorating Your Mantel for the Holidays” with Master Gardener Judy Peacock.
The NFMG YouTube Channel also features several playlists of videos:
● Home Gardens of the North Fulton Master Gardeners playlist
● UGA Extension of Fulton County playlist of gardening videos, another source of gardening information, and inspiration
● How to Become a Master Gardener playlist
● Master Gardeners Educate at Farm Chastain playlist
● Master Gardeners Educate at Mimosa Hall and Gardens playlist
While we look forward to resuming our in-person community gardening classes and speakers’ bureau in the future, we are excited to continue our virtual gardening education offerings. We wish the best of health to all members of our community.
About the North Fulton Master Gardeners:
North Fulton Master Gardeners, Inc. is a Georgia nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization whose purpose is to educate its members and the public in the areas of horticulture and ecology in order to promote and foster community enrichment. NFMG assists The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension by providing unbiased horticultural information to Georgians through volunteer community service and educational gardening projects using applied research and the resources of The University of Georgia. NFMG Volunteers are trained and certified by The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension.
Over the years, the North Fulton Master Gardeners have provided gardening community education classes in Alpharetta, Roswell, Sandy Springs, and Farm Chastain (now transitioning to a virtual learning format due to the pandemic); gardening education for young children; university and college scholarships for horticulture students; and local demonstration gardens maintained by the North Fulton Master Gardeners. For the past 21 years, we have brought Garden Faire to the North Fulton community on the last Saturday in April on the grounds of historic Bulloch Hall.
North Fulton Master Gardeners are available to speak at your next virtual meeting or event on a multitude of topics. To request a speaker, contact Speakers Bureau Chair, Kathie Lunsford at 678-699-1977 or email speakers@nfmg.net .
To receive more information about classes and other NFMG activities, you can sign up for our email list at https://bit.ly/NFMG-EmailSignUp. Please follow us on social media to learn more about our upcoming Spring 2021 Gardening Lecture Series.
http://nfmg.net/communityclasses.html
https://facebook.com/northfultonmastergardeners
https://twitter.com/NFMGardeners
https://youtube.com/northfultonmastergardeners
https://instagram.com/northfultonmastergardeners
We wish the best of health to all members of our community.
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