Alabama Master Gardener Association comes to Cullman for 3-day annual state conference
Published 5:45 am Wednesday, March 25, 2015
- Pat Gonser with Retriever Soapworks with her display of handmade soaps and lotions made with goat milk at the Alabama Master Gardener Association’s annual conference held at the Cullman Civic Center Tuesday. Gonser has six goats at her farm in Citronelle, and the retirement hobby has now become a business.
Nearly 400 “green thumbs” — wait, make that 800 — have descended on Cullman this week for the Alabama Master Gardener Association’s annual conference.
If you didn’t stop in Monday or Tuesday, today will be the last chance to listen to various speakers and peruse a number of vendors at the Cullman Civic Center before it ends at noon.
It’s the first time Cullman has hosted the conference — with the help of the Blount County Master Gardener Association. Attendees hailing from as far as Mobile have checked into local hotels — around 150 rooms reserved in all, said Phil Gatlin with the Cullman County Master Gardener Association and co-chair of the conference.
“Normally the AMGA holds the conference in big venue towns like Birmingham, Mobile and Huntsville, but this year they wanted to experiment with going to a smaller county and give some spotlight to smaller associations,” Gatlin said. “The response has been fantastic, and we’ve had master gardeners from nearly all 36 counties with an association come here.”
The event kicked off Monday with roundtable discussions, a terrarium workshop with author Tovah Martin, tours of local attractions and a reception. Tuesday’s schedule was packed with a number of speakers and seminars, all touching on topics on how to add something unique and special to your home garden.
Featured speakers included Melinda Myers, Hayes Jackson, Dr. R. Scot Duncan, Fred Spicer, Pat Stone, Linda Askey and Carol Reese.
A silent auction also raised money for the AMGA’s $100,000 endowment at Auburn University for horticulture students. Several local artists contributed items, including a piece that featured a part of an oak tree from the college’s famed Toomer’s Corner trees.
“Everyone I’ve talked to has said it’s been wonderful, the best one they’ve been to,” said Brenda Armstrong with the Blount County MGA and conference co-chair. “We’ve really tried to use local people and promote communities, local businesses and artists.”
Sherilyn Osborne from the Blount County MGA also served as co-chair of the conference which took more than two years plan.
