Dane County Executive Joe Parisi recently cut the ribbon for the new teaching garden at UW-Extension. The new teaching garden, open to the public, will allow training for the popular Master Gardener program and youth programing. Recently, labels for the 800-plus perennials and woody plants were added with QR codes that allow visitors to access information about the plants using their smartphones. 

"We invested in this garden for the wonderful Master Garden volunteers," said Dane County Executive Joe Parisi. "Without the assistance of Master Gardener volunteers, many projects simply would not happen. Thank you so much for helping make our community a better place to live and experience." 

The Garden was started in 2004 by UW-Extension Horticulture Educator Lisa Johnson and a group of Master Gardener volunteers. It has expanded to 12 garden areas that surround the Lyman F. Anderson Agriculture & Conservation Center. 

In addition to the added technology to help visitors access information about plants with their smart phones, a new sign to orient visitors to the garden was added this spring that tells the history of garden. Currently, pathway upgrades are underway. 

The garden is used to educate Master Gardener volunteers, giving them hands-on experience with pruning, dividing plants, proper planting techniques, and weed and pest identification. The Teaching Garden is also open to the public. To access a map and learn more about the Teaching Garden visit https://dane.uwex.edu/horticulture/teaching-garden/. 

Since 1981, Dane County UW-Extension has trained over 1,800 Master Gardener volunteers. Since the year 2000, they have donated over 234,000 hours of their time and talents in the county. These volunteers have provided many different types of educational and support services in their communities ranging from helping students learn about growing healthy food to answering over 500 gardening questions annually at the Dane County Extension office, to giving educational talks for community groups, helping at food pantry gardens, maintaining the Teaching Garden and more. 

As of 2018, there are 185 certified Master Gardener volunteers and 27 students. In 2017 alone, those 185 Master Gardener volunteers from Dane County contributed 16,340 hours of volunteer service.