Volunteer Spotlight: Toni Oakes | |
Colorado Master Gardener℠ (CMG) volunteers are a dedicated group of individuals who are knowledgeable and passionate about sharing gardening, landscape and horticulture education. This month we are highlighting Toni Oakes. | |
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When and why did you join the Colorado Master Gardener program?
I joined the Colorado Master Gardener program in 2006. I learned about the program through being involved in 4-H with my daughters in the 1990s. I have gardened since I was nine years old and just loved watching things grow. I joined the CMG program because, at the time, I lived on 2 ½ acres in Greenwood Village and I wanted to cut my professional landscaping contract by learning to do many of the services myself. Through the comprehensive education from CSU horticulture professors, I learned countless ways to manage my landscape through resourceful water practices, turf care, entomology, botany, noxious weeds, trees and shrubs, vegetable gardening, soils and so much more.
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Changing Lives, Improving Community
By Dawn Fradkin, Horticulture Programs Coordinator and Assistant Horticulturist
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Clockwise from top left: Colorado Center for the Blind (CCB), Pea Patch, Garden and Home Show, Clayton Elementary, CCB. Photos: Arapahoe County Master Gardeners. | |
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Have you ever wondered what a Colorado Master Gardener volunteer does? Every year, in Arapahoe County, CMGs provide research-based gardening and horticulture advice, educational programming and outreach to the residents of our county. Here’s a look at what we did in 2023.
MG Help Desk – CMGs volunteer at our Help Desk six days a week to answer yard and garden questions from county residents. We had a busy year! We have answered over 800 inquiries from the public so far in 2023. If you ever have a burning question about a problem in your own yard or even with a houseplant, you can call or email a Master Gardener for advice all year long at 303-730-1920 or mastergardener@arpahoegov.com
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If Trees and Turf Could Talk
By Judy Kunz, Colorado Master Gardener
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Juniper, Photo: Oklahoma State University | |
If predictions are accurate, we are likely to experience a strong El Niño effect this fall and winter. El Niño refers to the dominant current in the tropical Pacific Ocean that has a strong influence on the weather in the U.S. and around the world. During El Niño years, precipitation tends to be heavier in the southern tier states, including the mountains in southwestern Colorado. The northern states, which include northeastern Colorado and the Front Range metro area, can tend to have higher temperatures and below normal precipitation. Because El Niño was detected earlier than normal this year, forecasts are for a strong effect that may rival the major El Niño of 1997 and 1998, which caused meteorological havoc across much of the country. | |
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Sweet as Honey:
How Pollinators Spice Up Our Food
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We have so much to be thankful for this holiday season including the meals we eat. Have you ever wondered how much of the food on our tables for which we can thank pollinators? Approximately 1/3 of our diet is dependent on pollinators, including some of our most nutritious fruits, vegetables and nuts. Even our meat and dairy industries depend on pollinators because bees pollinate alfalfa and clover, which are food sources for cattle. Food staples like corn, rice, soybeans and wheat are either wind-pollinated or self-pollinated.
As we plan our holiday meals with family and friends, we can think about all the delicious foods we have because of pollinators.
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Lisa Mason
CSU Extension Horticulture Specialist
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Perfectly Pretty Poinsettias
By Sarah Henderson, Colorado Master Gardener
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One of the first things I do to prepare for the holiday season is to buy some fresh poinsettia plants. These easy-to-care-for plants always brighten up our home for the holidays. I am not the only one who enjoys these festive plants, as they are the most popular flowering plants sold in the US. | Wild poinsettia, Photo: hgic.clemson.edu | |
The red “flowers” on poinsettia plants are not actually flowers. They are modified leaves called bracts. The flowers, called cyanthia, are the tiny yellow blooms at the center of the bracts, and they do not have true petals. The bright red bracts evolved to attract pollinators. Native poinsettias have skinny and almost droopy bracts at the top of 12 to 15-foot stems. | |
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Hail-Proof Plants? Hail Yeah.
By Caitlin Tongco, Colorado Master Gardener
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Photo: https://www.colorado.edu/asmagazine-archive/node/893 | |
March may “come in like a lion and go out like a lamb,” however the weather this spring was more like a ferocious dragon. Historically, Colorado has its fair share of hit-or-miss weather. But the spring and summer of 2023 was one for the record books (literally). Let’s do a weather recap before we dive into how our gardens fared this year. | |
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I Didn't Know That!
By Donnetta Wilhelm, Colorado Master Gardener
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Illustration: ucdavis.edu | |
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The Reason Why Leaves Fall
Each leaf on a tree connects to the tree’s circulatory system. Where the leaf meets the stem is called the abscission zone which consists of tubes that carry water and nutrients from the tree to the leaf. In the autumn, the tubes in the abscission zone swell and secrete a waxy substance that reduces the flow of water and nutrients from the tree to the leaf. No longer able to receive nutrients, the leaf dies, and eventually falls. The closed abscission zone protects the circulatory system while shedding leaves.
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In oaks, beeches, and hornbeams, the swelling of the abscission layer doesn’t occur until the spring, so the leaves remain throughout the winter. Most scientists believe genetics are why this occurs on these particular trees. | | |
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PHONE
(303) 730-1920
EMAIL
mastergardener@arapahoegov.com
LOCATION
6934 S. Lima St., Suite B
Centennial, CO 80112
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Colorado State University Extension is an equal opportunity provider. | Colorado State University does not discriminate on the basis of disability and is committed to providing reasonable accommodations. | CSU’s Office of Engagement and Extension ensures meaningful access and equal opportunities to participate to individuals whose first language is not English. Colorado State University Extension es un proveedor que ofrece igualdad de oportunidades. | Colorado State University no discrimina por motivos de discapacidad y se compromete a proporcionar adaptaciones razonables. | Office of Engagement and Extension de CSU garantiza acceso significativo e igualdad de oportunidades para participar a las personas quienes su primer idioma no es el inglés. | | | | |
