On 29 Jul 2009, at 7:58, Bracey Tiede wrote: > Our [Master Gardener] program has been tapped by the local ag commissioner > to help with field surveys for pests and we have contributed research data > twice over the past three years to the state invasive plant people on which > nurseries are selling which invasive plants. My opinion of the usefulness of the MG program has gone up a notch or two. I think my main objection to the MG program lies in its name. Simply put, the graduates from the program are not master gardeners in the ordinary everyday sense of the phrase. Far from it! Having known a few professional horticulturists who underwent old-school training in Britain, the gulf in knowledge, experience, and expertise between us amateurs and a well-educated pro gardener has always amazed me. We amateurs tend to have very deep knowledge of very narrow fields of interest; the pros know about everything, not in such depth, but deep enough they can keep their heads above water no matter what task is put to them. Ask me to grow a tomato and I'd be hopeless! Incidentally, what are the worst invasives in your area? Around here, Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius) and ivy (Hedera helix) are pretty bad. Broom has been an issue since the 1850s when six of twelve seeds planted at Sooke BC by an homesick early settler from Scotland germinated one spring, but ivy has only begun to cause serious trouble in the last ten years or so. Sure, it was around before then, but you didn't see it taking over the forest floor in parks, clambering up trees, and so on. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate on beautiful Vancouver Island http://maps.google.ca/maps/…