The Union County Master Gardener Association 
is pleased to announce the 

Tour of Gardens 

has been chosen as the 
2001 Union County Master Gardener 
Project of the Year

The Tour of Gardens has become a highly regarded educational experience for the public since the annual tour began in 1997. The four-hour tour of half a dozen gardens and demonstrations satisfies interested gardeners' thirst to learn first hand and the Master Gardeners' desire to educate and give back to the community.

Based on evaluations completed by tour attendees, the tour provides valuable information for the novice to the nearly professional practitioner. The Selection Committee deliberately chooses gardens representing a broad spectrum of plants and landscape styles. Likewise the demonstrations selected focus on current gardening issues and concerns, such as invasive plants and alternative composting techniques. The tour educates about plants and gardening techniques with real life examples, OSU Fact sheets, and very knowledgeable Master Gardeners on-site with the garden owners and demonstration staff to answer horticulture questions. OSU Extension Office services are explained to the public via handouts and volunteers as well as through screenings such as derma-scan provided by Family & Consumer Sciences.

There is also cooperation between Ohio State University and Extension, showcasing WOSU-AM radio gardening talk show personalities to interact with the public and by providing Ohioline CDs. Tour attendees come from not only Union County, but also surrounding counties. For approximately 35-percent of those attending, the tour is their first contact with Extension. The number of persons wanting to experience the tour of gardens has increased from 200 in 1997 to an expected 500 in 2001. Local garden owners volunteer to participate in the tour with a waiting list for 2003.  Through positive exposure from the tour, the Master Gardener Training for 2001 had a class of 31, the largest ever for the organization.

Plans for upcoming garden tours begin ten month's before, beginning with the garden selections. This very high-level organization yields garden histories, plant lists, and garden design maps with OSU fact sheets focusing on highlights of each garden.  Major plantings are identified with markers to further educate the public.  From experience gleened from the tours, a handbook to assist others in creating a garden tour was created and used by Greene County Master Gardeners and Marion Garden clubs with great success. Additionally, Union County Master Gardeners developed a working relationship with the City of Marysville, with improving a city park, McCloud Park.  This relationship has grown over the five years of the tour, and has enabled the group to include the park on the tour each year.

The tour enjoys a positive cash flow and budget generated by many repeat and new sponsors, with both national and local contributors. All moneys realized from the tour assist future Union County Master Gardener horticulture projects.