About Purdue Master Gardeners

History of Master Gardener Organizations in the U.S.

The Gibson County Master Gardeners are one of many similar groups across the country and international. The group meets the third Monday of each month and supports over 20 projects/gardens each year. In order to be part of the organization, Master Gardeners complete a course offered though Indiana's county extension service. The Master Gardener program began in the 1970s in the state of Washington. Here is a brief history.

The first Master Gardener program began in Washington State, I King and Pierce counties, in 1972. Dr. David Gibby, the extension agent for horticulture in those counties, was overwhelmed by the volume of requests for information about gardening coming into his office. His efforts to use the media to answer questions more efficiently only seemed to result in an increasing number of telephone calls asking for individualized information.

Gibby thought of finding gardeners who would be able and willing to answer the public’s questions, and came up with the idea of trading specialized training in horticulture for a commitment to spend a specified number of hours doing volunteer outreach work. He sought and obtained the help of extension agents, specialists, and administrators at the state university in planning and testing both a training program for volunteers and a format for plant clinics at which they would provide information to the public.

Extension specialists trained the first Master Gardener group from King and Pierce counties. Gardeners were eager to enroll in the program; more than 300 people applied to take the first class, and 120 were enrolled in the session which began in 1973. It was soon followed by a similar training program in Spokane County. Sites for plant clinics were then arranged, schedules worked out, and master gardeners began working with the public.

During their first year of operation, these Master Gardeners served more than 7,000 clients. By 1995 Master Gardener programs had spread dramatically. Programs had been in operation in 45 states, the District of Columbia, and four Canadian provinces. In addition to the plant clinics, begun by the first group and now a basic activity of many others, Master Gardeners had undertaken a wide variety of other projects.

Most programs are run on a local basis, but some are a cooperative venture on the par of several jurisdictions, and some are unitary state-wide programs. The length of the training also varies – from 30 hours to 120 hours – and some programs offer advanced training sessions. The cost of different programs varies, too, depending on local budgets and expenses.

Indiana's Master Gardener Program is an integral part of the Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service and provides the citizens of Indiana a chance to grow. The Program provides a learning framework for participants to increase their knowledge on a wide variety of horticultural subjects. In turn, participants volunteer and help others grow by sharing knowledge while providing leadership and service in educational gardening activities within their communities.