The Green County Master Gardeners, in collaboration with the Monroe Clinic Hospice and Monroe Chamber of Commerce, coordinated a Garden Walk event this past summer in Monroe to showcase six beautiful garden locations. Included in the Garden Tours were: Marilyn Sandin-Ross and Bill Ross, who showed us a cottage style garden with raised beds for perennials and roses. Beds surrounded the house and back fence. There were window boxes, planters, hanging baskets and a vertical garden under a pergola. Kathleen Rinear and John Jewell exhibited a garden consisting of perennials, vegetables, herbs and chickens! Terry Goetz used her favorite plant, hydrangeas, to create gardens of many forms, colors and blooms. Pat Ottaway showed us how to grow vegetables in stock tanks and roses in galvanized containers on wheels so she could easily move them to other locations. Dick and Sue Leuzinger presented a variety of perennial flower beds including lilies, roses, hydrangeas and dahlias. Katie Doyle-Bauman and John Bauman displayed gardens on three different levels including shrubbery, perennials and annuals that do not attract bees!

The gardens enticed over 200 visitors who generously donated to the Monroe Clinic Hospice Home Garden fundraising project. At the recent Green County Master Gardeners Meeting, a check for over $2,500 was presented to Jane Sybers and Diana Boysen, representing the Monroe Clinic Hospice Home.

The Green County Master Gardeners Association was formed in 2004 to provide Master Gardeners with opportunities for professional development and community service. Over 135 people have been trained since that time. The Green County Master Gardeners Association meets on the fourth Thursday of the month from February through October. Association officers for 2019 will include Tanna McKeon, President; Tamara Schulte, Vice President; Linda Boll, Secretary; and Lynn Lokken as Treasurer.

Anyone interested in horticulture and gardening is welcome to join the association. For more information on the UW-Extension Master Gardener program contact Jackie McCarville, Agriculture Agent, at (608) 328-9440.