Victoria County Master Gardener Association

History of Victoria County Master Gardeners

Victoria County Master Gardener Association (See current members) began in 1997 under the leadership of the advisor AgriLife Extension Agent, Joe Janak. Ed Gregurek is the lone member left from that class. Dorothy Ploeger was named Emeritus and has since passed away.

Through the years we have taken photos (see class photos) during the orientation day for each class. Each class went through 50 hours of training and then after 50 hours of volunteering as interns, they became Certified Master Gardeners after completing the internship.

VCMGA Training Class has recently changed to be held in January thru completion. (We will no longer have interns.)

How to Become A Master Gardener articles have been written through the years. If you would like to know more about VCMGA, please read through some of those articles.

The Class of 1998 brought in several members who are still active in the organization: Helen Boatman, Charla Borchers Leon, and Pat Plowman. The members of that class were very active for many years. The class also included Betty Borchers, Susan Cohen, Margie Mullens, Barbara Sparkman, Nancy Zaplac, and ...

The Class of 1999 brought us Sandie Knief, Kim Kubecka and Cheryl Clark who are still active.

The Class of 2000 brought in Linda Denker who has remained a member.

Marie Graham, Sandy Kasala, Doris Martinak and Lanny Havemann remain from the class of 2001.

Many members have joined and remained with VCMGA over the years. We went from an average of 25 members in 2002 to over 100 for the last 15 or so years. (Our current class roster can be found here.)

4-H has been very gracious over the years in sharing their building with VCMGA for training classes, plant sales, symposiums, and other projects.

Will Walker joined VCMGA in 2002 and became the Training Class Coordinator in 2003. During that year we started our Gardeners' Dirt column in The Victoria Advocate. Charla Borchers Leon was the editor. We also had the Grand Opening of Victoria Educational Gardeners and the word got out. We had 56 register for our training class in 2003. The Class of 2003 was in charge of building our original greenhouse.

A storeage building and patio were also built.

As time passed we began Phase 2 of Victoria Educational Gardens. There is a history of the construction of the phases of the gardens in the column to the right. Phase 2 had a Grand Opening and Celebration in 2007.

The VEG Pavilion was the next phase and was completed in 2010. At opening the VEG Pavilion capacity was 300+ people and could seat 200+ people. The organization was able to rent that builiding out in the past as well as using it for our training classes, meetings, and plant sales.

For many years VCMGA managed and maintained the Officer's Club, a venue which is used for weddings, reunions, and various other occasions. The rental and maintenance of the building has returned to the county.

During the time from 1997-February 2012, Joe Janak, served as advisor of the organization. He retired after 34 years as Victoria County's Extension Agent.

VCMGA functioned under the leadership of Victoria County Extension Agent Peter McGill from 2012 until 2015.

Matt Bochat came on board in 2015 and is the current advisor for VCMGA. You can read Matt Bochat's recent articles here - scroll to bottom of page. During each year that VCMGA has presented Lunch & Learn with the Masters, Matt Bochat has presented the ever popular "What's This?"

Ongoing Projects of VCMGA are listed to the right. One very special project, our Paver Project, was started when we began the Military Honor Garden and Pathway of Friends and Family. Pavers were sold to be inserted in the gardens and pathways.

VCMGA has hosted many Plant Sales in the past along with Victoria Garden Tours, Symposia, and other celebrations and events.

We hope you will enjoy learning more about Victoria County Master Gardeners.

Web Hosting by Turbify

brenson@vcmga.org

ph: 361-935-1556
nancyk@vcmga.org