Santa Rosa County Master Gardener Vision: A healthier world through environmental stewardship
The Santa Rosa County Master Gardener Mission: To assist the Residential Horticulture Agent in educating Santa Rosa County residents about safe, effective and sustainable horticultural practices that build healthy gardens, landscapes, and communities the Florida-friendly way.
The Santa Rosa County Master Gardener Program
The Santa Rosa County Master Gardener Program began in 1987. Currently, forty-six of Florida’s sixty-seven counties have Master Gardener programs. Florida Master Gardeners are volunteers trained and certified by the University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Cooperative Extension Service, to assist the UF/IFAS agents in disseminating residential horticultural information to the residents of Florida. The goal of the program is to serve the general public in sharing UF/IFAS research and information through an outreach effort focused upon protecting the natural resources and environment, and increasing the horticultural and agricultural knowledge to the general public.
Usually the county horticultural agent, Theresa Friday in Santa Rosa County, runs the program. Recruits are chosen from applicants and educated by University of Florida staff. For certification, Master Gardeners complete a 60+ hour training course, and in return volunteer a minimum of 50 hours helping to serve the county’s horticultural needs in America’s most popular hobby. Certification is awarded upon completion of the course requirements and volunteer obligation as an intern. Each subsequent year, research based horticultural continuing education is required and provided, with a required minimum of 50 hours volunteer service for annual re-certification.
Master Gardeners fulfill their volunteer hours commitment in various ways. We have many community outreach projects serving the general public (check out our Project page on website). There are also internal projects to help maintain the strength of our organization, including our newsletter the “Earthworm” (check out the “Earthworm” page on our website), our mentoring program for new interns and our Website.
Since 2002, the Santa Rosa County Master Gardeners have contributed more than 62,521 volunteer hours to the people of this county. We currently have a very active group of 81 Master Gardeners. In the year 2006, 7,935 volunteer hours were contributed to Santa Rosa County.
We have won many state Awards of Excellence from UF/IFAS. Statewide each year, only one Award of Excellence in each of 13 categories is presented, so these awards are highly competitive. We received the Award of Excellence for Extension Awareness in 1997 for our work at the South County Service Center Diagnostic Clinic, the Award of Excellence for Beautification in 1998 for the Navarre Nature Walk Wildflower Garden and the Award of Excellence for 4-H Youth in 2000 for our Growing Gardeners Program Instructional Book. One of our Santa Rosa County Master Gardeners received a national award in 1998, the Alice W. Burlingame Award, for his work at the Milton Avalon Center. In 2004, the Santa Rosa County Master Gardeners won three Awards of Excellence: the Gulf Coast Gardening from the Ground Up educational series won in the General Achievement category, an Adaptive Gardening Program won in the Special Audiences category and the Panhandle Butterfly House won the Demonstration Garden Award.
If you are a Santa Rosa County resident who has an interest in gardening and would like to share that interest as a volunteer in the Master Gardener Program, we encourage you to apply for training as a Master Gardener. Applications are normally accepted in the fall of each year with classes beginning in January of the following year. Approximately 20 applicants are chosen to join the class. The UF/IFAS Master Gardener Course entails at least 60 hours of instruction, broken down into weekly sessions of about 4 ½ hours for 15 weeks. The instruction concentrates on horticultural knowledge for home gardeners, including basic botany, weeds, insects, correct planting instructions, annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees, to name a few. Dedication is needed as classes are not repeated, and it essential to attend all classes. New Interns are invited to monthly meetings, programs, continued education and social activities.
Contact the County Extension Office if you are interested in the Master Gardener Program. http://santarosa.ifas.ufl.edu/lawn_garden_mg.shtml
Phone: 850-623-3868
