CSU’s Master Gardener Program has shared horticulture know-how for 50 years
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Mary and Bill Monroe recently huddled around an iPad on their kitchen table in Windsor and peered at a photograph of a juniper tree infected with a frightful fungal disease – juniper-hawthorn rust.
“We’ve never seen a case as bad as this. It’s just mind-boggling,” Mary said, examining the tree, which was covered in orange galls.
And that’s saying something. Because Mary, age 93, and Bill, age 94, have been volunteers with the Colorado Master Gardener program for 35 years and have made a name for themselves as tree experts. For years, the couple served on a team that made house calls to provide diagnoses, information and advice to Larimer County residents worried about their trees.
The couple doesn’t travel anymore, but they still handle more than 300 calls and emails every year from people seeking reliable horticulture information to improve their yards and gardens. One day, the Monroes answered questions about growing tomatoes and treating trees to thwart the emerald ash borer. Another day, the topic was soil health in a raised garden bed. On yet another, they had an inquiry about a Catalpa tree slow to leaf out.
And it’s common for discussions to last an hour.
“We have met so many nice people, and it’s such a pleasure to help them,” Mary said.
Bill added: “You get all this training as a Master Gardener, but every time we see something, we learn something new.”
The couple are among 1,595 trained volunteers in the Colorado Master Gardener program, and all are ready to answer questions from fellow gardeners across the state of Colorado.
50th anniversary of the Colorado Master Gardener program
This year, the well-known Colorado State University program turns 50 – marking five decades of equipping volunteer gardening experts to answer all manner of questions about growing trees, lawns, shrubs, flowers, fruits and vegetables in our semiarid state. What’s more, the information they provide is grounded in science.
In 2024, these gardening educators – known as Colorado Master Gardeners – had direct contact with 85,420 people through email and telephone calls, information booths, community gardens, garden tours and workshops held across the state, among other activities. They volunteered 55,589 total hours to do so. And, in responding to questions, they relied on the largest Master Gardener resource library at any university in the Rocky Mountain region.
The Master Gardener Program is part of CSU Extension. Like similar programs at land-grant universities nationwide, it develops gardening experts with 60 hours of horticulture training, further prepares volunteers through apprenticeships, then assigns certified Master Gardeners to Extension offices in their home counties.
Then, they field questions from other local gardeners and participate in a wide array of community gardening activities. In Fort Collins, for instance, the Larimer County Master Gardener Program sponsors a Saturday farmers market and answers questions at a booth during market hours.
Gaining greener thumbs across Colorado
By cultivating gardening educators, then planting them in county Extension offices, the Master Gardener Program lets people across Colorado gain greener thumbs. It is a classic outreach program – transferring research-based knowledge from the university to state residents, with trained volunteers as the conduit.
“Gardening is such a huge topic, and people have a wide variety of questions,” said Chris Hilgert, director of the Colorado Master Gardener Program and horticulture state specialist. “They want to know everything from, ‘What do I spray on my weeds?’ to ‘How do I control my weeds without using herbicides?’”
Susan McGill of Fort Collins has answered such questions longer than anyone else in Colorado. She is the longest serving of all the state’s Master Gardeners, having volunteered for 45 consecutive years. Her time in the Colorado Master Gardener Program is so extensive that McGill, 83, has earned emeritus status – retired from the program but still part of the network.
Asked what kept her motivated so long, McGill had a ready answer: “The people are great, and the plants are nicer.”
She laughed heartily, then continued, “You’re working with plants and people. What could be a nicer job? There isn’t one.”
When she started volunteering in 1979, McGill turned to a filing cabinet of gardening fact sheets to help answer questions. (Now, these and other resources are available on the CSU Extension website.) During walk-in hours at the Larimer County Extension office, she and her apprentices would examine insects and the leaves of sick plants, which people often bring in for troubleshooting.
While many questions may be answered with CSU Extension fact sheets and other resources online, people often wish to talk through their gardening challenges with someone knowledgeable, McGill said. “They like personal interaction, and that’s what we do really well,” she said.
Those with queries would ask: Why are there spots on my lawn? Why is my tree dying? What has happened to my tomatoes?
“Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes, and more about tomatoes,” McGill said. “People want to know, ‘How do I grow? What do I grow? What will grow in this climate?’”
People also appreciate that the gardening information supplied is based on horticulture research at CSU and elsewhere.
“It’s very important that you give them scientific information. Otherwise, they could be relying on what the neighbor said or on misinformation,” McGill said. “You have to educate people and educate yourself.”
Grow & Give
Hilgert noted that Colorado Master Gardeners often sponsor projects in their communities and even across Colorado. For instance, one of the program’s most popular statewide efforts is called Grow & Give, which enlists gardeners to grow fruits and vegetables, then donates the fresh food harvested to food banks, pantries and other outlets for people in need of food assistance.
At the community level, Master Gardeners often help build and maintain demonstration gardens, host farmers markets, support school gardens and educate gardeners through classes, workshops, demonstrations and written resources.
“They help Colorado gardeners know what to grow, how to grow it, and how to deal with challenges we all face in our gardens,’’ Hilgert said.
Volunteer
To become a Colorado Master Gardener, a volunteer completes an application, undertakes horticulture training through CSU Extension’s Green School, then serves in an apprenticeship to log required hours. Once certified, experts answer questions from other gardeners through county Extension offices and get involved in local projects to support the gardening community. Learn more here.
By the numbers
The Colorado Master Gardener Program started in 1975 as part of CSU Extension and marks its 50th anniversary in 2025.
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- 1,595 Master Gardener volunteers are part of the program in 2025 – an all-time high.
- 85,420 contacts with people interested in gardening in calendar year 2024.
- 55,589 total volunteer hours logged in calendar year 2024.
- 46 Colorado counties participated in 2024.
Top 10
The most frequently asked questions fielded by Colorado Master Gardeners, ranked by category:
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- Trees.
- Lawns.
- Insects.
- Growing fruits and vegetables.
- Weed control.
- Shrubs and vines.
- Annuals and perennials.
- Soil amendments and mulch.
- Native plants.
- House plants.