Happy Birthday to my niece Rachel! Woo hoo! She’s currently in China! Woo hoo!
The neighbor who organized the garden tour that I was in last June wants to do another tour next summer. In this tour, she wants to feature gardens that are certified as “bay wise” – that is, a garden that is friendly to Maryland’s native ecosystem. This program is sponsored by a local university, and is staffed by volunteers who are certified as “master gardeners”
I have a lot of non-native plants in my garden, but I do a lot of things that are friendly to the environment, so I may have been able to be certified. My neighbor thought I could be, so she arranged to have my garden evaluated.
Yesterday, my neighbor and another master gardener interviewed me and walked through my garden. I love talking about my garden, so it was a pure delight – well, it was a delight except for the sweltering temperatures – but I love talking about my garden, so I was thoroughly enjoying myself.
Certification is done by a “yardstick” method. There is a checklist where each item is worth a certain number of “inches”, and if you get thirty-six “inches”, you are bay wise. My total number was fifty-something, so I more than qualified. I’m certified bay wise! Woo hoo!
I got a packet of materials, including gardening books. I also got a beautiful metal sign that I can display in my garden to let people know It is bay wise. Nice!
My neighbor took this picture. I’m smiling awkwardly.
Congratulations!!! Fifty-plus inches of awesome! That must have been so fun to share your joy with people who could truly appreciate all the work that goes into it. (I think that you should be a master gardener. Just sayin’.)
WAY TO GO BRR! PROUD OF YOU AND SO IS THE STATE OF MARYLAND!
Congratulations! You are definitely well on your way to becoming a master gardener. Would that be the new flower tie that you are wearing?
Haha! Good eye, Kristi! Yes, that is my new tie. It was perfect for the occasion.
So Proud of you! I have been wanting to get our yard evaluated, but I don’t think we will pass until I get rid of more of the ivy and purple loose strife. I have the criteria, so I am slowly working toward the magic 36.
If I ever have students take Bay Bio again (none this semester), perhaps a field trip to Evergreen Ave. would be possible?
But seriously, I never even knew this acknowledgement existed, and now I know two folks who knew of it and one is already way beyond certifiable….er…you know what I mean. 😉 Yea, you!
Woo Hoo For Brad R. Royuk!!!! 🙂