This is an annual event for any Master Gardener, whether you are new or Advanced (that is me),  in the state of Michigan and is held during the month of June and took place this past weekend.  The is one of the best conferences available to Master Gardeners, at least I think so, and it is one I usually try to attend.

Why they call it “college” I am not sure, it is only a two day conference filled with sessions on various aspects of gardening. I already have a BA in teaching and a Masters in Library Science (now School of Information) so these short educational opportunities are really nice.  Some of the information may be old but there certainly is a lot of new ideas and approaches to gardening in a more environmentally friendly way.  Plus I get to mingle with a lot of passionate gardeners who are frequently good cooks who grow their own food 🙂

It is a two day event beginning on Friday with full day tours and hands-on workshops followed by a delicious dinner at the University Club in East Lansing.  Saturday featured two educational speakers as well as 18 sessions to choose from to further feed our minds with garden-related subjects.  By participating in this conference I was able to obtain education recertification hours.  As always there was plenty of opportunity to “spend money” at the Garden Marketplace.

I managed to buy a couple of new books, a bag and an all-weather Advanced Master Gardener stone for my garden. Funny how the light affects the color of the stone 🙂

There were 4 tours available for 2014 on Friday; 1) Bees, Blooms and Brew, 2) Growing Excitement at MSU, 3) Plants, Plants and More Plants: the Rare Beauties of Nature’s Palette and 4) Where the Wild Ones Are.

You could also just attend the Friday afternoon workshops which included: 1) Demystifying Pruning, 2) Practical Entomology, 3) The Art of Plant Placement: Designing the Perfect Landscape, 4) The Real BUZZ on Beekeeping and 5) The Wonderful World of Science.  The day ended with a dinner at the University Club.

This year I did not attend the Friday activities and chose to go to the Saturday sessions only.  It was a good thing as my niece came into town for a wedding and I would not have missed a chance to visit with her. After staying up late on Friday night chatting with a sister, niece and her boyfriend  I did manage to get up  and make it to the early registration on Saturday morning.  However, by late afternoon I was starting to nod off – did not quite get all of the sleep I needed! Reminded me of my college days, cramming for exams with very little sleep.

Saturday was filled with excellent lectures on many different topics.  We had the pleasure of listening to two keynote speakers; Charlie Nardozzi talking about  “Foodscaping” and Joseph Tychonievich speaking about his passion in gardening; “Plant Breeding for the Home Gardener”.  These guys were full of enthusiasm and an obvious love of what they do – it was fun and interesting to listen and learn from both of them.

There were also 3 sessions filled with 18 different topics a Master Gardener could choose from.  I chose “The Art and Science of Diagnosing Landscape Problems” by Bob Bricault, Washtenaw County’s horticulturist for my first session.  The second session was “What is Smart Gardening” by Rebecca Finneran who is a horticulture educator like Bob.  The final session was “Native Trees and Shrubs with Bling” by Mary Wilson.  Mary is the County Horticulture Educator and State Coordinator for the MSU Extension Master Gardener Program.  So many great subjects where I always learn something new.

What a great day in Lansing but I was happy to get home and catch up on my sleep 🙂