By Ann Taylor
Our “Annual Plant Sale” is the biggest and only fundraiser we put on each year. The sale was held on Saturday, April 25th, typically a 5-hour sale, and this year, with remaining plants, we held a “Second Chance Plant Sale” at the Ruston Farmers Market the following Saturday, May 2. The most common question we get asked at our Plant Sales is “what do you do with the funds y’all raise?” (The next most common question is “will this plant grow for me?”)
While fundraising from our plant sale gives us working capital, we have found that by leveraging our fundraising dollars with the use of our volunteer’s time and energy, we provide great value for our community.
I asked Kylie Bass, our LSU AgCenter Horticulture Agent for Lincoln and Bienville Parishes, if she could give me a breakdown of the number of volunteer hours we spend in the community. In 2025, our North Central Louisiana Master Gardeners was the 8th largest group in the state. We amassed over 3,300 hours and over $94,000 worth of volunteer value. LSU AgCenter figures we reached over 62,000 persons through all our activities. Our biggest contribution to our community is our volunteers.
Here are some of what the North Central Master Gardeners do:
- Since we are a 501(c)(3) non-profit, educational and volunteer-oriented organization, our emphasis is on providing educational opportunities for our members and for our community.
- A portion of the funds raised goes toward purchasing seeds, plants, and supplies (potting soil and pots) for next year. We are so fortunate to have a close working partnership with the Louisiana Tech University Horticulture Greenhouses. We can grow the plants ourselves because they provide a space for us to start seeds and grow our plants. We teach our members about all aspects of growing plants at the greenhouse. Volunteers spend many hours each week during the winter and early spring starting seeds, transplanting, watering, and learning about the plants we are growing. It is such a unique opportunity!
- We have several projects all over Ruston that showcase plants and are maintained with our volunteer force:
- The Butterfly Garden at the intersection of North Vienna Street and East Georgia Street with seasonal flowers and the butterfly pavilion.
- The sign garden at the Lincoln Parish Police Jury building on Homer Street.
- The Butterfly Garden and the Xeriscape Garden at Lincoln Parish Park.
- We collect pots at our sheds at the Police Jury parking lot so they can be recycled and re-used.
- The Tree Trail at Lincoln Parish Park has been refurbished this past year with new signs and QR codes which allow users of the trail to get information about trees along the trail. The Tree Trail was originally a project of the Master Gardeners 10 years ago and the new mountain bike trails at the Park provided us with an opportunity to expand the Tree Trail. Our volunteers worked with community organizations to identify trees and utilize new technology. There are also many opportunities for teachers and students to explore the Tree Trail.
- Our monthly seminars at the Lincoln Parish Library offer the community and our members a chance to learn more about a variety of topics. This month the seminar will move to the Lincoln Parish Park, Children’s Playground Area, on Saturday, May 23 at 10:00 am so participants can see how to design a small butterfly garden.
- The Ruston Farmers Market is another teaching/learning environment where Master Gardeners spend one Saturday a month on a timely topic. On June 13, the topic will be Maximizing the Use of Fertilizers.
- Scholarships are another big emphasis for use of our funds.
- We provided 2 major scholarships to 2 Louisiana Tech students this spring.
- 4-H holds a camp each summer and we have provided scholarship assistance for numerous students for this upcoming summer.
If you are interested in becoming a Master Gardener and volunteering with us, a new 11-week Master Gardener class is forming and will begin on June 30. Contact Kyleigh Bass, Lincoln and Bienville Parishes Horticulture Agent at KyleighBass@agcenter.lsu.edu or the Lincoln Parish Extension Office at (318) 251-5134. Deadline for class sign-up is May 28.
If you have gardening questions, please send them to us at NCLAMasterGardener@gmail.com and we will do our best to answer your questions. We will continue to provide “snippets” of information, and you can also visit our Facebook page (North Central Louisiana Master Gardeners) for information about gardening and our upcoming events. Until next time – Happy Gardening!
